How do you remove passenger airbag from a 1997 silverado?

Answer 1

This is not the recommended way I am sure but it worked for me and saved a huge amount of time. Unhook battery and turn key to on and let vehicle rest for several minutes before proceeding. Remove the glove compartment by compressing the tabs on both sides and pulling down. Get a light and locate two 10mm nuts on the back side of the airbag. I used a ratchet wrench. That is the easy part. This is where I began to cheat. The correct procedure from this point is to remove the entire dash to access the lower bolts which are farther back and inaccessible without the dash removed. Being a genius and/or lazy I opted to use my die grinder with an aggressive bit to grind off the heads of the bolt studs you can see. Use a flat screw driver to pop the studs free once you have the heads ground flat. Presto the airbag can now be pulled out. Cut the wires as close to the airbag as you can. Once the old bad is out of the way you can easily get to the plug to unhook the wires you just cut. Pull out the orange safety retainer and depress tab to remove. Now you are ready to modify your new bag. Grind off the studs on this bag and discard. Find a pair of nuts and bolts to use to replace these studs. Be sure you grind out or drill out the stud holes to allow for easy adjustment. Put the bolts through the original holes the studs went through after removing the clips. Throw a spot of weld on the heads of the bolts to hold them in place. Get your airbag in place and be sure to PLUG IT IN and secure the plug properly. Slide the bag back in place and put the nuts back on. Install glove compartment and done.