1996 Pontiac Grand am need to deactivate airbags one has deployed.. have not been in an accident. and want to prevent the other from blowing out my dash.. Help GM was no help at all GM said it was an older car and things go wrong, I just want to stop thie passeenr side from going off while driving or on my kids.

Your SRS diagnostic module is registering a fault and needs to be looked at. While the SRS light is on your system is deactivated and will not deploy incase there is an accident.

There are computer and safety interlocks that generally prevent cars from starting after the airbags deploy. Some cars have explosive bolts that also fire to disconnect the battery and fuel pump after an airbag deployment. These are all meant to limit damage in an accident. I suggest you take the car on a flatbed truck to a dealer or mechanic.

Speed....point of impact.....all make a difference on when an airbag deploys it is possible to have an accident and the airbag will not deploy the sensors have to register an impact of certain size and weight to deploy .....in older cars you are probably glad they did not deploy because they often blacked eyes broke noses and caused Neck injury by the amount of force they deployed at..
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There is a manufacturer's recall on this if it's caused by a failure in the front passenger weight detection system.

The system has a minimum weight required in the front passenger seat for the airbag to deploy in an accident (if no one is in the front passenger seat during an accident, the airbag does NOT deploy). If the system fails and the car cannot determine if someone is in the front passenger seat, the light illuminates and in an accident the passenger airbag WILL deploy, even if there's no one in that seat.

The purpose of the system is to prevent airbag deployment for a lightweight child in the front seat. The fix is to replace the seat weight sensor mat...free if it's the recall item.

if you bought your car used
there is a large likelyhood you have had a deploy in this car b4 and they just did a re pack and well it's letting go and should probably be inspected by a pro rather than a home user spend some time and get a quote on replacement rather have your life or your kids life than cash trust me

Relax it will all be aight. Step number 2: Go out and have a coke and a smoke break (as my tech school instructor said to me when I asked this question in tech school haha ! ! ). The Airbag System has a reserve power sytem that will allow the airbags to deploy up to a certain time if for some reason the battery becomes disabled in the event of an accident. U only have to unplug the airbag module from the Clockspring. If it will make you feel more comfortable, leave your battery disconnected for a half hour and then start the disassembly process of your steering wheel. After a half hour you just unplug the airbag connectors from the clockspring. Hope I was able to calm your nerves so you can remove your steering wheel without having the fear of blowing up your airbag.

Have a body shop repair the dashboard. Then continue with the installation. Hope this helps. Good luck. Be safe.

The airbag light staying on could be an indication that the abs computer ( located under passenger front seat ). may have gotten wet. These cars usually let water in from the front strut towers. The light staying on indicates a problem with the computer, possible things that could happed:
a: air bag DOES not deploy in an accident.
b: air bag does deploy for no reason whatsoever.

either of those could be bad.

best to have it inspected by a certified abs tech or the dealer

you will need to disconnect batt and wait 5 min,remove airbag fuse then pump brake pedal.this will depower the airbag system.then unplug the airbag you want to deactivate.hook batt back up,reinstall airbag fuse.with an airbag disconnected the airbag light will be on.
make sure you depower the airbag system before unpluging any airbag,or the airbag may deploy causing severe personal injury.work safe.

If the air bags deployed, I believe you can cut the airbags to remove them so they won't be in the way. You wouldn't have to deactivate them, as they won't deploy again until replaced. I don't know how bad the crash was, but they should be replaced--they probably saved you from injury already. countrycurt0