airbag interchange???

[robmpulse]

I have an '89 535i. I need a replacement airbag. Up to what year can I use?

[kalevera]

They should all work, excepting the '95 cars with the steering wheel change (and that's cosmetics). The pigtail stayed the same throughout production. Hmm..guess I should've sent you that airbag after all.

How did the column go in?

[robmpulse]

lol, the column is great. after I had it all together, my horn kept blowing on it's own. After taking the airbag on and off about 5 times trying to correct this problem, I striped one of the bolts and also the insert in the airbag housing.

I called the dealer trying to get the bolt and the insert. they said no problem! the bolt comes with the steering wheel ($795.00) and the insert comes with the airbag ($999.00)

what a joke. Leave it up to BMW to make you buy $1,800 worth of parts to get the $0.15 worth of parts you need.

I do computer work for a salvage yard that has a couple E34's. but their columns are telscoping and I thought they had different plugs for the airbag, but I might be wrong. I think one is a 92 and the other is a 94.

He said he would give me what I need, I just want to make sure I get the right parts. I would hate for the airbag to blow on me going down the road.

ALSO - I assumed when I took the airbag off that the plug would only go in one way, so I nver looked. when I went to put it back on, it would actually go in both ways. Does it matter which way it goes in???

Thanks for all the help so far. And the column, too! I should have just bought it all together, but tried to save a few bucks. We all know how that usually ends up, lol......

[TomG]

Use this site: http://bmwfans.info/original/
Once you have the diagram for the part in question, you can click on the part number, and get all the application data on that part. It will open in a new window, and you can drill down and get everything you need to know including when fitted up to a specific production month. Or, you can place your trust in the interchange system that the yard uses. Hollander is generally fairly accurate, but they occasionally screw up on cars that aren't mainstream.

[robmpulse]

yea, I had a problem sorcing my column through a couple different salvage yards.

It's all together now. I just cleaned up the threads on he bolt and tapped the insert. It's good as new now!

thanks for the info