Paddletrucker
07-25-2011, 04:48 PM
My Cruise doesn't work, and my steering wheel is toast. The last owner put one of those cheap slip on covers over it, and I'm not really liking it. There's an aftermarket wheel I want to use, but it would require my relocating the controls for the cruise, which I pan to get working again, and remove the airbag, which I'm fine with. Prefer it, actually.
Okay. Let me preface this with a disclaimer. I know that no one will recommend removal of the airbag. I can already imagine all the examples of why I shouldn't remove it. Fact is, I'm not a fan of airbags, and never will be. Maybe you've had one save your life. I had one almost take mine. I lightly hit a deer that did hardly any damage to the Chevy truck I was driving and the airbag exploded. Not inflated, exploded. It nearly killed me. Took a helicopter ride to the hospital. My wife DROVE the truck home and I repaired it for about two hundred bucks. a little smashed plastic, that's all. I totaled a Dodge truck when a drunk came up out of a ditch. He had driven off of the road and was trying to make it back up the embankment onto the highway. He finally backed up and goosed it and launched onto the highway, unfortunately, right in front of me. THere was no cross road, and no reason for me to look for him, and he was almost impossible to see, anyway. I smashed into him at about 60mph. I didn't really have time to even hit the brakes. My foot made it over there and that's about it. Hit him almost broad side at 60mph, and the airbag never deployed. I've driven close to 2 million miles in a semi truck and never have wished I had had an airbag in all that time. My current semi doesn't have an airbag and that's fine with me. I wear my seat belt, and I'm a fan of the airbags made into the seat belt harnesses, but I'm no fan of the steering wheel airbags. You may love yours and that's fine with me. I'm not a fan and nothing anyone can say will change that. With all due respect, please don't bother trying to convert me. I understand and accept what comes with not having an airbag.
Okay, sorry for that long winded rant, but every time I've brought this up other places, I'm inundated with examples of how airbags save lives. I get it. I may be stubborn, but that's me. Two bad experiences for me has sealed the deal.
So, with all that crap being said, how difficult would it be to remove the airbag and relocate the buttons for the cruise onto the dash and put in a steering wheel I like better than the stock one? Anyone done this? I'm real picky about my steering wheels, and in my semi trucks, I've always been able to change them out without messing with anything besides the little horn in the center of the wheel. I found a wheel I'd really like in the jeep, but I'm wondering just how much I'm biting off here.
Thanks.
Okay. Let me preface this with a disclaimer. I know that no one will recommend removal of the airbag. I can already imagine all the examples of why I shouldn't remove it. Fact is, I'm not a fan of airbags, and never will be. Maybe you've had one save your life. I had one almost take mine. I lightly hit a deer that did hardly any damage to the Chevy truck I was driving and the airbag exploded. Not inflated, exploded. It nearly killed me. Took a helicopter ride to the hospital. My wife DROVE the truck home and I repaired it for about two hundred bucks. a little smashed plastic, that's all. I totaled a Dodge truck when a drunk came up out of a ditch. He had driven off of the road and was trying to make it back up the embankment onto the highway. He finally backed up and goosed it and launched onto the highway, unfortunately, right in front of me. THere was no cross road, and no reason for me to look for him, and he was almost impossible to see, anyway. I smashed into him at about 60mph. I didn't really have time to even hit the brakes. My foot made it over there and that's about it. Hit him almost broad side at 60mph, and the airbag never deployed. I've driven close to 2 million miles in a semi truck and never have wished I had had an airbag in all that time. My current semi doesn't have an airbag and that's fine with me. I wear my seat belt, and I'm a fan of the airbags made into the seat belt harnesses, but I'm no fan of the steering wheel airbags. You may love yours and that's fine with me. I'm not a fan and nothing anyone can say will change that. With all due respect, please don't bother trying to convert me. I understand and accept what comes with not having an airbag.
Okay, sorry for that long winded rant, but every time I've brought this up other places, I'm inundated with examples of how airbags save lives. I get it. I may be stubborn, but that's me. Two bad experiences for me has sealed the deal.
So, with all that crap being said, how difficult would it be to remove the airbag and relocate the buttons for the cruise onto the dash and put in a steering wheel I like better than the stock one? Anyone done this? I'm real picky about my steering wheels, and in my semi trucks, I've always been able to change them out without messing with anything besides the little horn in the center of the wheel. I found a wheel I'd really like in the jeep, but I'm wondering just how much I'm biting off here.
Thanks.