steering wheel replacement P206

[renault8&10]

Couple of questions. The steering wheel in my 03 206 XR is wearing at the top and I want to replace it with a leather one off a different (04) model. Is there any compatibility issues anyone is aware of?

The two wheels look similar except for the top of the centre part on the back - my wheel possibly has a notch in it, the leather wheel doesn't. The bottom metal spoke is thicker on the leather wheel where the airbag sits in but it doesn't seem to affect a spare airbag I had clipping in correctly. I say possibly, because I haven't yet taken the actual wheel off my car. I'm comparing it to the wheel and airbag that came out of my spares car which was supposedly the same year and model (except mine is auto, the spares car manual). All three cars are 5 dr.

Also, when it comes to removing and replacing the airbag (putting the same airbag back into the car it came from with just the wheel changed), is there any thing I need to be aware of apart from putting the BSI to sleep then disconnecting the battery for 20 mins or so before touching the airbag to disconnect/reconnect?

Will disconnecting and reconnecting the same airbag trigger any airbag light or reset requirement?

Thanks in advance.
Kevin

 

[renault8&10]

No one's ever taken an airbag off and reconnected it?

I just want to find out if I run the risk of any issues upon reconnection. I've taken the wheel and airbag off the spares car so know how to do that.

 

[hypermiler]

Also, when it comes to removing and replacing the airbag (putting the same airbag back into the car it came from with just the wheel changed), is there any thing I need to be aware of apart from putting the BSI to sleep then disconnecting the battery for 20 mins or so before touching the airbag to disconnect/reconnect?

Will disconnecting and reconnecting the same airbag trigger any airbag light or reset requirement?

Airbags of that era are dumb devices, a carefully packaged explosive with an electrically operated detonator. The airbag ECU checks the resistance of each airbag along the wires and reports a fault it too high (or open) or too low (or short) with a carefully controlled and small test current. To trigger a larger current is sent along the wires, but its still low enough voltage and current that a small battery such as a 9V cell can be enough to set it off and some ohmmeters/multimeters/continuity meters will do it!

So you need to be very sure when working on the airbags that there is nothing which might accidentally power the detonator, disconnecting the battery at its terminals and waiting some time to be sure everything is discharged. Same when plugging it back in.

But its just a straight swap out so you can take any suitable airbag and put it in place and there is no coding.

 

[renault8&10]

Thanks Hypermiler,
I was hoping that may be the case. I'm aware of taking precautions re the battery isolation and sleeping/waking the BSI but reassuring to know it's possible without incident if the right precautions are taken.