Steering wheel upgrade (1 Viewer)

[bjowett]

Does anyone else feel like Toyota (amongst other manfacturers) really short change the trucks in the steering wheel department? My wife's Tacoma had a really plain 4 spoke non leather w/ cruise wheel that does the vehicle no justice. When a beautiful black leather airbag 3 spoke Lexus GS400 wheel turned up at price I could not refuse, I snagged it in hopes of retro fitting it to the truck.

Well, the dang thing is a bolt in, plug in, no cutting wires, no BS. From what I have gathered, turns out most, if not all Toyota/Lexus wheels can be swapped within cetain year ranges. 98 - 04. There are 2 connections, one 2 wire for the airbag, and a second 6 wire which works cruise, sport shift, and maybe radio? Unfortunately only the cruise and radio??? controls are wired into the clock spring on the wife's Taco. It would be real interesting if the sport shift buttons on the wheel could be plugged in to work the trannys on the Taco or Landcruiser. Shifting gears offroad w/o hands leaving the wheel would be quite nice.

If anyone w/ a 95 - 97 has any interest, maybe options for that truck could be figured out, too? My 93 non airbag will probably get some old 3 leather wrapped Supra type wheel. No shift option for me.

 

[cruiserdan]

Glad you like it but I'm not too sure about your decision. I think it may be a bad idea to trade "pillow" steering wheels around. The airbags are designed to suit individual vehicles and the part numbers are very specific. Toyota's position is airbags should never be salvaged and used in another vehicle. I mention this only to alert you to a potential problem down-stream, if the vehicle is ever involved in a collision serious enough to deploy the airbags.

In any case, I strongly urge you to retain the original wheel and put it back on in the event you sell the vehicle. In fact I will take it a step further and recommend that you pay a dealer to re-install it and keep the receipt. It could come back and haunt you some day.

D-

 

[Landpimp]

and there I was thinking that my 67 fj45 wheel would look good on my UZJ
.........would have been nice to have a air bag on the 45 with the harpoon steering

 

[bjowett]

Thanks for the concerns and ass covereings, Dan. I do plan to keep the stocker for resale of the truck... Suppose I don't see how the bag could really be that different, with all the different short and tall folks driving at various heights and distances from the wheel... well.. I don't know. I'm not a big fan of airbags, when the racers (F1, FIA World rally, even stock car) start using them, then maybe I'll consider them to be a good idea. The passenger compartment needs to stay intact... until then, they're still just pillows. Side bags are a different story.

It's not all looks, a nice fat rimmed wheel w/ proper rests for the thumbs can make a huge difference - ergonomics. Try it.

 

[turbocruiser]

[quote author=bjowett link=board=2;threadid=12666;start=msg116486#msg116486 date=1078623531]
Thanks for the concerns and ass covereings, Dan. I do plan to keep the stocker for resale of the truck... Suppose I don't see how the bag could really be that different, with all the different short and tall folks driving at various heights and distances from the wheel... well.. I don't know. I'm not a big fan of airbags, when the racers (F1, FIA World rally, even stock car) start using them, then maybe I'll consider them to be a good idea. The passenger compartment needs to stay intact... until then, they're still just pillows. Side bags are a different story.

It's not all looks, a nice fat rimmed wheel w/ proper rests for the thumbs can make a huge difference - ergonomics. Try it.
[/quote]

Respectfully, I must disagree with much of what was written here. I guess I'll go in random order with the thoughts but racers use helmets, not airbags!!! ??? Racers rely on radical technology in materials, engineering, and craftsmanship that makes almost any comparison to any conventional passenger car impossible. The main point though is that racers wear helmets and head and neck restraint systems so for these facts, do not decide whether or not an airbag is important to you and to your family based on whether or not Michael Schumacher has one in his F1!!! From what I have learned here, regarding a steering wheel swap, it is not so much that the airbags are designed for passengers of different sizes, it is that the airbag is designed for vehicles of different dimensions where the seats sit at such and such a level, the windshield is at so and so etc, and it is that the sensor/s that control the deployment of the airbags are calibrated for each vehicle based on weight and many other factors. From what I have read, those sensors are not anywhere in the steering wheel itself so swapping the steering wheel probably does not affect the sensors themselves but I would imagine that the things that are in the steering wheel would be matched to the signals of the sensors in the original vehicle. This may or may not be but until this is verified, I would think it really risky to start swapping steering wheels. JMHO I personally would take Dan's advice and put the original steering wheel on asap.

 

[e9999]

one thing I've been wondering about is whether there is any serious reliable source of info on the life expectancy of an air bag, and what that would be.
Anybody knows how long an airbag is supposed to be reliable for?
E

 

[turbocruiser]

[quote author=e9999 link=board=2;threadid=12666;start=msg116762#msg116762 date=1078684664]
one thing I've been wondering about is whether there is any serious reliable source of info on the life expectancy of an air bag, and what that would be.
Anybody knows how long an airbag is supposed to be reliable for?
E

[/quote]

Mercedes specifically stipulates a ten year replacement interval.

 

[97FZJ80]

has anyone ever tried to run a 100 series in an 80?

 

[lt1fire]

I think you might have just won the award for resurecting the oldest thread.... over 6 years

 

[FZJ80Cruiser]

I think you might have just won the award for resurecting the oldest thread.... over 6 years

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