Replacing steering wheel and seats
 

Hey guys

Just going over mods in my head of what to do when my car arrives.

I have a pair of velos and a deep dish wheel I want to utilise but am unsure on how to remove the steering wheel with airbag.

And also will the racing seats affect the side airbags or any others.

Also any legal info I should know.

Cheers

Chris

From my knowledge of the modification laws, it is illegal to replace the steering wheel equipped with an airbag from oem with an aftermarket wheel that does not have an airbag (obvious safety reasons). It is up to you if you want to take the risk of getting a defect notice.

For seats, I think you might come across issues with the sensor responsible for airbag deployment (which utilizes the position of the seat position to deploy airbags accordingly). Not sure about the 86 but for other jap vehicles you will get a light on your instrument panel indicating this problem. Again, depending on what types of seats you use, you might get done with a defect notice. If the seat complies with ADR you should be fine. (other members please correct this if any information is inaccurate)

any car after 97 with airbag steering wheel must have it to be road worthy.

not sure on seat airbags but im guessing they will be required as well if they were sold with the car.

As others have said, removing the airbag is illegal, then again 99% of aftermarket wheels are illegal anyway.

With regards to removing the airbag wheel without warning lights popping up, various manufacturers make boss kits for airbag wheel delete. HKB are a japanese company that make them, im sure they'll have something for the 86 soon if they dont already.

^ not illegal if you know how to get around it. Eg aftermarket intake - just enclose it and done all good.

Back on topic, there is a way of removing the warning light by installing a resistor connected to the wire responsible for that warning light. Only problem is, no one can be bothered to find it.

You cant legally get around removing a factory safety device on a road car in Australia.
You would need to buy a after market steering wheel that is ADR approved that has a airbag.. Good luck

Do it anyway.. But yes illegal... U would have to be very very unlucky to be pinged for it if getting pulled over for a random.....

ive always felt superstitious about removing a safety item like an airbag. Regardless, I think the factory wheel is beautiful. Im glad it doesnt have controls on it too.

So seats should be fine?
I'm assuming they won't affect the airbags, or will they not deploy if there is a sensor in the seat which is removed?

The front seats have a side airbag. Illegal to replace with another seat that does not have an ADR approval + bag.

If you went ahead with the intended mods and made the car unroadworthy and if you were unlucky enough to be involved in an accident and if the insurance crowd found out you would not be covered. If you just wrote off your own car that would not be an issue but you could be in a world of financial pain if you damaged somebody else's property.

Story time. About 15 years ago a woman who was working next door to me backed into a Porsche. She didn't have 3rd party property insurance because she couldn't afford it. The repairs to the Porsche came to something like $9000 (and this was 15 odd years ago) that she had to find to pay.

My rules are don't fuck with the tax department and don't fuck with insurance.

Probability of having an accident: slim. Magnitude of significance if you get caught with non-compliant car: huge.

My 3 cents.

Recaro offers aftermarket seats with side airbags but not sure if like their designs.

The sport seats that have side airbags are:

- Sportster CS
http://www.recaro-automotive.com/en/...rtster-cs.html
http://www.recaro-automotive.com/upl..._1D3418_01.jpg

- Cross Sportster CS
http://www.recaro-automotive.com/en/...rtster-cs.html
http://www.recaro-automotive.com/upl...product_01.jpg

- Recaro Sportster CS & Cross Sportster CS - Edition 2011
http://www.recaro-automotive.com/en/...s-edition.html
(same design as cross sportster above)

** these seats also have heated seats as an option

Thats how I view it. Don't fuck with ATO or insurance companies. Insurance has a legal team that is usually very good and more than often better than you can afford lol
And more and more police officers are well versed in what is legal and what isn't. And even if they aren't, from what I've seen, their attitude is, if it's doesn't look standard it's probably illegal, once you get a ticket, you can waste your time going about proving that it is legal if it is, (if you show them a mod plate straight up different story)