Alan

I do agree that although these systems are old - if they show no fault they are very very likely to deploy perfectly. The other possibilities are no deployment or a partial or slower deployment (either due to a leaking bag or a reduced charge effectiveness).

To those who apparently said "I don't want to see if a 25 year old Air Bag deploys correctly"

Vs what exactly? The certainty that by disabling it you get no protection at all? replace the bags with non-existant newly manufactured OE airbags? Retrofit one of the non-existant after market solutions?

Given the options (?) taking a chance with an old but extremely well engineered solution seems very much worth it to me (for the whole life of the vehicle). The only chance of harm that I see is if it deploys fully and the bag splits (this would likely still afford some crash protection) and then you may get charge chemicals on you which can cause some skin burns - this is not fatal and does happen occasionally even with new bags...

I suggest keeping the system going if at all possible. Disabling arbags for safety is a lot like not wearing a seat belt in case it traps you in your car - a very special kind of Darwin Award worthy thinking.

Alan

DKWalser

The concern I've heard is that the airbag will deploy when it's NOT needed, such as when you're cruising on the freeway. That would count as not deploying correctly and it could be much worse than having no airbag at all.

I don't know if it's a legitimate concern. I suspect that Porsche built in many measures to prevent premature airbag deployment. But, since there have been recent reports of airbags on much newer cars deploying for no apparent reason, I cannot discount the fear as being groundless. I don't share it. (The airbags on my '90 S4 are still installed.) I just think it's unfair to suggest that there's no possible reason to fear the bags might do more harm than good.

jej3

Yes, I think this is the genesis of the concern but no offense to anyone, I am trying my darndest to find out ...

1. How I can unplug my airbag controller to see if that makes a warning message go away
2. If the message doesn't go away OR if I want to leave my airbags operational, I will need to remove the Air Bag Controller and have it tested/rebuilt
3. At no point have I said I want to take all of the Air Bag system out of the car.

Thank you to those of you who have tried to help. I am genuinely in need of insight around unplugging and feel a little idiotic that I need guidance tracking down the correct connector to unplug.

I don't want to debate the merits of 25 year old Air Bag Systems. Good luck finding a Porsche dealer to service one.

Alan

I think that is the biggest bunch of baloney I've heard for quite a while.

Systems like airbags and ABS by their nature must have well engineered failsafes and redundancy built in along with system confidence checking (the OEM's lawyers demand it of course - can you imagine...?). The really good engineers get to work on this stuff.

Now businesses cannot legaly disable safety equipment like this due to NHTSA rules - this likely applies to individuals too to some extent.

http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/adap...e_ask_Ques.htm

So I'll say it again: disabling apparently functional airbags is a Darwin Award worthy choice.

Alan

jej3

Now come on Alan...stop preaching...

Read this from someone I HIGHLY regard on this board from my other thread about issues reading the airbag controller.

The 1990 MY Air Bag Systems are problematic. I sure as **** don't want to see this "Warning" forever NOR do I want to have the airbag randomly blow. To call it "Baloney" means you're saying Greg isn't telling the truth below.

This also confirms that 1990 MY is the only year (maybe 91 too) with the stupid INTEGRATED harness that shows in the pictures I posted above. I would have had the 1992+ Air Bag Controller OUT OF THERE already to at least test (or have it tested).



Be a bit objective, please. A broken Air Bag system isn't going to do anything and the prospect of taking out the whole freaking dash to get the box tested/rebuilt is the real "Baloney"

Alan

I said:

This doesn't cover your case - since they don't work anyway.

I have never heard of what Greg describes - and I would have expected to if it was in any way common...

There are ways to make airbags more likely to go off unexpectedly - like messing with the crash sensors for example...

Alan

Nicole

I'm surprised I have never read about an unwanted airbag deployment here. Maybe I missed it, but if it is such a common occurrence that we have to worry about, wouldn't we have seen plenty of warnings in the past?