Airbag removal

Pete R · Pete R's Garage

I want to take the airbags out of my 88 951. Fortunately the removal process is very clear in the manual. They don't however tell you what to do if you don't want to put them back in. Can I just pull the 2 airbags and control unit and call it a day .. or do I have to jump some circuits to have my car function.. I figure you guys will have done this more than the " 944 forum" readers thanks

#391 · 01-20-2011, 06:03 PM

If you just disconnect the airbags, the car won't run. Here's a simple solution, and it's reversible in case you ever decide to hook the airbags up again.

There's a harness just off the airbag controller (an orange box behind the glovebox). The harness looks like this...

Pull the harness sides apart, this is the "car side" (as opposed to the side that goes to the controller)...

Make a short jumper wire, and stick it in as shown...

Stick a piece of tape over the jumper wire to prevent it from falling out...

Leave the harness disconnected, zip tie it up and out of the way so it isn't dangling around.

Pete R · Pete R's Garage

THANK YOU! I have been researching this with very little luck. Does your way turn out the airbag light too? Someone else suggested 3 ohm resistor bridging the airbag plug once it's removed. basically fooling the system.. it would also still cut out the fuel pumps in the event of a crash since the controler isn't disabled... does this sound accurate?

#391 · 01-20-2011, 06:50 PM

Yes, the airbag light was "silenced" as well with this method.

Not sure about using the resistor. Since I did this on my race car, I did not want the fuel pump cutting out via the airbag controller. Instead I used an ignition cutoff switch, just in case.

Pete R · Pete R's Garage

Jim , your input was much appreciated. I may tackle it next weekend. I'll post how it goes.

Pete R · Pete R's Garage

Didn't go so well. I tried to use a 3 ohm resistor (actually 3 10's in parallel, maybe that was the problem.) I couldn't get the lights to turn out. The car did run however with no airbag and no jumper . I will now just disable the entire system as suggested. thanks pics were very helpful!