Has anyone ever thought of removing the passenger airbag from a 94-95 FD and turning the hole into an extra glovebox? Better yet, has anyone done it? I was going to just remove the airbag but I'm not sure how easy it would be to remove the cover from the airbag and mount it. I was thinking about trying to use it for the door though, and maybe use a simple magnet setup like on some cabinet doors to keep it closed, and just hinge the top part. The best part is it should still look like the airbag is there so there shouldn't be any grief from law enforcement (if they even care about that) and you can keep valuables there and no one will know it. Just a thought.

Has anyone out there done this or anything like it? Or who out there has removed the airbag and put the cover back? How did you mount the cover back over the hole?

 

I looked at the airbag and figured out how to separate it from the cover. The cover presses in pretty well, so for now it will stay like that. But I'm going to start looking at either fiberglassing or getting another glovebox (the stock one actually fits alright I think) and I'm going to get hinges for the cover and some way for it to stay closed.

 

Shady mechanics do this all the time when selling Crappy cars.
They remove the air bag so they can sell it.
They have shown steering wheels filled with foam instead of an air bag,as the car was in an accident and it was too costly to replace the air bag.
An air bag is worth it's weight in gold!

 

I have to disagree with you Styx. While there's no arguing that shady people do such shady things in the name of profit (Dominion Homes is a notable example, google for more details), I see no logical reason for a frontal airbag, provided your Primary Restraint System (seat belts) do their job properly. Granted, this is from the perspective of one whom has not been in an automotive accident, so it should be judged accordingly.

The FC is proof positive of this reasoning as its seat belts work exactly as they should, by stopping the occupant's forward momentum before they hit the steering wheel or dashboard. Should a vehicle require frontal airbags, it implies that the seat belts in that vehicle do not function properly for the space given when occupied by an average person in a reasonably normal seating position (smaller cars require quicker-operating retractors than bigger cars). It goes against my principles to band-aid something in the manner of adding extra complexity when correcting the problem (make the seat belts restrain properly) will suffice, be cheaper to produce and simpler to repair after a collision. Hitting one's head on the steering wheel should only be the result of an unforeseen failure in the restraints, not because GM/Toyota/whoever could save $0.04 per car by using an insufficient retractor mechanism.

In other words: If your product's 3-point seat belts are so poorly designed and made to where the owner hits their head on the rigid steering wheel when it lacks a Supplemental Restraint System, you have no business in automotive engineering. And should you insist on doing so, go buy a Pinto and see what happens when you are rear-ended...

I am not against airbags when utilized logically. There is good reason for side airbags as a seat belt is not as effective when used on an axis it is not oriented to restrain. As for external crash elements, I am not a believer of crumple zone hype. The most recent Ford Mustang is an excellent example of how to approach structural design logically with occupant safety in mind:
IIHS-HLDI: Ford Mustang 2-door

See how it stops compressing at the front wheels? Also, notice that the door sill is nice and straight with no noticeable signs of distortion. This is smart design which turns into the driver being able to open the door, get out of the car unassisted and able to beat the **** out of the ******* who hit him. It does have an airbag, but if its seat belts retracted like those in the FC (they could, I'm just saying 'what if' here), the airbag wouldn't be necessary but a conscientious inclusion to go above and beyond what is proper and logical for the safety of your customers.

An airbag may be worth its weight in gold, but a seat belt that functions well enough to prevent the necessity of an airbag is worth its weight in Platinum. Same thing with a car that keeps its cabin in shape. This is the reason I swear by the IIHS ratings.

EDIT:
Turns out Toyota has been skimping out on things more than ever with the new Rav4. I would bet money that the reason for it was because it was cheaper. So here's how to NOT make a car, from the same manufacturer whom 25 years ago built a solid car that would laugh off the same test (A70 Supra).
IIHS news release

 

^wow lol. Quite the response.


First of all, I don't have an airbag on the drivers side anymore. And who's to say the passenger side even works anymore, or won't burn your face off with 20 year old technology when it deploys? Also, the dash plastic under it had cracked so bad I put JB Weld on it to make it hold, but then it raised the airbag too much and it sat too high and above the rest of the dash, even though I tried to apply the JB Weld as flat and smooth as possible.

Furthermore, I'm not planning on ever selling this car, so this is far from trying to scam someone lol. If I ever do sell it I'm going to be up front and say it doesn't have airbags, most of us don't care if they have airbags anyway because its a sports car and so many are just track machines anymore. The only person that would care is a parent buying it for their teenager who is going to crash it five minutes later. I'm more worried about the car lol.

So I figured I might as well make something useful (and maybe even original) out of that space.

 

When I removed the airbag and after reading XLR8's build thread, I discovered the horn stopped working. I was trying to figure out what I removed that would make the horn not work. All I removed was the passenger side airbag itself, and the impact sensor and harness from the engine bay. With some guidance from Steve Prew (prew) and Josh (XLR8), I simply cut the connector off my airbag harness, spliced the wires together, and plugged it back in. Works like a charm. Although I spent a lot of time troubleshooting in places I didn't need to, but whatever lol. I had thought about trying reconnecting the airbag but I figured it wouldn't do anything. I almost plugged the airbag back in but figured if I reconnected the battery without having the impact harness plugged in it might set off the airbag and I decided against taking that chance lol.

 

I've been thinking about doing this for a while too, but I was thinking of using the spot to relocate all of my fuses, etc

 

^That would work too. I'd do it!