Air bag recall/ how do I disconnect my airbag?
 

My 06 Ram 2500 is listed as one of the vehicles that have the Takata drivers side exploding airbags on it. There is no recall out on it yet and based on the 20 million vehicles that it is installed on, I suspect it will be a long time before I get a recall notice and they have the parts to do it.

I would rather drive without a functioning drivers side airbag than with one that might kill me if deployed. So how do I disconnect the airbag without it going off until they can replace it or confirm that it is OK?

Me too! "Come on Dodge help"! :o

I would imagine that it would be the same process as older vehicles. I use to disable quite a few of them, but that's been years ago...

I would unplug them in the steering column, make sure the batteries are disconnected, before unplugging any airbag wires. The airbag pigtail used to be yellow, or yellow tag of some sort on them on the ones I've been into.. Best of luck with your endevor.

Talked to my local dodge dealer yesterday,as my truck falls in the years that are affected and I wanted mine disconnected and the service manager said they can't shut them off on the newer vehicles cause they are powered through the TIPM and not a fuse like in the older models. Don't know if he was just pulling my leg or if that is a legal thing preventing them from disabling safety features. He also said he hadn't heard of any recalls being done in Canada yet but would let me know as soon as he heard of anything.
There is quite a writeup on Car and Driver online about the recall and a story on the plant itself on MSN this morn.

Anyone else? Hard to believe someone on this forum hasn't figured out how to disable an airbag on these rigs. What happens if you have to replace a steering wheel or column?
Sawyer1, I'm thinking that the dealers WON'T do it as a CYA for liability purposes. But there must be a way.

I haven't read the Car and Driver write up yet, but my understanding is the original recall is for southern, high humidity states and Hawaii. NTSB stated last week they want a recall on all vehicles with this airbag regardless of geographical area. Of course there are not nearly enough parts to do 20 million vehicles so I suspect most of us will have to wait for the recall and parts. But that doesn't mean the bags are safe.

I justpicked up my 06 last week, where can I find the details on the affected vehicles? I'm calling my local dodge dealer tomorrow but expect little to no help given past experience with them


thanks

I found it.... still no direct information on those of us not in the original few locations

I would bet the air bags con not be removed, they go through the computer, as when wrecked the engine can"t be cranked with out new air bags and programming the computer, the computer will not activate the arming process with out the resistance of the air bags, sorry but SOL;;

Ouch ! I hope that is not the case. I am learning something here that I didn't know. Are you saying that if I get in a minor fender bender that deploys my airbag that my truck is DIW (dead in the water)??? I can't start it and drive away even if my damage is minimal????

I use my truck off road way out in the boonies for hunting a lot. Although I haven't banged up this truck yet, I have banged the front bumper pretty hard on previous pre airbag trucks and drove away with nothing more than a bent bumper. I would hate to think that in a similar situation that my RAM is going to get me stranded 20-30 miles in the back country in foul weather because I slow slid off the road into a tree or a rock!

Bump for an update. Anyone figure out how to safely disable these bags or drive away your truck after a bag deploys??