Air Bag removal. Will it kill me?

awalkertx · May 17, 2012

1999 suburban I'm parting out..i'm neverous about pulling the air bags now. motor/trans/underhood harness pulled already. Battery has been out of the truck for 4 months now. I was unaware of the procedure on disabling the SIR system prior to pulling everything under the hood. I was hoping not to have to put a battery back in the truck in order to disable the system. I would also have to reinstall the underhood harness, fuse block, etc in order to do so. I bought this truck only as an engine donor, but it's got plenty of good things that can be sold otherwise.

What are your thoughts on removal of the air bags with the truck in its current configuration? I'm certain that the capacitors are discharged already (as the service manual says that they could retain a firing charge for 10 minutes after battery disconnect and it's been 4 months since I pulled the battery). I just don't know if there is something else I'm missing.

Thanks for the insight. My 1995 Z71 is finally getting an L31 engine (330K after it rolled off the assembly line)!

holty · May 17, 2012

It will be find, just remove it carefully. I "accidently" removed mine in my '03 once without disconnecting the battery or anything. Actually didnt even realize it until AFTER i reinstalled it. nothing happened.

awalkertx · May 17, 2012

awesome thanks very much! i bet you had an "oh $hit" moment when you realized what you did! At least it was after the fact. I've had similar things happen to me several times over the course of my life and not just with cars!

redjewel2ss · May 17, 2012

it's gunna burst into flames if you touch it

MikeNH · May 17, 2012

Airbags are more stable than the warnings would lead you to believe. I wouldn't condone this, but when I was at the dealer we had a recall to replace the driver airbag because the seam was too weak and they were splitting almost off the lot. Needless to say, there were dozens of cars in the storage lot that needed the recall and I didn't have access to the keys. So I swapped the airbag with the battery connected on dozens and dozens of cars and I didn't die, not even once.

awalkertx · May 18, 2012

Wow that's awesome.. on that note I'll return the bomb squad suit I was planning to wear! ;)

iminaquagmire · May 18, 2012

Most vehicles the capacitors will stay charged for around 5-10 minutes. Up to 30 in some. After 4 months that thing won't blow.

gmtech4 · May 18, 2012

at the dealer we would disconnect the air bag and then remove it ,no probs at all,wait 10 minutes??? i was on flat rate lol

iminaquagmire · May 18, 2012

What I should have said is that is for extrication of passengers in accidents with a potential to have the airbags deploy. In an undamaged vehicle, just take it out.