Motorized fold-up airbag cover?

What your going to want to use is a small actuator (shorter will probably be better , but only a trial fit will tell) and some cabinet type hinges from like home depot . Hinges that open up and away do good , you will need to trim the factory cover since it has a retaining lip around the sides  and the airbag removes easily(disconnect vehicle power though) . It will take some trial fitting and moving to get the actuator to open and close fully being mounted (if you don't give it full range of motion than you may encounter problems down the road , and possilble problems means possible free labor to fix ) but if you are just wanting to put the gauges in there than you may just want to buy the gauge bezel from like NOPI that is a factory replacement with 2 gauge mounts in the corners by the smaller gauges of the factory cluster . I only offer that option because the time and money factor for the custom actuated airbag door may be more than its worth it to do it for , and that can open up  money to do other options like upgrading the factory hu or add a sub . You know your friend will spend the money on his car so show him what more you can do for him with the same money and less time and headache .  But a fiberglass gauge pod under the airbag would be cool , so see what they want to do . LaterSir

Before you make any modification like this please remove yoiur air bag entirely. If you do not, and the air bag goes off in an accident. the parts of your new custom dash will be ejected like shrapnel. your pasanger will be waring your LCD display like braces. I would recomend looking for a diffrent location. Head rests, Visors, Rear view mirror etc, for the LCD display. Low on the dash etc for guages.17 years in the 12 volt industry MECP 1st Class

tampering with an airbag such as disabling it is a federal offence and carries a $5000 penalty

Quote: Originally posted by SnomanF150 on September 19, 2002

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tampering with an airbag such as disabling it is a federal offence and carries a $5000 penalty

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is'nt taking off the tag on a mattress the same penalty? haaahahaha

anyway, for something that small i'd goto radio shack and get one of those small 12v motors, and put it onto a momentary dpdt switch... sort of like your power windows... and rig up some sort of arm to the motor so the airbag hatch will open and close.  

 {P align=center class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" target="_blank"}{st1:Street}{st1:address}{STRONG}DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION {/STRONG}{br}{STRONG}National Highway{/STRONG}{/st1:address}{/st1:Street}{STRONG} Traffic Safety Administration {?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /}{/STRONG}{/p}{P align=center style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" target="_blank"}49 CFR Part 595 {br}[Docket No. 74-14; Notice 107] {br}RIN 2127 - AG61 {SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 110pt" target="_blank"}{/SPAN}{/p}{P align=center style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" target="_blank"}{SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 110pt" target="_blank"}Air Bag Deactivation{/SPAN}{/p}{P class=MsoNormal}Vehicle owners may decide for themselves to have their air bags deactivated because they drive their vehicles under circumstances that resemble those in which people have already been killed by air bags or simply because of their generalized concern about air bags.{/p}{P class=MsoNormal}NHTSA is issuing this proposal to make it possible for vehicle owners to have their air bags deactivated by vehicle dealers and repair businesses{/p}{P class=MsoNormal} {/p}{P class=MsoNormal}NHTSA will grant deactivation requests after {st1:date Year="1998" Day="19" Month="1" target="_blank"}January 19, 1998{/st1:date}, only for those vehicle makes and models for which the vehicle manufacturer does not make on-off switches available.{/p}{div style="width:240px;border-bottom:1px solid #eeeeee;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:0px;"}{/div}{span style="font-size:.70em;line-height:1.2em;color:#000000;"}17 years in the 12 volt industry MECP 1st Class{/span}Please do not copy and paste from a rich text editor like Microsoft Word. Please copy and paste from a plain text editor like Notepad.

what the helllll is that?

In laimen terms , (from what I got)  they are  proposing a bill or something to have the owner of a said vehicle to be able to have his or her airbag de-activated if they choose , considering they know the possible  reprocussions of there actions  .And actually some vehicles like new Ford full-sizes for example come standard with a key switch on the dash to de-activate the pass air bag , and I am positve you wont be fined $5000 for turning the switch.  Still not sure of all the computer jargon that came with that post but that should should clear it up for you though . In my original reply to this post I was reffering to the complete removal of the factory airbag , not trying to get you to make a tv grenade .  Seems funny now though .  You all must have been searching the archives , this was from like a month ago . How has the post starter been doing with this possible project ? Sir

not sure... but i do remember this post from a month ago