Anyone suggest workable way to reinstall Toyota 4 Runner airbags ?

Anyone suggest most workable way to reinstall Toyota 4 Runner airbags ?

The two front airbags have been deployed in a hand me down 2004 4 Runner. I cannot find an on-line price for replacement air bags.

Is this a dealer only item ?

Even so, any suggestions as to pricing and best way to go about it.

It seems that in California one cannot register with the DMV a 4 Runner without airbags installed. 'Not perfectly sure about this, but looking.

Jennifer

PS

I actually would prefer to not have them, as I would prefer to handle any trouble, in progress, wihout the airbag deploying and would prefer to just make the dashboard ok, but I will not distaract the point of this post with that personal preference.

Reply to
Jennifer
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They are not a 'dealer-only' item, but the installer that buys them needs special training and licensing to do it - he's buying some serious explosives. Most dealers don't do enough airbag replacement work to have someone trained and on-staff full time, so they farm it out to a regional specialist.

The Sodium Azide based initiators are triggered off with blasting caps and are considered an explosive, and you can easily kill yourself while installing the new airbags if you don't follow all the safety procedures to the letter.

This is one of the few procedures that you MUST leave to an expert - unless you want to invest a whole lot of time money and effort to get trained, get the tools, and become an expert.

They don't want someone disabling the bags or replacing them with chunks of foam and reselling the car as having a "good" airbag system to an unsuspecting buyer - hence the law.

A lot of crooks fixed up and sold wrecked cars and jiggered the airbags like that, and the driver got killed or hurt badly in the next accident when the airbags didn't deploy - because they weren't there. They wanted a way to hang the murder rap on the crook who sold the car like that, so a law was born.

If you want to fix it and drive it, there would be no problem - but if you don't take it to the wrecking yard, eventually you are going to sell the car.

Most of the time, when the bags are deployed you also have to change out all the triggering control boxes behind the grille and a bunch of other stuff beside just the bags themselves - which is why many cars over three or four years old get totaled out when the bags deploy. It is too expensive to fix the bodywork damage AND replace all the airbags and sensors, AND repair the interior and broken windshield that were damaged by the airbags when they deployed.

Unless you want to spend a lot of money and effort fixing up the car, it probably makes more sense to hand it down again - this time to a junkyard.

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Reply to
Bruce L. Bergman

AFAIK, one does not need a license to install air bags, however one does need special training to keep it from deploying during installation. The sensors should be OK for re-use - once the new air bags are installed, the air bag ECU will self-test. A crash force big enough to deploy air bags means that any seat belts that were in use at the time of the crash should also be replaced.

Reply to
Ray O

Bruce and Ray O, thanks your time that info is helpful.

I might have given the wrong impression, it is not a true hand me down, but would have to be purchased and newly registered by me. I really do not want the air bags at all, I have been driving cars for for all these years without air bags and would prefer to see what was happening in front of me at all times.

I would quite prefer to sign a waiver regarding air bags and present it to the DMV and carry on without them. But I would bow to greater intelligence on that point, as I am not expert in this area.

In any event, I would not be averse to paying a specialist, if it would come to that, to put the airbags back in (and new seat belts), if the cost were workable to the situation.

Is there any kind of a rough guestimate of the cost of replacing two airbags and the dashboard (and the seat belts) that could be speculated on ?

Thanks so much,

Jenny

PS Would a fender impact that was sufficient to deploy the air bags on a

4 runner be enough to cause frame damage ? On this car there was body work, but supposedly the frame is ok.
Reply to
Jennifer

I watched an airbag deployment at a dealer parking lot, it was a demonstration. You wouldn't want to handle one of these things, they are like a hand grenade, very powerful.

Reply to
dbu,

Do you have a telephone?

Pick two local body shops and a local Toyota dealer from the yellow pages. Dial the published phone number for each. Ask the same question you've posted here.

Labor rates vary by geography. The phone will get you an accurate answer for your locale. If all three quotes are similar, there's your answer. The dealership will most likely be higher, with the other two being in the same ballpark. Post your answers here.

As for not needing air bags, don't forget to tell your insurance company, as your rate is based on the vehicle having them.

Reply to
Bonehenge

As far as seeing what is happening in front of you at all times, keep in mind that the airbags will only deploy AFTER you have hit something with sufficient force so seeing something is kind of a moot point. Also, air bag deployment and deflation is something like hundreths of a second, the blink of an eye. Most people who have experienced an air bag deployment do not even remember them going off.

Costs vary widely depending on the prevailing labor rates in your area, but replacing both fron air bags will easily cost in the thousands of dollars. Get quotes from your local Toyota dealer and reputable body shop.

After any impact that was sufficient to deploy the air bags, the frame should be inspected and measured for damage.

Reply to
Ray O

Thanks Ray, you are a gentleman. I did not know that airbags are the domain of body shops. Otherwise I might have pushed in that direction sooner. I am now far better educated, thanks again. And I do own a telephone. Jenny

Reply to
Jennifer

You're welcome! Body shops are familiar with air bags because they deal with them all the time, and dealerships are familiar with them because they had to take training to learn how to deal with them.

Good luck with whichever route you choose!

Reply to
Ray O

I don't know what you expect but air bags must fully deploy in a very short time - seven milliseconds IIRC. They deflate nearly as quickly.

Either you're in the process of having an accident - in which case seeing what's in front of you is irrelevant - or in the very rare case that one goes off when it should not, it's like a flashbulb. Loud and startling but nothing remains "in front of you" to block your vision.

OT... a family member of mine helped develop airbags in the early 1970's. Back then, they really filled up the whole front of the car - and of course being essentially an explosion increased the cabin pressure to the point that if they went off when windows were closed they would injure the occupants. Some genius decided to set a second explosive charge on the same circuit which would blow out the back window - Increased pressure at the front of the passenger compartment, give it someplace to go, right?

So I had the opportunity to watch this slow-motion crash film... the sled goes down the track at 30 MPH, hits the barrier, the air bags deploy and catch the dummies... and milliseconds later the remains of the back window, still moving at 30 MPH, shreds both airbags and dummies. Ooops - back to the drawing board with that one, fellows!

-- Mike Harris Austin, TX

Reply to
Mike Harris

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