Expedition steering wheel airbag removal

[daeven]

Does anyone know where the nuts/screws to remove the steering wheel airbag are located? I want to add the stereo steering wheel controls to my Expedition steering wheel. There's plenty of information on removing the airbag from the gen 2 steering wheel, but I can't find anything on the gen 3.

A second question - do all steering wheels have the wiring for the stereo controls? I can't imagine the answer is no, but adding the wiring would be difficult if it is not there. After all, the 4WD switch wiring is in the 2WD models.

I've removed the airbag on other cars, so I know what to do once I locate the screws.

 

[RI-Matt]

PM your email address and I will send you the procedure from the manual.
It's a little lengthy to retype, plus it has diagrams.


Matt

 

[mrford60]

i can be a pain but, take the cover off the column( screws under the column), and get a mirror and look at the back of the steering wheel, there are 3 clips that you have to push the pin off the clip with a straight screw driver. it will pop off and them unplug the air bag. i dont know about the radio controls but if you find out please post it here because i wanted to do that with mine also.

 

[911jason]

I'd be interested to know how hard this is also. I was looking at replacement steering wheels recently and you have to remove the airbag as part of the replacement procedure I believe. The biggest thing I miss from my old Limited is the wood steering wheel!

 

[daeven]

Thanks Matt and MrFord. I spent the weekend getting the rear-view camera working, and doing a bit of dirt-biking, so I didn't have a chance to take a closer look at the steering wheel.

I am a bit curious about the "depower the SRS" steps. I haven't done anything like that before, but just disconnected the battery for 15 minutes before digging around anywhere near the airbag. Is there something special about Ford airbags that you need to do the extra steps? I'm actually hoping that the airbag won't need to be unplugged - that I can just get it a bit loose to see the extra wiring back there.

If I had a fiber optic camera and small light that I could just stick in the hole the steering wheel control wiring should come out of, I'm sure I could see it. In any case, I'm sure I'll be peeking around in there by next weekend, and will report back what I do find. I don't think I mentioned it in the first post, but I did find a dealer who says he can order the steering wheel radio controls for about $100.

 

[mrford60]

i have never had any problem unpluging ford airbags, with just taking off the neg battery cable.

 

[daeven]

I was able to get the airbag loose and look behind it without disconnecting the wires, and there is another connector in there which I presume is for the steering wheel stereo controls. The connector is fixed in place, so that means the steering wheel stereo controls must include a cable. I will try to order the controls tomorrow and give it a shot. Just so it's useful for the next guy, I'll plug the stock stereo back in to see if any other changes are needed, or if this is a good cheap upgrade for the base model Expedition.

 

[daeven]

I received the steering wheel stereo controls. They do not include the required wiring harness, and my previous assessment of an unused connector within the steering wheel was incorrect. For another $50, I could purchase the wiring for the controls, but I don't see anywhere to attach them.

I did find a discussion on an F150 forum where someone added controls by adding pins to the clockspring terminals. The only problem I have is there appears to be two extra connectors, but the new switches have 6 connections. On the (older) F150, only 2 lines were needed to use the extra buttons.

In summary, this appears to require a bit more than I'm willing to do at this point. Perhaps I'll find a King Ranch steering wheel on ebay in the future for cheap and make an attempt later without having to buy all the parts at MSRP.