Seat with airbag

[gkm09]

Can you legally reupholster a car seat with an airbag?

[Mojo]

Yes but your taking a risk. A lot of guys have dropped doing them because if liability issues. They take special sized thread and from what I have seen are a PITA to do. You have to know your stuff when working with air bags.

Doyle and Catalina Ric would be your best bet as both do cars. I do not believe either do air bag seats but I could be wrong.

Anyone can legally do cars but when you get into the electronics and air bags you better know what your doing. If some gets killed because an air bag did not deploy, I can promise you they will have your name on the list of people to sue and they will sue you into the stone age.

Aircraft is the same way. We have a member on here who is an aviation upholstery expert. You have to sign off on all the materials, have proof of its manufacturer and fabric content and on and on. The paperwork is very time consuming and you have to leave a long trail behind.

Mojo

[RiCat]

Hello. I do not so any sewing that involves the seam that has to blow open for an airbag to deploy properly. I have worked on seats that customers has taken out for me to put a new ready made set of covers on (Katzkin Covers) that had airbags in the backrest sections. The makers of the covers would be the ones with the liability (I would hope) on the seam working properly. I also do not unbolt or bolt back in seats out with airbags in them. I hear of a couple ways to make sure the bags don't deploy, but I don't need that possible grief. The issue of airbags, like Mojo said, is very, very touchy when it comes to liability. I can share this on how sensitive it is. My wife wanted a new Mazda SUV back 6yrs ago. It had cloth seats, so we inquired about having a new set of leather covers installed. The dealership said if we did, we would have to sign a waiver of liability for the airbags. They said the airbags might not work as efficiently as needed since the leather covers weighed more than the OEM cloth covers. WOW!!! If one wanted, a lawyer might be able to come up with a waiver of liability form for a customer to sign. For me, late model auto upholstery is something I don't need the grief from. Not only the airbag issue, but the mechanical side of it on how complex auto seating is becoming (our SUV has AC that blows up my butt through the seats). There is to much other types of upholstery to do...

Regards
Rick