Panel, Instrument: Removal

To avoid personal injury or death, on vehicles equipped with air bags, disable the supplemental restraint system before attempting any steering wheel, steering column, airbag, occupant classification system, seat belt tensioner, impact sensor, or instrument panel component diagnosis or service. Disconnect and isolate the battery negative (ground) cable, then wait two minutes for the system capacitor to discharge before performing further diagnosis or service. This is the only sure way to disable the supplemental restraint system. Failure to take the proper precautions could result in accidental airbag deployment.

To avoid personal injury or death, never strike or drop the occupant restraint controller, as it can damage the impact sensor or affect its calibration. The occupant restraint controller contains the impact sensor, which enables the system to deploy the supplemental restraints. If an airbag control module is accidentally dropped during service, the module must be scrapped and replaced with a new unit. Failure to observe this warning could result in accidental, incomplete, or improper supplemental restraint deployment.