Looking for some help answering a few air bag questions. I recently purchased a 07 2dr and one of the first mods I decided to do was add Cruise Control. When I took the steering wheel apart I noticed the air bag was not connected to the wires coming out of the column. This may explain the air bag light on the dash. I know the Jeep had previously been in an accident, I am assuming both air bags were deployed but were not replaced or were replaced but not connected. My questions are below.

1) How can I "test" the steering wheel center section to see if there is an air bag and if it is any good?

2) Assuming its good, what connector do I need, right now I just have 4 random wires coming out of the column.

3) Does the air bag have to be connected? I know to work it does, but if I don't care about an air bag, can I turn off the light?

Thanks,
Huck

 

Be careful. An air bag can kill you.
Always disconnect the battery negative terminal and wait 10 minutes before working on anything that involves the air bag system.

Not knowing the status of the explosive materials in the system, including the sqibs for the bag in question and all the other components, your best bet is to have someone look at it who has the knowledge, tools, and experience to work on the system.

Messing with the broken wires can cause the bags to not deploy when needed, or to deploy when not needed.

 

+1 on ronjenx.

I had an 07 Sahara and had been doing logitics at the airport and think someone had hit my jeep while it was parked. Got in it after the day was over, turned on the key and BOOM! The bag friction burned both my forearms and gave me a good wallop in the face. plus the dust from it aint pretty in your eyes or lungs!
Different set of circumstances from you but just a warning. After being in the direct line of fire from one with no warning when it deployed, they aint something to be messed around with. I'm pretty competent with wroking on cars and I leave them well alone!
Plus they save your life in real accidents so unless you have 100% knowledge on them, do you really want to connect it in yourself? Take it to someone who knows or even better, the dealer. Might be costly but you know its done and done right.

 

Air bag harness' should never be repaired so I hate to be the bear of bad news you will need a new harness . Hopefully the steering colum harness splits off the main harness with a conector. I think if you take the air bag itself to the dealer they should be able to test it for you to make sure its ok before you plug it in. i have to deploy air bags at work so we can throw them in the trash and it is a pretty violent explosion when the go off.