'98 i30

What are the downsides of running the car without the driver's and/or passenger's airbags installed?

I need to diagnose my non-operative horn. I've seen the thread with the vertical metal bars / broken pieces of plastic inside the horn contact area...but it occurs to me that I can't test the horn mechanism without a) the air bag removed and also b) power to the system.

Thanks

 

If you're asking if the car will operate without an airbag installed, the answer is yes. You’ll get codes thrown at you and dash warnings, but the car will run.

If you’re asking if it’s legal to drive a vehicle with no operational airbags, that’s another story.

 

thanks Turbobink:

"legal" is the farthest thing from my mind

i am hoping that connecting battery cables / starting car with bags not installed will not permanently **** off the SRS computer or cause any other airbags to deploy

may I ***-u-me that "everything will be fine" ?

 

You'll be fine. The SRS light will go out w/o issue once everything is hooked back up. Just make sure that when you hook everything back up, that the battery is disconnected and has been for at least 10 minutes. I believe there is a procedure in the FSM which discusses how to safely disconnect and connect the airbags.

 

thanks Wiz

 

This did in fact turn out OK...but only after I cleared the stored Air Bag code by putting it into Diagnostic Mode