Importing an Air Bag

For the past 4 years I have had a MOMO steering wheel with a Hill Engineering hub on my car and it has worked great. Unfortunately the annual Virginia safety inspection finally caught up with the fact there was no driver's airbag on the car. Historically they have looked the other way but the choice was to put the "mini-van" wheel back on the car or source a 360 steering wheel and airbag.

I found a perfect 360 steering wheel on ebay from a fellow fchat member. As he said.....it was in perfect condition. That was the easy part. The airbag was a different matter.

The only ones showing up on ebay for weeks were off-shore and really expensive. I called all the usual US exotic salvage yards and nothing.

So I found a supplier, Parts3000 on Ebay, a UK company with operations in Bulgaria. When I went to buy it (975 GBP) on Ebay.....this is the response I got:

"Attention Buyer
•
Due to hazardous goods restrictions that apply to the shipment of airbags, eBay does not permit the international purchase of these items. Purchases from US sellers are permitted provided the seller adheres to the relevant shipping regulations."

Makes you wonder why they display them when you can't buy them on Ebay. I contacted the seller and made alternative arrangements. He was extremely responsive and shipped the airbag via TNT/FedEx to the US and it arrived in 5 days at the FedEx depot in Memphis.

That's where the learning experience of importing a Class 9 hazardous item begins. For basically two weeks I went back and forth with FedEx.

-Their first request was a US Department of Transportation Form OMB 2127-002. This form covers parts for automobiles that are less than 25 years old. It certifies that the part conforms to all applicable Federal Motor vehicle standards.

-Their second request was a Department of Homeland Security Form OMB 1651-0064 which adds a record to their database. Since I don't import items on a regular basis, it consisted of my name and SSN.

-Their third request was a Customs Power of Attorney. This is a FedEx form which grants them the power to act on my behalf to import the airbag. It is actually is a decent service whereby they post the appropriate bond for the item and clear all the paperwork. There was no additional charge for the service (I only paid 40GBP for the shipping).

At that point they submitted the paperwork to Customs and the shipment was cleared the same day. I picked it up at FedEx yesterday.

The FedEx folks were great but it took time as it moved from one person to another as each step of the process was completed.
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Just read your post. I've worked in the design, manufacture and testing of airbag components. Do you know who the manufacturer of the inflator is? Do you know what car model it was designed for? The inflator design takes into account the vehicle and its entire occupant protection system. The propellants are tailored to specific vehicle models based on both crash tests and sled tests. They are not designed to be interchanged between different models. The wrong propellant mix or inflator design could be deadly. And, as the Takata debacle has demonstrated, aging effects mixed with various environmental circumstances has caused over energetic deployments, resulting in fatalities and injuries.

I personally ave concern about the inflators in my '95 F355, as they are now 7+ years past their design life. The options are to, a) disconnect and remove them, or b) leave them in place and hope they work properly. Most people don't realize their airbags should be replaced when past their useful life, and in many cases, that simply isn't practical.

 

I would have thrown the old wheel on for inspection then put the other wheel back on when you were done.

 

Always good advice. Fortunately the knowledgeable folks on this forum have vetted this solution. Additionally, I can name four Ferrari dealers who have made this change for their customers. While I don't have the technical details.....I'm just not concerned about it. If the next owner wants the original wheel back on the car....no problem.

In regards to airbag expiration.....Ferrari's aren't alone with that problem. Probably close to 170 million cars have airbags in the US and any that are older than 15 years are past their alleged "design life". It seems that either the air bags have a much longer life than advertised or someone envisioned a world of air bag replacements which failed to materialize.

 

I was tempted to do that but......it just seemed I was postponing the inevitable since I really liked the look of the 360 wheel. I was going to get one sooner or later.

 

Have you installed the 360 steering wheel yet? Hope you like it! It's still one of the favorite upgrades that I've done to my car!

 

The 360 is getting on in years. Get ready to replace that airbag with a fresh one too.

 

I have and it is perfect. Thanks for selling me a steering wheel that was in such great condition. With the airbag on ......it just looks and feels so much better than the original steering wheel. The thicker grip, smaller wheel diameter and smaller airbag give it a much cleaner look.

 

I'm glad that it sounds like dealing with all the airbag hassles was worth it in the end!