How to understand if my airbag has been deployed?
 

Hello,

I had problem - my car is with 3 spoke steering wheel and it has been redone with a new leather and so. The whole wheel looks great, except the airbag cover, which is in the original condition I suppose. So it looks really bad compared to the wheel.
But as far as I know If i give the cover to be redone it might be dangerous as the airbag might now work.
As my car is 986 boxster from 1998 I think that it might been in an accident before and the airbag has been deployed. So I should replase it.
But how to check that?
I have durametric and it says it is OK, there is no light on the board for that.
Is this enough as confirmation?

I don't want to steal this thread....but....along the same air bag topic I want to know if I should be concerned that my airbag is 23 years old in my 98' ?

If the bag was replaced and the code cleared the car wont know if it has ever been deployed.

As far as age, an airbag alone should never be used as the only safety method as even brand new airbags COULD not deploy. It's a secondary system (secondary restraint system SRS).

Only way to know if an airbag has been deployed in the life of a car is to own the car it's entire life, trust previous owner, trust sites like carfax, etc.

If if the airbag was replaced, there is no guarantee it was replaced due to deployment. Could have been part of a recall, replaced due to a sensor saying it is bad, etc.

So how long will an UN-DEPLOYED airbag last?....do OLD airbags or their "propellant" pose any issues in a 23 year old car? I'm more worried that it might suddenly "go off" without warning while driving.......or is that impossible without an impact?

Nothing is impossible, just improbable

You are more likely to win the lotto or get struck by lightning then an airbag going off due to age.

Did your airbag start drinking heavily after they turned 21? Don't trust a boozy airbag. If it goes to church every Sunday though I'm sure it will do the right then when asked to do so.

Seriously though, stl is right. The issue with older airbags was the deterioration of material that changed their nature to that of a pipe bomb. I don't personally know any examples of older airbags that failed to ignite under the proper circumstances. And I've never heard of any airbag just deciding to ignite because you looked at it wrong. But anything is possible...

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The issue with recent airbag issues wasn't cause of age. it was cause of the materials used & the climate they were in. That combination caused Takata to go bankrupt.

Ah...ok...got it.

my son old Volvo S60 (2002) got a warning message saying that the restraining system needed service and according to Volvo the airbags needed to be replaced as they were too old (almost 20..?) I am not sure if this would apply to all cars, but an airbag is an airbag

When the steering wheel airbag deploys it splits the vinyl or leather covering at designed relief in the material.
If the original cover of your airbag is intact, i would guess that the air bag has never been deployed.

Not great photos, but these should give you the idea.
Top picture is a four spoke wheel, lower photo is a three spoke wheel.


https://images.salvagecars.biz/uploa...96xs621482.jpg


https://images.salvagecars.biz/uploa...952s635709.jpg

I doubt it was old. More like something was detected that wasn't right.

Imagine if age were an issue, the mfg would have to replace every airbag forever as it is a safety item just like a seatbelt.