18TTony

I recently bought a damaged 2005 xB and have been getting it back to 100%. I didn't bother looking for any Step By Step instructions on replacing the airbags. I just grabbed tools and went at it. Here's how I replaced the airbags.....if anyone is interested, I did not have to remove the entire dash

PASSENGER SIDE AIRBAG:

#1, Use a small flat head screw driver and pry up on the edge of the passenger side speaker.


#2, Remove the passenger dash speaker using a phillips screw driver


#3, Depress the release tab on the speaker wire harness to get the speaker completely removed.


#4, Use a very small screw driver to remove the center screw which secures the instrument cluster bezel to the dash


#5 With that screw removed, you can now use a small flat screw driver to pry the instrument bezel trim piece away from the instrument guages......The lower section pops loose pretty easily. The section surrounding the speedometer also pops loose easily....just work your way around the trim bezel with the screw driver, however, there are three clips on the rectangular portion of the trim piece that may seem a bit difficult to remove......get your screw driver in there and make a small gap between the trim piece and the dash. Leave the screw driver in there. Get out of the xB and look thru the windshield to see where the clips are located so you will know exactly where to apply force when prying the clips loose.


#6 Remove the three screws that hold the instrument guage cluster in place.


#7, Disconnect the wire harness from the back of the guage cluster


#8, Use a small screw driver to pry and remove the small square piece of the dash located above the glove box door...this is an access hole to remove the 12mm bolt which secures the bottom of the airbag.


#9, This is what it looks with the small square piece removed.


#10, Use a ratchet, some extension and a 10mm socket to remove the 10mm bolt securing the airbag.....The angle is kind of tricky, but it's basically angled towards the front bumper......Here is the ratchet set up I used. Two extensions in all, one short extension and one 'stubby' extension and a shallow 10mm socket.


#11 Get your hand in there.....no surprises, most difficult part was discovering what angle the bolt is positioned in. Once the airbag bolts are loose, they will easily spin off using your fingers.


#12 Thru the empty speaker cavity, you will see the yellow wire harness connector for the airbag....there is no "release tab" for this connector....it took me a few minutes to figure out how it disconnects......there is a spring loaded sliding mechanism which, when slid across/in to the connector, it disconnects the plug. I held onto the airbag side of the wires and used a small screw driver to push the spring loaded thing towards the car side of the harness (if that makes sense).....I was surprised when the harness disconnected.


#13, You can now lift and remove the passenger side airbag.

18TTony

Oops.... I forgot to mention that once you have the speaker removed, you use a short 10mm wrench to access the airbag bolt thru the empty speaker cavity.

Damn, and I thought I did a pretty good write-up....

Anyone know How I can post bigger pics just incase I post more DIY write-ups?

I recently joined this forum and would like to be as helpful as possible.

jct

the pics are clickable