My steering wheel has something that is rattling around inside it as I turn the wheel, and my dealer diagnosed it a year or so saying that the airbag needed to be replaced. They wanted $650, which I declined at the time.

I was looking on Gaudin Jaguar parts, and discovered the airbag is only about $240-250 (depending on VIN and color).

Is the replacement procedure simple? Has anyone here done it? I'm somewhat concerned about the safety aspect, but not overly so.

 

You may not have a bad air bag but a part that has come loose in the steering wheel mount. I do not have the info but you need to find out how to "disarm" the air bag . It should either be in the service manual or you could talk to a repair shop or body shop on how it's done. Once it is disarmed it should be straight forward to pull it and find/fix the problem.

 

I just ordered a used air bag on ebay and it has a rattle inside.

 

The strange thing was used airbags on eBay were almost as expensive as new airbags.

Unfortunately, the airbag replacement has been overcome by events... I hit a pothole and now I need to get a new set of tires.