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VE Steering Wheel Removal - How To Take Off The Airbag

Troy711

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Alot of people have been asking how to remove the steering wheel on a VE.. so here is a bit of a guide on how to do it.

Step 1:
Locate and remove the airbag fuse (look in the passenger footwell). I like to switch the car to 'on' after I have pulled the fuse just to check that I have the right one. It will come up with 'Airbag Fault' if you have done it correctly. Some people say to remove one side of the battery too, that is entirely up to you.

Step 2:
Turn the steering wheel 90° left

Step 3:
Feel behind the steering wheel and locate a square hole (circled in red)
Back001.jpg


Step 4:
This is where it can get fiddly. Put a flat blade screw driver in the hole with the blade running horizontal (as shown by the red line in the previous picture).

Basically you are trying to pull the retaining clip away from the airbag hooks. The clip system has been traced in red (on one side only) to give you a better idea of how it works. The green circles are the springs which hold both sides of the clip system together.
Back002.jpg


This is a close up of one side of the clip.
Back003.jpg


The screw driver blade will go behind the red circle and the two red arrows are where the airbag hook underneath. When you lever the screw driver upwards it will pull the clip across enough to 'pop' out one side of the airbag.

Step 5:
Turn the wheel 90° right and repeat. The airbag will now come off freely.

Step 6:
Unclip the blue and orange plugs that go to the airbag.

Step 7 (for total removal of steering wheel):
This is only going from memory (but it isn't too hard to work out what is going on).
Unclip the white plug in the center of the steering wheel

Step 8:
Undo the big torx nut in the middle using a T45 torx bit and you are done.
EDIT: I've been told a T50 works better but I haven't tried it myself.


Like I said, it is very fiddly and might take some time to actually get the airbag off but once you know what you are doing and how the clip system works it is pretty easy. If you have any questions or if I haven't explained something properly here just post and I will try and answer them.
 
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NickVR

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Well done. Great post, if we still had rep points you would one more right here.
 

DJ Ice

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Nice work...two questions though when you undo the torx nut in the centre I assume you have to give the wheel a bash from behind to remove it like earlier Commodore wheels ? Did it take much force to remove ?
 

davey g-force

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Awesome write-up Troy! :thumbsup:

In the VY, turning the ignition on whilst the airbag fuse was pulled out was a big no no, as it would log an airbag fault which could only be cleared using a Tech2. Is this the case with the VE?
 

Troy711

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Nice work...two questions though when you undo the torx nut in the centre I assume you have to give the wheel a bash from behind to remove it like earlier Commodore wheels ? Did it take much force to remove ?
Mine actually slipped pretty much right off. I think I may have given it a tiny wiggle side to side to get it going but it required bugger all effort.
 

Troy711

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Awesome write-up Troy! :thumbsup:

In the VY, turning the ignition on whilst the airbag fuse was pulled out was a big no no, as it would log an airbag fault which could only be cleared using a Tech2. Is this the case with the VE?

Good question... mine didn't show a fault and hasn't done yet. (Fingers crossed)
 

redmick

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Great post thanks a lot i just bought a new Red hot wheel for my VE Calais and thanks to your post i had it fitted in 20 minutes the wheel itself was not a problem to pull off as it is on a parallel spline so once i undid the torx bolt it pulled straight off on it can only go back on in the same spot due to the design of the spline.I decided just to disconnect the battery rather than remove the fuse it was simple.The bigger the blade on the screwdriver the better as i just turned it but the screwdriver has to be short enough to fit behind the wheel with out being too long and the dash getting in the road.
Cheers
Redmick
 

davey g-force

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Troy,

I started doing this today, following your instructions but didn't get very far. I'm hoping you or someone else here could help out.

Firstly, I couldn't find an airbag fuse in the passenger footwell in my car (SSV). I then checked the fuse box under the bonnet and found a 10A fuse marked "airbag" there. Thing is, when I pulled that fuse out and then turned the ignition on, I didn't get the "airbag fault" message. I didn't want to risk the airbag deploying, so thats as far as I got.

Can anyone tell me exactly where the airbag fuse is on an SSV? If not, is it good enough to simply disconnect the battery? The problem is, I need to re-connect the battery half way through to turn the car on so I can turn the steering wheel 90°! Is that risky if the fuse is still in? :confused:
 

andyman

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id personally disconnect the battery, that way you know the car has lost all of the power, you are assured there will no mystery circuits that may still keep parts of the air bag system active,

great write up there troy
 
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