jhowell371

Does anyone know why the airbag equipped cars have different glove box doors? The only difference I see is the metal insert that contains all the airbag info warnings. If the metal insert is meant to be a shield of sorts it is only held by plastic and could become a danger itself if blown out by the airbag.. I have a good non airbag door with both stops and would like to replace my stop less door it but don't want to compromise passenger safety.

No Lag

Sounds tempting but I doubt Porsche added a metal part because it was cheaper. Speaking from an OEM perspective I'm sure it plays a part in a crash mode. Therefore I would not swap it out. My 2 cents.

jhowell371

Just out of curiosity I tried it. A non airbag glove box won't fit an airbag car.

No Lag

Superior German engineering to keep you from doing something that might hurt you!

jhowell371

Or keep you from suing them

screamin94Z

I have also been wondering about glove box doors lately. I got my 88 NA celebration edition (no airbags) and went looking to see if it still had the commemorative coin in the glove box. To my surprise, it has an airbag warning inside the glove box door. I know there's no passenger airbag in there, so what's the deal?

jhowell, you say that a non-airbag door won't fit in an airbag car, but is the airbag door backwards compatible?

jhowell371

It looks like it must be since it's in your car. Guess now I'm going to sell the one I have on EBay and buy an airbag door or try trading it for a nice black airbag door with both stops intact.

mrgreenjeans

I went out to the garage and looked at my own '88 Jubilee/Celebration 944 and note it does NOT have the airbag decal in the glovebox either. Stands to reason since it's a non airbag car.....

For reference it is black. It is the 733rd car produced that year and was built in August of 1987. Seems as if all the Jubilee cars were early builds and were done in the '87 calendar year. The North American cars didn't get a date on their Jubilee coins, but the Europeans had their medallion dated the year of manufacture: 1987.

screamin94Z, what number is your car and the date of build ( on the black fender tag in front of the driver on LHD cars ) ?

screamin94Z

I will check tomorrow and see what the fender tag says.

Jhowell, if I can confirm that I can go back to the non-airbag door I would be up for a trade. Mine is in great shape. What is the reason that the non-airbag door will not fit in your car?

jhowell371

It seems the side perimeter of the dash opening has a slightly raised rib which interferes with the fuzzy liner of the non airbag door. The airbag door liner is shaped to accommodate these. I guess this was to prevent installing the non airbag door in an airbag car and creating a potentially dangerous condition.
The one in my S2 has both stop arms missing and it bugs me when I open it I know there are kits ($40) to repair them but I prefer an undamaged original.

screamin94Z

my car is Zermatt silver, #613, also built in August of 87.

Unfortunately my glove box door does not have the stop arms either. Still not sure why mine would have ever been changed.

jhowell371

I'm try to figure how so many got broken

mrgreenjeans

They got broken when the driver leaned over and put pressure on the open lid with his forearm; especially in the cold.

Snapping like a brittle twig on a dying tree .....

jhowell371

That makes sense. Thanks MGJ