bigs

No. Not your mother-in-law.

I have a '93 GTS. Build date was actually Jan 1992. So my airbags are now a little over 13 years old, presuming they're the originals.

I did a search and found one fairly short thread addressing this issue. Someone on that thread posted that Porsche originally recommended replacing airbags after 10 years, but extended it to 15 years after further testing.

Apparently the Porsche shop manuals recommend "maintenance" every few years, but I'm not sure I'm clear as to what "maintenance" consists of.

I know my car was involved in a wreck with the PO. I don't know if airbags deployed and/or were replaced.

I presume that airbag materials will eventually degrade over time. Anyone know if 15 years is still the limit?

IcemanG17

Bigs
I would imagine that airbag replacement (as routine maintence) would be extremely costly...typically airbags on domestic cars can cost thousands each (maybe a little less now) so figure a couple thousand for airbags + many hours of labor taking the dash apart to replace them....a good place to check for pricing is a local auto body repair shop that specializes in german or foreign cars.
Brian

TRWright

Not really an answer to your question, but I don't think I would ever trust the airbags in my 18 YO car. . . .

Thaddeus

It's a question I asked before and tried to research. I never got a satisfactory answer.

perrys4

I had heard the 10n year rule also. I am more worried about them accidentally detonating due to old age.

cobalt

I am pretty sure the air bags up through 94, 95 for the GTS were given a max life by Porsche of 10 years and the 95 and later type installed in the 993's is 15 years. I have seen 91 turbos that have had recent accidents and the air bags worked properly. It most likely is something Porsche doesn't want a law suit over. So like many foods they put an expiration date, even though the product is still good, so nobody can say they said they will be good for 20 years if they don't deploy.

If you are going to spend the money on a new factory SW bag (if they are available) a good idea is to buy a newer 3 spoke S style wheel. They run about $750 and are far superior in feel over the factory wheel. IMO.

docmirror

Okay, more poison for the airbag debate. Someone watched that dynamite episode of Lost a while back! The two components in the airbag are Sodium Azide, and Potassium Nitrate. It is called a 'binary' reactant, and is very, very safe if left alone, and not unintentionally damaged. The Sodium Azide is the 'pill', or igniter, and the Potassium Nitrate is the expanding gas(read, explosive). Both are corrosive, and generally bad for you in even small quantities. Howver, the life expectancy isn't known in airbags, because these are first generation. We are, in fact the extended beta test for airbag efficacy. Cool.

I would trust my 15 year old airbag, and would not consider replacing it. We just don't know the shelf life or installed life of the unit. Having said that, the potassium Nitrate will happily stay effective for a long, long time if not contaminated. The pill is a sealed unit and should also last a long, long time. How long? Don't know. What would it cost to replace? Don't know. Does Porsche make a fresh batch of airbags that will go on our car? Don't know, doubt it. It would be interesting to go into a Porsche dealer with a 90 car and say "hey, according to you(Porsche) my airbag has reached the end of it's effective life. I want a new, 'fresh' not old stock airbag".

Makes ya go Hmmmmmm......


Doc 90GT

Alan

Ted,
If you are still driving it aren't you trusting them...?

Brian,
The airbag wheel "pod" is easily replaced (if not inexpensively) no dash attack required!

Alan

TRWright

No Alan, since the 951 is mostly for track and I hated the way the airbag wheel felt, I threw in a 930s wheel, and disconnected the passenger airbag.