Heads up if upgrading to 991.x steering wheel
03-07-2018, 12:38 PM
#1
Heads up if upgrading to 991.x steering wheel
I recently purchased a porsche macan multifunction steering wheel without heating and an airbag separately to upgrade the old wheel with the pdk buttons.
Once i received the wheel and airbag i found out they were not compatible with each other. If anyone is doing the upgrade and buying the parts separately please note the back side of the airbag and the plugs on the steering wheel to make sure they work with each other.
front of Airbag i purchased
rear of airbag i purchased
rear of airbag i need which will work with the macan steering
Notice the difference in one of the plugs on the back. Just something to keep in mind if anyone is doing the upgrade.
I dont have the airbag part number or details from which year and model porsche it came from as i sourced it from a local breaker yard.
Once i received the wheel and airbag i found out they were not compatible with each other. If anyone is doing the upgrade and buying the parts separately please note the back side of the airbag and the plugs on the steering wheel to make sure they work with each other.
front of Airbag i purchased
rear of airbag i purchased
rear of airbag i need which will work with the macan steering
Notice the difference in one of the plugs on the back. Just something to keep in mind if anyone is doing the upgrade.
I dont have the airbag part number or details from which year and model porsche it came from as i sourced it from a local breaker yard.
09-18-2018, 07:48 AM
#2
Just want to bring to attention about the macan airbags people are buying used online.There are some available a lot cheaper than current oem new pricing $900-1000) are original Porsche airbags which have been modified. So be warned
The back of the airbag from some (not macans) airbags had a green and yellow plug as well as a metal grounding piece attached above the green plug (pic below).
These airbags were available for cheap. What many European parts dealers are doing is buying the above airbag and changing the green plug to a brown plug and shaving off that metal grounding wire attachment (picture below).
Hence if you look where that metal clip should be carefully, you can see it’s been shaved off in some online listings. I have no clue if airbag functionality is affected by doing the above mods(maybe nothing is affected) but personally I would not mess around with airbags.
Original Airbag (not sure to which model porsche it belongs to)
Same airbag as above but modified. See the new brown plug.
Modified further, brown plug and the metal clip on top shaved off
The above ones are available on online for half the price of a new one or lower
Below is the Original airbag with the newer style brown plug
There are also FAKE airbags in the market which have a completely different yellow sticker on the back of the airbag. These will also be generally available for $300 or under. You can tell by looking at the yellow sticker with a different font, it just looks cheap. UPDATE: Picture of (possible) Chinese airbag below
Please be very careful buying used/new airbags online. Ask for many pictures, front, back, sides. If still unsure, post here and maybe we can try to verify.
The back of the airbag from some (not macans) airbags had a green and yellow plug as well as a metal grounding piece attached above the green plug (pic below).
These airbags were available for cheap. What many European parts dealers are doing is buying the above airbag and changing the green plug to a brown plug and shaving off that metal grounding wire attachment (picture below).
Hence if you look where that metal clip should be carefully, you can see it’s been shaved off in some online listings. I have no clue if airbag functionality is affected by doing the above mods(maybe nothing is affected) but personally I would not mess around with airbags.
Original Airbag (not sure to which model porsche it belongs to)
Same airbag as above but modified. See the new brown plug.
Modified further, brown plug and the metal clip on top shaved off
The above ones are available on online for half the price of a new one or lower
Below is the Original airbag with the newer style brown plug
There are also FAKE airbags in the market which have a completely different yellow sticker on the back of the airbag. These will also be generally available for $300 or under. You can tell by looking at the yellow sticker with a different font, it just looks cheap. UPDATE: Picture of (possible) Chinese airbag below
Please be very careful buying used/new airbags online. Ask for many pictures, front, back, sides. If still unsure, post here and maybe we can try to verify.
Last edited by Presto; 09-24-2018 at 12:11 PM.
09-28-2019, 02:49 AM
#4
bumping this thread because i see a lot of fake airbags being sold on ebay and even some here on rennlist unfortunately. Please be aware of the macan airbag, check the plugs on the back. It should be a brown and yellow plug. check the yellow sticker and the font on the sticker. Compare and buyer beware. The pics i uploaded have unfortunately gone missing, will try to find them and re upload it.
05-11-2021, 02:30 PM
#5
Rennlist Member
I might have been bitten by this. I am doing a 991.2 wheel swap, and my airbag has one black and one brown connector. The brown connector might match up with the brown socket on the airbag, but the other one is definitely different. Anyone seen a brown and black plug on the back of an airbag?
08-26-2021, 02:00 PM
#6
bumping this thread because i see a lot of fake airbags being sold on ebay and even some here on rennlist unfortunately. Please be aware of the macan airbag, check the plugs on the back. It should be a brown and yellow plug. check the yellow sticker and the font on the sticker. Compare and buyer beware. The pics i uploaded have unfortunately gone missing, will try to find them and re upload it.
08-30-2021, 12:26 AM
#7
Pics of how a brand new airbag should look like from Porsche, compare the font type and sticker on the rear of airbag to this before buying a used one from china, eastern europe etc as there are many fakes floating around.
https://imgur.com/a/0YPeXHi
https://imgur.com/a/0YPeXHi
