Side Curtain Airbags

[rigbeast]

Hey guys! This is my first post here. I purchased a 2008 Automatic Base Yaris with 36,000m a week ago! I love it! No power anything, bare bones, just automatic transmission. I live in the US.

I was wondering something. How easy/expensive/possible would it be to install side curtain airbags? That is my only concern, as this will be my wife's primary mode of transport to work and school. I know the safety rating is pretty poor for side impacts and I know the side curtain airbags definitely help with this.

Any information is highly appreciated. Doing it myself would be awesome, but I have no experience with airbag systems, so I would probably be biting off more than I can chew.

Thanks and I'm excited to own our first Yaris!

[PatrickJohnson]

With airbags, they are VERY dangerous to install. If you are asking, it's probably way over your head. Also, I've never seen any kind of "aftermarket airbags" kit, probably because that's a liability nightmare. If it didn't come from the factory, about the only way you are going to get airbags that aren't already there is to have the dealer install them, which will likely cost more than you paid for the car.

[CTScott]

Having just replaced the driver's and passenger's airbags in the semi-wrecked Yaris that I recently picked up, I can say that purchasing them is nowhere near as expensive as one might think (I paid less than $200 shipped for both shipped off ebay) and installing them is also less scary than one might expect.

In your case, adding the additional airbags to one not equipped with those squibs would require also changing the SRS ECU (~$75 from ebay or a junkyard), adding the side impact sensors, and changing the wiring harnesses (which would include the dash harness and the two side harnesses).

To gain the full side impact protection you would also ideally want to have the seat side airbags, but they would require replacing the entire seats with those from an 09+ Yaris.