Shopping for a Steering Wheel

[wickwear]

My '92 Prelude was in an accident (before I bought it) and the SRS (airbag) deployed. I have just glued the steering wheel cover back but I am starting to spend more time in my car and want to fix it up a little more. I know that a new steering wheel with the airbag are pretty pricey (at least that is what I have heard) but I would like to get a new/used steering wheel for the car. I have no idea on where to start looking or what my options are. I think it is pretty stock but I have the cruse control buttons attached to the steering wheel too, so obviously I want the same feature on a new steering wheel. I saw a previous post about someone asking about the S2000 steering wheel being able to fit on the prelude but that is it. Please help me out with any ideas about places to purchase or mods that you have done, things to look for when shopping around, anything will help, thanks

Oh one more question, would getting a new steering wheel with airbag eleminate the SRS light from coming on, or do I need to reset some computer setting (after I get a new steering wheel) to eliminate the SRS light?

[spiffyguido]

I don't know whether any computer resets are necessary when installing a new airbag. RedRacer might know the answer to that.

A lot of steering wheels will fit, but if you want to maintain the cruise control feature, it would probably be easiest to get another Honda wheel, preferably the exact same one. The air bags are expensive, but there are ways to get them at a decent cost. I see a lot of wheels with good airbags at my local auto wrecker. These can be a good place to check.

[Red2010_2008]

sell you my stock steering wheel for cheap, im gettin a jdm one off a guy so i wont need it. 25 plus shipping sound ok?

[wickwear]

Could you send some pictures? I'll take a look and more than likely have more questions. Thanks

[wickwear]

Turns out that I only need the airbag unit for my steering wheel. I will be shopping around for one but before I purchase one I want to know for sure if the change out is pretty basic and if I will have to mess with the computer to "activate" the new airbag unit. Does anyone have experience with airbag replacements. I want to make sure that the SRS light will go off too. I am hoping that there will be a couple of sensor clips that will clip in and out with the new airbag unit. Anyone know?

[spiffyguido]

I've seen a few of them out of cars before and they look pretty modular. I'd check the service manual in our manuals section for any installation instructions. Airbags can be very dangerous. Be careful.

[wickwear]

Its been a little while but I thought I would let you all know what i ended up doing. So I was looking for an air bag unit to replace mine than had already deployed. I looked all over the internet for what I needed and how to replace it. Turns out I was able to find someone who lives a hour away who was selling the entire steering column with steering wheel w/ air bag undeployed. I ran over and picked it up, finally got around to taking it apart to get the airbag out and from what I learned online is that a lot of people said you need to replace the clock-spring too. So took those off the purchased column and disconnected the battery on my car and waited about 10 to 15 minutes so I wouldn't have any "incidents" while installing the new airbag. So I pulled off the old airbag and parts of the steering column back to the clock spring. Everything came off smooth and got it all hooked back up and the steering wheel back on. Lastly I connected up the battery, got my keys and turned all the electronics on (didn't start the car) and then the moment that I had been waiting for, my SRS light turned off. From what I researched online, no one had a sure answer about if I needed to change the computer for the SRS unit after changing the airbag (in my case everything was fine with the new parts). But all the sites said that if your light is off then the system is working. So now its all good (at least the SRS system), thanks for all the help.

[spiffyguido]

Great information.

Thanks for following up so others can benefit from your experience.