E32 Steering Wheel compatibility- What fits E32?

[moroza]

Either remove the facebomb module, or open up the gaugecluster and remove the two (yes, two) bulbs behind that light.

[2shelbys]

Facebomb. LOL. Removing the bulbs was my first thought.

[moroza]

The lines of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208 prior to 1998 specified that airbags be tuned to save the life of an unbelted occupant. Between the lines reads what NHTSA itself found in several studies, mostly in the late 90's: that tuning them for that task made them overpowered for the lesser job of reducing injuries to properly belted occupants, and often had the opposite effect - broken wrists, noses, burst eardrums, and occasionally fatalities caused by the airbags themselves, which in some cases detonated from accidents so minor that there'd've otherwise been no injuries at all. The notion of holding an explosive device in front of my face because the government wants better news on the mass-statistics front - where a fatality count (unlike injuries, or worse, context) is easily-digesible knee-jerk fodder - in an effort to keep the stupid swimming in our gene pool... doesn't sit well with me.

That's in addition to those that misfired and launched shrapnel or whatnot (Takata et al). Furthermore, even a non-defective airbag isn't designed to last several decades. While my testing can't be considered scientifically rigorous - I take them into a field and use them for rifle practice - I've anecdotally observed highly variable results when they do detonate: some make a boom comparable to the one that triggered them with a smoky flash to match, others make a meek pop and launch a feeble ragged jellyfish a meter or two. A friend happened to be visiting the last time I had one (from an E34):

airbag 1.jpg

The standard changed in 1998, and is US-specific; European regulations are different, and I've gathered that their airbags are gentler.

[m60power]

airbag 1.jpg

The standard changed in 1998, and is US-specific; European regulations are different, and I've gathered that their airbags are gentler.

Now that looks like a super fun way to dispose of airbags! I definitely don't have a lot of confidence in the performance of the ~30 year old airbags in my cars; they're so old it would be surprising if they actually functioned in an accident haha.

[2shelbys]

I solved the issue of deciding which steering wheel to try and retrofit to the car. I found a nicely restored correct M-Technik wheel, 32332226085, that was originally available as an option on the car. I removed the SRS bulbs and boxed up the facebomb wheel for storage. By the way, these steering wheels are still available new. The price in just above or below $1,000, depending where you look.


Not sure why it insists on loading sideways, but I have had this happen before.

M Technik.jpg