Todynot

I'm sure most have seen this bracket and many have probably installed, which I'm about to do in the coming days. The question is can it be done without disconnecting the car battery forcing the readiness codes to reset? Appreciate the comments.

993c4_Toronto

I would say a hard no. That would mean that you're messing about with disconnecting the airbag while it's still powered. Sounds dangerous to me. I'm literally just doing that project now - I'm swapping my wheel and I disconnected the battery.

Drifa

You can but it's extremely ill advised. You really don't want the airbag to go off in your lap.

Todynot

Safety first, so will do as I suspected would be necessary. Was hoping there was some trick. Thanks anyways for responses.

Last time I removed airbag I disconnected the battery and getting the readiness codes reset was a pain. I’m due for inspection in a few months and will fail if not reset.

samurai_k

You can disconnect the battery, remove the airbag, and reconnect the battery to save your codes.

If you turn on the car you without the airbag connected it will then trigger an airbag fault which you can reset with a durametric or equivalent...

akrca4

How about with a battery maintainer plugged into the cigarette lighter? Will that prevent the code reset? I guess more importantly, will that trigger the airbag?

Todynot

As I understood it, disconnecting the car battery turned off OBD2 readiness codes and the only way to turn them back on is via the drive cycle. I’m looking for a way to avoid this but still safety disconnect the airbag.

evilfij

So I would not advise this, but you could probably do the o-ring fix with the airbag attached to its wires.


Or just do some drive cycles after you are done.

PRSWILL

No No No- No Power to the car while you do this. Also when you do disconnect the battery, let the car sit for about 20 minutes before you do this install. theres a capacitor in line with the airbag circuit that needs to discharge or you could risk setting it off while disconnecting the bag. I did this job when I first go the car- it's not hard, but you definitely want to follow the protocols.

pp000830

Nope, you will need to detach the airbag to thread its wire through the middle of the new part so a battery disconnect is required.
Unless you simply don't replace the part. Why are you doing this?
Insights into what happens when one doesn't disconnect the battery:

Drifa

You do not want this to happen in your lap.

Todynot

I'm replacing the bracket with a new one to cure unwanted horning.

Any merit to akrca4's idea about plugging a tender into cigarette lighter? Would this keep codes intact even if the car battery is disconnected? Are they any fuses or connectors that can be pulled to kill power to the airbag and allow car battery to stay connected?

It's only a slight hassle to go through the multiple drive cycles it took to reset codes last time, but if there's a chance...

Thanks again.

Kika

You can do what you like, but you can also just add o-rings to your existing bracket for about a total cost of $3 or less to cure the horn issue. DIY is well documented (althgouh the video I found most useful was actually for a 986)

When my mechanic installe by RS steering wheel, he did not disconnect the battery, although he has decades of experience, Personally, I would disconnect the battery AND wait abut 20-30 minutes to let the capacitor discharge, as I understand it, the airbag has a capacitor that retains power for about 20 minutes, after it is disconnected.

SAFETY FIRST!

PRSWILL

What "codes" are you talking about resetting anyway?

pp000830

+1 - Kind'a why I asked the question why.