Airbag question,

Zabinskii · Postby **Zabinskii** » Sun May 11, 2014 9:50 pm

Do the 195 na8's have airbags? iv seen the steering wheel and it looks like it may have an airbag but im not too sure

CHEERS!!

Locutus · Postby **Locutus** » Mon May 12, 2014 12:28 am

No AU delivered NAs had airbags.

Zabinskii · Postby **Zabinskii** » Mon May 12, 2014 8:12 am

Is it difficult to retro fit just a driver side air bag?

bigmaxy · Postby **bigmaxy** » Mon May 12, 2014 9:53 am

I'd imagine it would be difficult and would basically involve stripping an NB and moving all wiring and associated hardware across.

Then you would have issues with having to change the loom to suit what was left of the NA (dash objects such as pop up headlight switch wouldn't exist), engine sensors, headlight controls etc etc.

Of course it would be possible but most likely far more economical from a time and financial perspective to buy a car with airbags already installed.

I've no idea if it would be possible to install a loom from an oversea NA which had airbags fitted from the factory. The change from LHD to RHD would be a PITA but could be a starting point to make a hybrid loom. Still the work would not be worth it IMHO.

Zabinskii · Postby **Zabinskii** » Mon May 12, 2014 12:26 pm

What if you buy the airbag setup from an na? Japanese models

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Mon May 12, 2014 3:05 pm

Far too complex, expensive and dangerous to retro-fit an airbag. It would be easier to sell the NA and buy an NB. Seriously.

cookie · Postby **cookie** » Mon May 12, 2014 3:31 pm

After swapping an entire airbag system from one car to another (same model) it's really not hard. Just needs power provided to the module, all wiring goes to the control box/sensor and then wiring from airbags etc. The trick would be to use an nb steering column with the clockspring. Then it'd be a case of whether the wiring is the same. (i did it to get two airbags vs one on an astina, from the higher specced model)

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Mon May 12, 2014 3:36 pm

^That is the dumbest and most dangerous thing I have heard done.
You do it wrong, your injure yourself.
You do it wrong, you can't rely on it to work correctly in an accident.
You do it right, you don't know until you have an accident.
It sounds like a death trap.

cookie · Postby **cookie** » Mon May 12, 2014 11:47 pm

You talking to me? Thanks for the concerns but it's not dodgy or unsafe in any way, as its exactly how it came from factory, just in a different shell. Same dash, same two airbag modules, same wiring, same control box, same wiring to fuse box same steering wheel. That's like saying swapping brakes from one chassis to another is asking for trouble. Yes it will if not installed as it was originally, but providing the installation is the same there's zero difference!

Adding airbags from an nb to an NA would be a different story.

malibu Q · Postby **malibu Q** » Wed May 14, 2014 1:10 am

http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=73&t=63488

I don't claim to have any answers, but I was just looking at a 1996 Au NA8 for sale and noticed it has the high mounted column stalks to suit an airbag steering wheel. If OP's car has the high stalks, there's a good chance that the airbag wiring is included in the factory harness