Legality of removing airbags from a car?

My old Honda Del Sol came equipped with driver and passenger airbags. Since my daughter rides with me I just unplugged the fuse that powers them. The manual states to move a small child back as far as possible, this must have been before product liability lawsuits for millions prompted cutoff switches just a few years later.

My question is this: Is it legal to remove these airbags entirely from the vehicle? There are race style steering wheels that don't use one, and block off plates for the passenger side if they are removed as well. I have read that it is illegal for an owner to even disable the airbags, much less remove them entirely. Does anyone know this if this is true?

Seems ridiculous that I can't modify my own property if it doesn't interfere with the safety of others (myself and passenger excluded). Few cars until the mid '90's had bags in the wheel, much less the passenger side. I'm not sure I would trust 14 year old electronics that have never had to function once in their lifetime anyway, but perhaps that is just me.

So what happens if I get caught?

 

Just a piece of information that might interest you: My father works in airbag development, and IIRC he (or one of his colleagues) once told me that they performed tests on airbags from old cars (from the late 80s) and every single one worked flawlessly.

 

My father in law worked in insurance and one of his colleagues was killed when they reached into the car and turned on the ignition. Car had been exposed to salt water from a hurricane down in Houston (this was 2001 or so). Airbag deployed and broke his neck. Obviously a special case but eventually all of them will be well past their "use by" date.

 

I imagine a few things could happen, here are some...

1) Nothing.

2) You could get a "fix it" ticket from an eagle-eyed cop.

3) You could fail an inspection -- if your state has them.

4) You could get sued into oblivion when a passenger dies in a unfortunate accident. Their family will say if you hadn't disabled the airbag, yadda, yadda...

 

I took the one out of my Miata years ago. I have had the car smogged a few times, been pulled over a few times. No problems.

 

I think another problem would be if you sell the car. You would probably need to get the buyer to sign something stating they know the car is being sold without its air bags. Even then, I see the potential for a lawsuit. Best to just leave them in and buy something without.