As i'm planning to buy the 3 spoke steering wheel with airbag in the US in November, i'm wondering if anyone knows whether i can take it back home here in Thailand. Is there any such rules prohibiting carrying airbags in airplanes?

 

I haven't heard but is the explosive component of the airbag in the steering wheel? If so, I highly doubt you could take that on a plane.

 

In the United States they are considered explosive devices and although they can be shipped domestically via UPS with explosive material documents ect.... It is dangerous and you will get in trouble trying to take one on a plane...

Don't Do It!!

You could be risking everyone's life. For starters an air bag going off will be MUCH stronger at high altitude in an un-pressurized bagage area... It was designed for near sea level and at 35,000 feet give or take on an international flight could be several manitudes greater event.

Have a safe trip back - buy the wheel w/o the airbag, or take the wheel without the air bag - and get the air bag back the official way...

Good Luck....

 

Ship it via UPS or FEDEX back home in Thailand. Get it insured, etc. Why risk getting the thing confiscated at an airport? You could call attention of law enforcement people upon yourself and question your motives to bring aboard a seemingly "dangeous" device.


Not worth the hassle, aggravation and run ins with the law. Ship it or forget about it.

 

FedEx and UPS don't like to handle explosives.

 

There is no way that they will let you bring the airbag via air. Do not even think about it. It is considered explosive. I had a friend had to wait forever for the airbags, just because it came ground. Do not know which carrier the service used, but it was clearly stated that no overnight shipping.

 

thanks for the advice guys, i've decided to buy the 3 spoke wheel w/o the airbags and then buy the airbags itself in thailand which i called up and they said it's around 20000 baht, which is like 500 bucks, alot more expensive than here.

 

can you ship the airbag via surface mail? Would customs still give you crap?

 

not if you just said it was a steering wheel.

edit: please don't even try to take it on a plane.

 

but they have to be prepared and comply with all their 'special air bag' regulations... The packaging must include this type of markings in addition to the shipping label itself.

See photos:

I got an air bag for a different car, from a company in Florida. It arrived with all these stickers on it.

Internationally however - from my experience NOT EASY... I tried to get an airbag for a 2 wheel steering wheel in the UK to California, and it was a major, major hassle trying to figure out how... gave up trying... The specific country regulations, and shipping companies that have to interface all have unique standards and policies... So I think a Frieght Forwarder is needed to work out the Customs paperwork, and absolutly to smoothly navigate getting Company A to deal with Company B.

An again, people operating aircraft and ships dont want explosive items that can act differently (at least with less air pressure in an aircraft at altitude).

 

Toting around a steering wheel with a 'live' airbag is never a good idea. When most airbag modules are shipped they have shorting plugs and other means to prevent unintentional deployment from things like static discharge, etc. An assembled wheel pulled from a car does not have these measures. If something would cause the (very rare) deployment of the bag, the wheel itself can become a very dangerous projectile. It does not take much imagination to think of the results if that assembly were to go off in an aircraft cargo bin.

Airbags have to be treated like what they are: live explosive devices. And to think a MCS has nine of them total (the six airbags, the seatbelt tensioners and the 'battery safety terminal'!)

 

Seatbelt tensioners are a mechanical device, not explosive.

 

I think that some of the seatbelts that pre-tension during an accident do it with an explosive charge. I remember seeing a crash test where the interior of the B pillar started to smoke after the test. It caused the company (VW I think, but I'm not even close to sure) to redesign the system.