I was just wondering if my driver-side airbag is still safe or should I have it deactivated or uninstalled? Please no jokes about testing it by crashing.

 

It's illegal to deactivate or remove an airbag in a vehicle that comes with one from factory. Whether you should replace it with a new one or if it's still ok would be debatable. I'd think it's still fine, as long as you don't have any codes (which would prevent it from deploying).

 

Well it's a '94 so it's only got OBD1. The last time I tried to get codes, it didn't give me anything, even though my ABS light comes on at random times, my transmission is slipping a little bit, and you can hear a small exhaust leak from under the cab while driving. Somebody here told me that something may be wrong with my KAM (keep alive memory) but they didn't explain how I could test or replace that.

 

If the airbag system were to give you any codes it wouldn't be from the ECU. Like ABS on this truck the control is separate from the engine computer. And thus the procedure to get codes is different.

 

The airbag is fine.

 

I desperately need to know this different procedure you speak of. Also, what engine in what vehicle is depicted in your avatar? I like it.

 

Did I miss a post before this one? What makes you wonder if the airbag is safe or not?

 

Well gosh, I guess it's because the vehicle is over 20 years old. Does that not sound reasonable?

 

I mean, I've never heard of old air-bags ever being unsafe before - only the inherently flawed ones that got recalled from all those early 2000s Hondas.

 

I have heard of car companies keeping critical safety flaws that can and have been lethal hushed for obvious reasons.

 

Do what you want with your air-bag then.

 

No. If you don't trust the system to let you know if there is a problem or not then I believe you own the wrong vehicle. You should not have something that old.

 

Okay thank you to those who have provided helpful replies. For the record, if anybody is here to be a pretentious smart aleck, I'm sure there are plenty of YouTube commentators that you can have a field day trolling in regards to F150s or any other vehicle that you must be a know-it-all about in order to relieve yourself of your miserable, nasty attitude. Unless you have any attitude-free advice, please excuse yourself from my thread. Good day and goodbye to you.

 

I told you the airbag system is fine, and I've never heard of any issues with the Ford system.

If you believe Ford could be covering up lethal defects with the system, I don't know what to tell you beside disable the system if it would make you feel better.

 

I think I understand where you're coming from command37. There are a ton of airbags being recalled for many different vehicles these days. But, what about other airbags that are over 20 years old? It's hard to imagine that airbags can last forever and still be safe. Also hard for me to imagine that computers can tell you if every part of the airbag is still in good condition. I don't have many passengers so not concerned with that side. Maybe it would worth it for some folks to have them replaced.