Changing passenger airbag cover

[gingerdude]

So my airbag cover got a split in the vinyl due to my own stupidity. I have the freaking tan interior to make matters worse. Luckily it was JUST the SRS cover. Bare with me it's a long story...

I got the original panel out by CAREFULLY prying up on the front of it. Taking care not to compress the dash nearby too much as it could crack too. It finally broke free from two clips, one on each side at the front (about where the second S is in SRS for the distance from the edge). The clips on the panel itself are just cheap plastic and are likely to break. If you are removing this with the intention to put it back, it's a crapshoot. See below on how to get around this.

Now the panel lifts up ever so slightly at the front. You can lift it up some more and peer in underneath with the light on your phone. Directly underneath there are three 10mm nuts. I got a ratcheting flat wrench and taped it to a paint stirrer to get it off. The panel is made of metal so if you need to slide your hands under you can carefully. Sharp edges so be careful.

Once the rear bolts are out the panel lifts up from the dash and is removed. Now you see the airbag, did I mention I took the battery off well before I started?

Cool. It's off. Take it to a vinyl repair guy... no go. Won't touch anywhere near an airbag.

So I scour the junk yards looking for a tan interior dash that is not faded, not cracked, not dented, and not stained... I found a few, some vinyl cracked when they were coming out as it was in the single digits. Finally I had two good ones. Extra just in case. They we're $3 each.

I soaked the new ones in Meguiars #40 overnight to give it some love. Then I reversed the process. BUT!! The clips in front don't hold down because they fell out and into the dash. Also, they are in this area where you can't get to them unless the dash shell is pulled forward. Luckily I was able to use a tool to fish out the metal clips.

So to get the left hand side clip back in I took the radio out and jerry rigged some tools and a mirror up to clip that side into place. Basically if you take the radio out it's a direct shot with a mirror and a light to see where the clip goes. Your fingers will be JUST too short to get to it though. So at least the damn panel stays down now for the most part. You can reverse this process to take it out by using an allen wrench to "grab" the clip and take it off to remove the panel.



Now the delimma... The right side clip...

You can get to the right side if you are able to remove the glovebox and the little side panel. Then you have to find a way to move that passenger side HVAC vent piping out of the damn way. That's where I get stuck. Now at the junk yard I just broke the damn thing out of the way, reached in and grabbed the clip. Obviously not trying to do that here.

I know two ways I can go about it. I need input.


1) That vent piping comes out (just enough) if I remove a screw holding it that's up underneath that piece of plastic that runs along the windshield with the sensors in it. I know these are brittle as hell. Any recommendations on getting it out without breaking the damn thing?

2) Alternately.... does the airbag drop or move in any way if I unbolt it from underneath? There are no bolts on the top, so I imagine this is how it comes out. I know that it has to come OUT through the top and that requires dash removal. But I don't need it out, I just need it to move slightly so I can get my damn hand in there to clip that cover up. Anyone gotten this far?

[BillBoost37]

Only thing I've ever seen was a full dash replacement.

[gingerdude]

The cover comes off separately. Here's some pictures.

Imgur: The magic of the Internet
Imgur: The magic of the Internet

On the second one the three bolts on the right you can slide under and unscrew with a flat wrench after you have carefully popped the two clips shown on the left side by prying at the front of the panel

Basically what I'm curious of is on the underside of the airbag module there are 4 "square" nuts that look like they hold the airbag module in place on both sides. If I can remove those, will the entire airbag module be able to come down, or does it only come out through the top with the dash out of the way? I literally just need to move the airbag module enough to get my hand in to reset the clips that hold down the front of that panel. So even if it doesn't come down if it can move a decent amount it would work.

[BillBoost37]

Ok.. If you know it's possible.. then that's good.

Here's a way to do it. Pull the dash and all that stuff that is in your way will be out of the way. The crappy part is you'd be pulling the dash, it's really not all that hard though.

[gingerdude]

Well that would be a good idea... if I had a garage, or even my own driveway. Haha. It's gotta be something that will leave the car in a drivable state at any time. Hence why I haven't torn into it already. Then there's also the risk of breaking more stuff in an attempt to fuss with this. The less to remove the better basically. I guess I'll have to go up to the junkyard when it warms up and tear into one partially to search for short cuts.

[BillBoost37]

Pulling a dash doesn't render it undriveable.

Buickman and Oldsman live in NYC.. These guys have done major work while parked on a street. It's amazing what you can do when you want to. Personally, this time of year.. no thanks. I'd stop looking that way until things warm up.

[buickman104]

Yup, oldsman105 and I live in NYC and street parked in places that have alternate side parking rules two days out of the week we have done...
Upper intake and LIM swaps to change gaskets.
Brake Jobs
Motor mount jobs
Oil Changes
ruptured brake lines
tire plugs
EGR systems
radiator changes
Power steering pumps
and a lot more crap I can't remember. I only had the cops called on me once and it was all cool once I showed the cops the vehicle registration(it was a friend's car) and I was a Army Mechanic.

[gingerdude]

Damn that is crazy. At the very least I'll be waiting until it warms up lol.

[gingerdude]

So I was able to do this with an extendable magnet wand and some very long pic tools I got at Harbor Freight. Didn't need to take the dash back at all to replace the panel!