[HillRat]

Removing the airbag impact sensor and then rewiring it to bypass the fault detection, without triggering the airbags, is also indicative of someone who has extensive experience in something no one should normally have experience in.

[quickthrowman]

Would this be anything more than a 1k or 10k resistor across a pair of terminals to make the ECU think a sensor was connected when it wasn’t? All that would require is a wiring diagram and a resistor, along with access to the car.

I doubt the airbags deploy when the impact sensor is disconnected, that wouldn’t be a very good failure mode. Maybe Takata airbags did that? /joke

[cucumber3732842]

That's shitbox-101 level stuff (if you're in a dumb state where they'd rather you monkey with stuff to turn a dash light off than just rock the light).

[RankingMember]

I've owned plenty of shitboxes and done my share of goofy fixes, but fucking around with integral safety equipment like airbag wiring is where I draw the line and get it fixed for real. It's one thing if it's only ever you in the car and you don't care about your own safety, but if other people are ever in the car they're going to rightfully expect you've at least got the safety equipment working to factory standard.

[cucumber3732842]

>I've owned plenty of shitboxes and done my share of goofy fixes, but fucking around with integral safety equipment like airbag wiring is where I draw the line and get it fixed for real. I

<eyeroll>

Everything is "integral safety equipment" if you screech enough. A lot of cars didn't even come with airbags.

The people who are relocating to DC to make "it's really about serving your country" money working for DOGE while getting reamed by the local COL don't care. They're gonna be there a few years. They just need the $1700 04 Camry they're about to be the 9th owner of to have A/C and get them to work long enough for them to buy something real. Seriously, the DC area is full of this kind of stuff.

While the brake situation in TFA is sus, the airbags not working seems like the sort of typical thing that gets lost when the 5th owner crashes it, has his sketchy mechanic patch it up that way, drives it for another year, he tells the 6th owner. The 6th owner blows the engine up, doesn't think that's worth mentioning when he sells it as parts. The 7th owner is a flipper who fixes it and has no reason to look. Etc, etc. That sort of non-obvious stuff gets lost.

> but if other people are ever in the car they're going to rightfully expect you've at least got the safety equipment working to factory standard.

These are the kinds of cars where the passengers expect nothing and are pleasantly surprised.

[snozolli]

I would like to know the history of this car. I'm not doubting the claims, but a plausible explanation is that he bought the car used, possibly with a salvage title, and the flipper he bought it from bypassed the blown airbag. Airbags are expensive, and it's not uncommon to just replace the steering wheel cover where it went off.