Re: loose mystique air bag

On Sat, 26 Apr 2008 22:38:48 -0400, clare wrote:

>Like I said Bruce, I'm an Ontario Licenced mechanic - and I have the
>full manual set for this car. The airbag unit has NOT been changed.
>Still the same cover and all.
>
>My question was whether anyone has ever experienced the screws
>loosening themselves? The steering wheel and/or air-bag has never been
>removed from this car. The column cover has been off, and the
>multifunction switch has been removed and repaired (I did it last
>month because the main brake lights were not coming on - only the
>center brake lights - signals still worked. Bad connection on the MF
>switch - and if you know Mystique/Contour/Mondeo cars, the MF switch
>clips to the side of the steering column - removing the wheel is not
>required.)
>
>I really can't see the screws backing themselves out - and the fact
>there were scratches on the screw-heads makes me think someone was
>trying to remove it and got interrupted.

  So?  Screws can back out on their own.  But I've never heard of
screws getting scratches on the head (like someone was putting a
driver in the holes blind, and in a hurry) while backing themselves
out.

  If you are willing to bet your life they didn't tamper with the
bags, just tighten the screws and quit worrying us about it.

  My car, I'd pull the cover and take a peek to make sure I still have
a real airbag under there, as they are a very popular theft item - and
it has to be possible to fake the computer with an end-of-line
resistor instead of a live blasting cap initiator.  As long as the
ignition was off while they worked, swapping the airbag for a dummy
wouldn't trip an airbag trouble light.

    --<< Bruce >>--