dashboard

[hubgt89]

i have a 2000 pontiac grand am gt. i have gutted the hole car for weight reduction. i was told that the dash was a form of protection if you crash. is it? Then whats the point of air bags? the only protection a dash offers that i can tell is a fire retardent chemical put on. does anyone have any input on the matter....isn't all it does is make evrything look nice and hide wire, etc.

[blackbombshell95]

Think for a second here. Lets say you loose 40lbs or so by removing it. Is it really worth the hassle for the end results? I mean what mods do you have anyways? I can see probably doing it if your 1/4 time was stuck at a 12.0001 and you wanted to dip into the 11's. But otherwise I'd say keep it on.

Your airbags are attached to your dash/steeringwheel. If You plan to remove that then you might as well remove your seatbelts too.

You also aren't going to have a air duct system. No defrost/heater/ac.

Keep it on.

[3100 MPFI]

the dash works as a sort of cushion. It is made from a soft (~ish) plastic that can crush in an impact.

Is the going to be a TRACK car? If so, I can see doing this, but if you go on the street with it, it will be ILLEGAL without airbags.

The drivers airbag is only held on with clips. I think if you remove the cover on the steering column, you can find the holes that you like stick a screwdriver into, and pry to release the metal bars that hold the airbag on. That is how the Silhouette airbag is in my 1995 Cutlass Supreme.

The airbags do add a lot of weight. The one from my totalled 1996 Grand Prix (didn't deploy) is a good 30 lbs.

This would have to be for a track car. There is a lot of wiring under the dash and to remove the dash means that you are removing all the features that the BCM controls. Probably have to use aftermarket gauges because if you remove the BCM, nothing will work (car might not even start seeing that the BCM has to communicate with the PCM). Probably going with just a bone stock, nothing car.

[Rhedalert]

30 lbs? My spare drivers airbags are more like 10, add the passenger bag and modules, and that might push 30 (if that's what you mean).

[3100 MPFI]

yeah, I meant passenger. Dropped it down on my fingers when I was trying to remove it from my 1995.

[X11_STE]

You all are forgetting a very big point. Air bags are basicly solid state nitrous bombs!! And IF you dont discharge the electrical system COMPLETELY, you stand a good chance of having the airbag blow up in your face!!! NOT a good thing!! Especially when you consider how easy it is to discharge the electric system. Disconnecting the battery is simply not enough. The next step is very important. The next step is: Go grab a beer and watch the tube for 15 minutes or so. Why is this important? Because the air bag system has capacitors that retain a charge after all other power is gone. Once the caps discharge, then the system is safe to handle.

[blackbombshell95]

You all are forgetting a very big point. Air bags are basicly solid state nitrous bombs!! And IF you dont discharge the electrical system COMPLETELY, you stand a good chance of having the airbag blow up in your face!!! NOT a good thing!! Especially when you consider how easy it is to discharge the electric system. Disconnecting the battery is simply not enough. The next step is very important. The next step is: Go grab a beer and watch the tube for 15 minutes or so. Why is this important? Because the air bag system has capacitors that retain a charge after all other power is gone. Once the caps discharge, then the system is safe to handle.

For get that. I unplug my airbags while the battery is plugged in. Why you ask? Cause it's fun thats why

sry. Your reply seems a bit strenuous.

[3100 MPFI]

doesn't really matter to me. I had the battery out of the car for a full 2 months before I pulled the air bag.

No chance of a residual charge that way.

[1988GTU]

Static electricity can set off an airbag.

[Rhedalert]

I thought there was circuitry to prevent this, something about the circuit being normally closed to prevent a false detonation. i'll have to look it up.

[3100 MPFI]

I did some reading in my 1996 book (section 9J). There is a LOT there, but this is basically how it goes:

First of all There IS an "Engergy Reserve - The SDM (sensing and diagnostic module) maintains a 36 Volt Loop Reserve (36 VLR) energy supply to provide deployment energy when ignition voltage is lost in a frontal crash." (9J-3 COMPONENT DESCRIPTION number 1)

BUT

"There is a shorting bar on the yellow 2-way connector near the base of the steering column which connects the SIR coil to the SIR wiring harness. The shorting bar shorts the circuits to the SIR coil and driver inflator module when the yellow 2-way connector is disconnected. The circuit to the drivers inflator module is shorted in this way to help prevent unwanted deployment of the air bag when servicing the steering column or other SIR system components." (9J-5)

Meaning to me that as long as you follow the GM procedure for disconnecting power to the inflator module, then the airbags deploying accidentally are almost NIL.

Also, since it needs 36 volts to deploy, I don't think static can trigger it unless something in the SDM is faulty.

That is why they tell you to remove the fuse, and unplug the connector. Pulling the fuse cuts the power, and disconneting the connector grounds it out to drain the power.