I have to start taking my 5 month old daughter to daycare in my 97 Dakota. I
have to put her in the front passenger seat in her car seat and I want to
disable my airbag for her safety.
I went to my local dodge dealership yesterday (Barrett Dodge, Athens, Ga.) and
spoke with the service dept. I asked him if there was a kit to upgrade my 97 so
that I could manually turn the air bag on and off. He immediately informed me
that I have to get a waiver from the NTSB to have it disconnected. Then I would
have to find a dealer to disconnect it, and I wouldn't find one due to liability
reasons. I again advised him that I didn't want to just disconnect or cut the
wires, that I was wanting to put a disable feature in mine like the 98 and newer
trucks so that it would still be active if I have an adult passenger. He then
said he was not aware of any retro-fit available, but again went into a huge
dissertation about needing the waiver first. I then asked him to forget about
the damn waiver for just a moment and tell me my options about the air bag. He
then had the gall to tell me that it was a catch-22. I then got pretty pissed,
while I was standing there holding my daughter and told him very sternly that my
daughters safety was not a catch-22. I then walked out so pissed that I decided
to wait a day before writing this so it wouldn't have to have a NC-17 rating.
Here's my question:
Has anyone ran into this situation before on a 97 Dak? If so how did you remedy
it. After being in law enforcement for almost 12 years, I don't want to commit
a "Federal offense" but I have got to do something. Any replies on here or
privately will be welcomed.
My options I'm aware of now are:
1. Strip a wrecked 98+ Dak out of a salvage yard and try and retro fit it.
2. Cut the wires and totally disable it
3. Accidentally set the damn thing off while I put on the 3" body lift I
purchased from Erika Ipes and super glue the cover back in place.
Or lastly....4. Run the truck into something and set it off....this was my
wife's idea of which I promptly told her it wasn't an option...i.e....both air
bags go off, and I have to repair front of truck.
Sorry for the long post, but this is very important to me. Any ideas on how to
fix this problem will be welcomed and will stay confidential due to liability
reasons. lol
Thanks,
Mel Janousek
97 Dak, CC, 4X4 with Tuff Country 5.5 lift, 33" BFG's and other mods
www.superskunks.com
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