[nissanlove]

well as most of you know, the murano's steering wheel get's pretty darn cold in the winter, and as most of you know, the maxima has an available steering wheel hearting option. i was wondering if anyone has tried retofitting the maxima stearing wheel with heater into the murano or if it was even possible?? thanks

 

[jpalm]

There are a few complications I would think.

1. Finding a extra Max steering wheel (a heated one at that in a matching interior color as you MO)
2. Airbag sensor compatiblity issues?
3. Will it even fit?

Dude....just wear some gloves!

 

[GripperDon]

BE VERY CAREFUL RE. THE AIR BAG. That is one event you will not believe. Depending upon the incident particulars it could badly injure you.

 

[10413]

BE VERY CAREFULL RE. THE AIR BAG. That is one event you will not believe. Depending upon the incident particulars it could badly injure you.

Agreed... airbags can be nasty beasts! You must follow service manuals carefully to disconnect sensors in the proper order, etc., before mucking around with anything near an airbag. Otherwise, you could easily end up with a broken nose, broken neck, shattered windshield... the list goes on.

Airbags are the worst part of doing custom stereo / alarm / etc. installs when I have to take the dashboard off.

 

[zebelkhan]

Agreed... airbags can be nasty beasts! You must follow service manuals carefully to disconnect sensors in the proper order, etc., before mucking around with anything near an airbag. Otherwise, you could easily end up with a broken nose, broken neck, shattered windshield... the list goes on.

Airbags are the worst part of doing custom stereo / alarm / etc. installs when I have to take the dashboard off.

In my wrecking yard days, I saw an employee thrown to the back seat and nearly killed while removing an steering wheel with airbag that suddenly deployed. I would not mess with it if I were you unless you absolutely know what you are doing.

 

[GripperDon]

Careful

Don't want this.

 

[crew219]

Just pull the negative and disconnect the airbag harness . . . nothing to it.

Dave

 

[10413]

Just pull the negative and disconnect the airbag harness . . . nothing to it.

I've worked on a couple cars where if you don't disconnect the sensors in a particular order it would trigger the airbags due to a fail-safe circuit.

Whenever dealing with airbags extreme care should be taken. I haven't looked into the Mo's system yet, I'll have to get a copy of the service manual. I saw a link that GripperDon posted in another thread....

 

[GripperDon]

These devices are too powerful to even suggest that anyone be a DIY in this area. Imagine someone getting really hurt if they following posted advice and they got hurt. Prudence is always necessary. Things can go wrong.

 

[CopperKat]

You could use a sheepskin cover to keep it warm

Steering wheel cover

 

[zebelkhan]

I am not 100% positive but I read somewhere that in order for the airbag to operate, some sort of a storage device (capasitor?) is utilized to set the bag off. Disconnecting the battery will not always work as the stored charge will still be sufficient to do the deed. I have heard after the battery disconnect one must still wait a period of time before doing anything else. That is what we did, waited 24 hours or more.

 

[Eric L.]

With al the apparent hassle involved in retrofitting a steering wheel, I would spend $30 and get a pair of decent gloves.

 

[GripperDon]

 

[crew219]

Sorry wrong! crew219! more to it than that, I designed and patented numerous air cushion restraint firing systems and actually know. These devices are too powerful to even suggest that anyone be a DIY in this area. Imagine someone getting really hurt if they following posted advice and they got hurt. Prudence is always necessary. Things can go wrong. Just like Prudence say don't crawl under a hoisted vehicles without jack stands as backups.

Well the instructions I'm quoting are pretty much standard for every VW/Audi vehicle . . . . straight from the bentley. Whether it be seats or steering wheels . . . you just disconnect the negative, ground yourself and pull. Heck the bentley doesn't even require that the negative on the battery be removed. I've done steering wheel swaps on my passat as well as two others as well as a few audis. Seen some people even do swaps with the ignition off only. Seat airbags were removed the same way.

The safing sensor ensures that airbags do not deploy accidentally. In a collision, the impact and safing sensors must agree that an airbag deployment is necessary. In addition, the sensors won’t trigger when the ignition is turned off, so someone bumping your car in a parking lot will not deploy the airbags.

Got that from this article on airbags. http://www.cars.com/carsapp/nationa...y&tf=/advice/safety/airbags/airbags_work.tmpl
Sorry but airbag controllers have advanced quite a bit from the days of quality FRAM filters
Since you've all downloaded the $20 service manual, I'm sure there's a procedure in how to remove the airbags. The procedure should not be drastically difference since I doubt airbags differ greatly amongst manufacturers.

2nd. . . . jackstands are NOT BACKUPS . . . jackstands should fully support the weight of the car and you use a floor jack as a backup in case a jack stand fails.

 

[crew219]

I am not 100% positive but I read somewhere that in order for the airbag to operate, some sort of a storage device (capasitor?) is utilized to set the bag off. Disconnecting the battery will not always work as the stored charge will still be sufficient to do the deed. I have heard after the battery disconnect one must still wait a period of time before doing anything else. That is what we did, waited 24 hours or more.

Electrical pulses from the control unit heat up the igniter wire which detonates the primer which sets off the rest of the explosive in the airbag unit. If anything has a capacitor it'd most likely be the airbag control module.

Dave

 

[GripperDon]

First it is not a detonator. It is an initiator, the Zirconium Potassium on the bridge wire ignites the output charge usually BKNO3 that then ignites either the Sodium Azide or equivalent gas generant. Detonators are used for "Secondary Explosives" Like RDX, Comp C, etc. Not gas generating materials that burn not detonate. There isno primer in an Air Bag. I have design, put into production, assembled and disassembled hundreds of inflator and Air Bag systems.

In life potential situations, just beacuse someone did somethng, that does not mean it wise to suggest it. Thats irr-reponsible.

 

[Eric L.]

With all due respect Dave, I would not use VW/Audi instructions when working on a Nissan. They may be correct, but I don't think its worth the risk.

 

[nissanlove]

hmm... sounds like this little modification would be quite expensive to do. what if a prefessional shop was to do it(a car repair shop with modification abilities), would you be able to get the whole unit from nissan perhaps(wiring harnes and steering wheel and all that other funky stuff)?? hey grip do you get paid from everytime someone uses one of your patents??

 

[GripperDon]

The Patents are unfortunately assigned to the Company you work for either as a regular employee or as a consultant.

 

[crew219]

Well you are still wrong. First it is not a detonator. It is an initiator, the Zirconium Potassium on the bridge wire ignites the output charge that then ignites either the Sodium Azide or equivalent. Detonators are used for "Secondary Explosive materials" Like RDX, Comp C, etc. Not gas generating materials.

Also Sorry things have not changed from the days of Quality Fram products as I am still a leading expert in the area and frequently paid for testimony in trial cases as an "expert Witness" I have over 35 patents in the air bag arena, covering inflators, gas generators, I designed the NASA Standard Initiator used exclusively for every spacecraft since Apollo. What are your qualifications? other than to try and dis every post I make. It's pleasure to have someone to put on the ignore list.

In life potential situations, just beacuse you saw someone do somethng, that does not mean it wise to suggest that someone take a possible risk with their life beacuse one else doesn't care about their own. That plain irr-reponsible.

first of all . . . . I never called it a detonator . . .

second of all . . . does it not seem like you agreed with me by using all your fancy inflated talk? "It is an initiator, the Zirconium Potassium on the bridge wire ignites the output charge that then ignites either the Sodium Azide or equivalent."

thirdly . . . the matter at hand is how to remove the airbag, not how it works.

these are instructions for a 98 maxima http://www.american-stitches.com/amstitches/Remove/8961CHAPTERSuspension&Steering.htm

Pretty straight forward and similar to what I said.

Here's another more general one. http://www.i-car.com/html_pages/abo...ge/advantage_online_archives/2004/083004.html

Same procedure.

fourthly, I have done this many times for different people. I've even installed a resistor across the two leads going to the airbag wires for people that don't want to run with an airbag. There was even a swap where I witnessed of a full MKIV interior and drivetrain swap into a MKIII which involved installation of an airbag control module and FOUR airbags. I almost want to say that you have not taken apart the system by yourself at all. You might know a lot on the subject of design of the airbag itself but not how to service it.

If anyone has access to the actual airbag removal instructions for the 2003-up Murano I would gladly invite them to post them here. My thoughts are that it won't be that different from the Maxima. I however am not willing to pay $20 to prove a point.

Fifthly . . . grip, if I have offended you so much, then go ahead and put me on your ignore list. However, I don't believe that I've said anything offensive to you other than the FRAM comment but it seems that you have problems taking criticism from opposing views and different sources. I bear you no ill will.

That being said, everyone have a safe new years and don't deploy your airbags in a DD accident

Dave