Airbag replacement

[DDY]

My brother managed to 'crash' our 11 year old Ford Focus Mk1 deploying the airbags, we're having trouble finding a garage who can refit the airbags, all of my local independent garages won't do airbags, not for the Focus anyway. Although I got a step closer with the local Ford dealer who gave us a quote of £1600, at that price we'd rather scrap the car for £2k!

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[GoNz0]

scrap yard, buy the airbag and the wiring including the sensor that may be under the seat as they tend to burn out the wiring. fit them yourself and once happy go get the airbag light reset.

it is not a quick job as you really should replace the wiring back to the sensor (inc sensor)

failing that scrap it as you wont get anyone to do it for less than the value of the car.

[Jasp]

Theirs a kit going on ebay though it seems to be missing the wiring http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FORD-FOCUS-MK1...61810001r26738 their seems to be mention of diffrent stick types also on the control module, so i don't know if you would have to replace it with the same type.

[Lowe]

I wouldn't want to try to attempt to fit an airbag myself really. Explosives and all you know... :/

[DDY]

If I attempted this job myself, what's the worst that can happen?

[GoNz0]

the very slim chance you set the airbag off and require new underwear.

never face the airbag while your doing it!

battery off and discharge the circuits fully by shorting + & - together on each connection.

afterward you will need to go to a diagnostics center for a reset or the circuit will be inactive and the airbag light stuck on.

[DDY]

Right, thanks for the info. I'll take a poke around the Focus and make my mind up if I really want to do it myself.

[badass]

the very slim chance you set the airbag off and require new underwear.

NO.
It's quite possible to lose a few digits or your sight if you get it wrong with an airbag.
It's up to the OP whether they try this or not but don't understate the risks.

[GoNz0]

it would only go off while connecting up with stray voltage, the impact they take day to day being part of the rack makes they inert unless there fired/

[DDY]

Ouch...

I'll look into that!

[Jasp]

I was always under the impression they worked along the same priciple as C4, basically go off when a current is supplyed but pretty safe otherwise.

[eshrules]

as much as it stings, airbags really ought to be left to the pro's imho. A part of me always worries over 'second hand' airbags, you'll never really know if they're 'ok' until you need them...

[mycarsavw]

^ by which time, it's usually too late, and you have a nasty FORD logo on your forehead.

As they've said, as long as the car is switched off (leave the keys in the house to avoid any accidental temptation) and the battery disconnected, you can "safely" work with an airbag.

I've personally changed one without issues when I swapped steering wheels on an old car of mine.

[Capt Doufos]

I swapped one over on my MX5. The guide I found was to disconnect the battery to be on the safe side. Steering wheel had enough slack on the connector cable to have the airbag away from you a bit. I don't know how many cases there are of airbags being detonated accidently.

[Barakka]

Although I got a step closer with the local Ford dealer who gave us a quote of £1600, at that price we'd rather scrap the car for £2k!

I know a few people with older cars who have taken the perfectly fine, unused airbag out of the car for this reason - if they crash it and the airbag deploys then it's written off.

[Butcher]

I know a few people with older cars who have taken the perfectly fine, unused airbag out of the car for this reason - if they crash it and the airbag deploys then it's written off.

So they'd rather risk dying / horrible head injuries? It's going to be small comfort that your car might not be written off when you're in ITU.