I searched and there hasn’t been any threads for awhile on this:

The curl along the top of the airbag cover and the very obvious ribs on the steering wheel airbag has bothered me a bit. So, when I saw one in really nice condition on eBay for $180, I decided to buy it now. Except for a light scuff on the top towards the headliner, it looked new. No obvious lines or ribs and no curl. This may have been a replacement or newer generation production as the plastic wire retainer clip was different. The one that came out looks like it was manufactured in 2005 based on the time stamp molded into the plastic housing.
Removed the positive battery terminal and shorted the pos to neg terminals and walked away for about 10 minutes to make a tool and change out of my work clothes. I made a quick tool out of steel welding rod (hook and a t handle) small enough to slide through the slot in the plastic steering wheel housing located on either side. Found out that putting the open end of the hook towards the rear of the car was better. The closeup picture of the guide shows that I hooked on the wrong thing and pulled pretty hard. No big deal, but took a while to be sure I was on the spring clip. It only took about 10 lbs of force before the airbag poppedd out a couple of millimeters. I did the left then right side, not both at the same time like the YouTube video.
Took under 10 minutes, next one would be less than 5 mins. Hope this helps you.

Looks much better and the horn buttons have a small gap between them and the airbag again.

I think I’ll add a little heat to the curled edge and see if it will go back to where it should be. Might be a quick and easy repair....

Remember to be careful with static, if you mess with yours and fail to disconnect the battery, it could end badly. At least an airbag light you can’t clear or maybe a couple of black eyes! I don’t know if it’s urban legand, but better safe than sorry.






3 Connections on the airbag



This is the plastic guide to get the tool to the wire spring clip



Just like new!



Tool and spring clip



Tool made from a short piece of welding rod

 

Could anyone else possibly speak to the safety? Mines doing the same thing and want to know if this is a reasonable job to do on your own. Of course I can see that you did it but i'm also young and screw up on occasion lol.

 

The system is not that scary. If it was so sensitive, they would be going off all the time at random. There are several fail-safes to ensure accidental deployment does not happen. Even static shock would not be enough to set off a bag.