Removal of Passenger-side Airbag

[guruerror]

Has anyone permanently removed the passenger-side airbag from their '03-07? If so, can it be done without the vehicle throwing a code or displaying an alert on the dash readout?

Once when working on some wiring, I temporarily disconnected the passenger airbag switch and that displayed a message on the dash alerting me to 'check' the airbag system (or something to that effect). I was wondering if there was a way to disconnect the passenger-side of the system without having a code thrown (or a message displayed).

One thought that came to mind was to disconnect the airbag module and measure the resistance between the leads...then substitute a resistor with the same resistance in its place on the on/off switch. This should trick the system into thinking that an airbag module is still connected/installed.

I'll probably try this at some point, but thought I'd throw the question out to the forum in the event that someone had hands-on experience with this topic.

[guruerror]

Looks like the airbag canister has a 2ohm resistance between the leads. I'll pick up a 2ohm resistor this weekend and test it on the passenger-side on/off switch and see if I can trick it into thinking the unit is still present.

[guruerror]

That worked. I couldn't find a 2ohm resistor, so I bought four 10ohm resistors ($4) and wired them in parallel...that gave me 2.5ohms of resistance, not exact, but that did the trick.

[Scarsman]

Just curious, why are you doing this? My '05 has a switch on the dash.

[guruerror]

Why...because I needed the space...I molded a fiberglass replacement for the airbag cover and installed another 8" touch screen to link to my existing onboard PC.

I needed to remove the airbag module to use the housing to mount the electronic equipment that drives the system. I'm including a pic below...but its not the best quality 'cause it's night, with a cell camera, and I've got some finishing touches to do this week.

Basically it gives the passenger a screen that can access any feature from the onboard computer...nav, topographical maps, inclinometer, mp3 media, dvds, blurays, OBDII, Internet, weather, etc... that the driver can access. The airbag on/off switch will be replaced with a power control for the secondary screen and a headphone jack in the event that the passenger wants to watch a movie while the driver listens to music.

I'm planning on posting more (better) pics later this week to document the mod.