Air bag swap: Golf to GTI

[ReadTheBook]

Edit: I think the AliExpress part is not worth the risk. Purchased OEM airbag. I do think there are better quality, perhaps even actual OE parts on Aliexpress, based on seller photos, than the one I got that may be fine. The plastic welds on the inside of mine holding the badge on were an absolute mess.

Original Post:

I hadn’t seen this info here when searching, and it’s entirely possible I missed it, but I’ve been looking at a steering wheel swap in our Alltrack and was curious to see if I could re-use the factory airbag. The answer is yes.

You just need to purchase a GTI airbag cover from AliExpress or wherever you want, and swap the cover onto the Golf’s stock airbag.

Came across this polish video I hadn’t seen before in earlier searches.

 

[Cuzoe]

This is pretty sweet. Never seen it before. I have a custom steering wheel in my Golf now so too late. But at some point I might find myself bored and want a GTD like wheel, cool to know I can reuse my airbag. Thanks for posting.

 

[ReadTheBook]

This is pretty sweet. Never seen it before. I have a custom steering wheel in my Golf now so too late. But at some point I might find myself bored and want a GTD like wheel, cool to know I can reuse my airbag. Thanks for posting.

For sure! Just saved myself a few hundred bucks and the sketchiness of ebay... I was able to get a basically complete wheel for my wife’s car with DSG electronics/paddles, silver trim and (incorrect) multi function buttons for $150 shipped across the country from a VW salvage place in NJ. A single side of just the paddle shifters is ~$140 at ShopDAP and elsewhere.

A seller on Aliexpress, “VW AG Store” has the honeycomb style GTI/R steering wheel cover for like $45 bucks. Same seller seems to have a lot of legit factory parts and these look legit from user-posted images. I may even pull my GTI airbag off just to double check everything matches given the obvious safety concern.

I got the correct multifunction buttons for her Alltrack S (No ACC but has the other elements of DAP) which were a bitch to find, anywhere, for $90.

I got some of the amazon DSG paddles for $25 and a supposedly nice steering wheel wrap for $30.

I have a GTI wheel swapped into the Alltrack for ~$340 and if I didn’t want to do the paddles and wrap it’d be <$285. In all, about half the price of a brand new wheel.

 

[Mk7tsi3door]

Very cool!

 

[Cuzoe]

Now that you mention buttons, are they different between a Golf and GTI/R wheel? If so I'm wondering if the buttons I bought for my ACC retrofit are the wrong ones. I bought from a member on the forums and i know I didn't specify which steering wheel I had... didn't even think of it. I can't remember who I bought from but they gave me a screaming deal on that along with some other things needed for ACC so no big deal either way. But I might need to buy buttons now that I'm finally doing the retrofit .

 

[riambink]

Now that you mention buttons, are they different between a Golf and GTI/R wheel? If so I'm wondering if the buttons I bought for my ACC retrofit are the wrong ones. I bought from a member on the forums and i know I didn't specify which steering wheel I had... didn't even think of it. I can't remember who I bought from but they gave me a screaming deal on that along with some other things needed for ACC so no big deal either way. But I might need to buy buttons now that I'm finally doing the retrofit .

Buttons don’t swap over and are specific to the type of wheel. There’s also several versions of the buttons each with different labels so I’m not too sure which one you would need if you’re retrofitting ACC.

@ReadTheBook you and I did almost the same exact thing. I also got a wheel from a scrapyard and sourced parts off Ali/Ebay. The airbag cover change was more of a pain than I thought it’d be

 

[ReadTheBook]

Buttons don’t swap over and are specific to the type of wheel. There’s also several versions of the buttons each with different labels so I’m not too sure which one you would need if you’re retrofitting ACC.

@ReadTheBook you and I did almost the same exact thing. I also got a wheel from a scrapyard and sourced parts off Ali/Ebay. The airbag cover change was more of a pain than I thought it’d be

All correct. It seems like the buttons I needed for my wife’s 2019 Alltrack S are maybe the hardest to find. Part number 5G0959442AD provided the AliExpress image/part number listed are correct. It has a CNL button at the center of the left side controls and the lane departure/collision departure warning system button at the bottom right, below the CNL button. Everything else seems to match the ”standard” controls on all other GTI/Rs and what we had in the Alltrack to begin with.

I just hope it’s a legit part that works, but I’ve yet to be burned on the MK7 parts I’ve gotten from AliExpress.

The cover change was a pain? What pitfalls did you encounter? The video of course makes it look easy, then again so did the DSG shifter knob removal video and I fucked that up royally.

 

[riambink]

I just hope it’s a legit part that works, but I’ve yet to be burned on the MK7 parts I’ve gotten from AliExpress.

The cover change was a pain? What pitfalls did you encounter? The video of course makes it look easy, then again so did the DSG shifter knob removal video and I fucked that up royally.

I purchased the same part from the VWAG seller on Aliexpress and seems OEM.
Removing the original cover is easy, but pressing the new cover on so that the clips engage was difficult. The plastic isn't as flexible/soft on the new cover as it is on the original and most of my clips were ~2mm short of clearing the metal airbag clips. It eventually fit after pressing my body weight against it and bruising my palms a bit. Hopefully won't give you as much trouble?

This link is the original post of the Polish video you posted which describes the process in English.

 

[ReadTheBook]

I purchased the same part from the VWAG seller on Aliexpress and seems OEM.
Removing the original cover is easy, but pressing the new cover on so that the clips engage was difficult. The plastic isn't as flexible/soft on the new cover as it is on the original and most of my clips were ~2mm short of clearing the metal airbag clips. It eventually fit after pressing my body weight against it and bruising my palms a bit. Hopefully won't give you as much trouble?

This link is the original post of the Polish video you posted which describes the process in English.

Gotcha. Thanks for the heads up. Concerning it’s a completely different feel... I wonder if it’s actually genuine and if it would properly separate in a crash...

 

[ReadTheBook]

I purchased the same part from the VWAG seller on Aliexpress and seems OEM.
Removing the original cover is easy, but pressing the new cover on so that the clips engage was difficult. The plastic isn't as flexible/soft on the new cover as it is on the original and most of my clips were ~2mm short of clearing the metal airbag clips. It eventually fit after pressing my body weight against it and bruising my palms a bit. Hopefully won't give you as much trouble?

This link is the original post of the Polish video you posted which describes the process in English.

So I finally got this installed and into my wife’s Alltrack. @riambink was right. Huge pain in the ass getting that cover on. Even with full body weight, there was NO WAY I was getting those clips to where they needed to go.

Ended using a board and clamps to get it pressed down. Got it in and got my wife out on a test drive.

 

[Adamkh24]

So I finally got this installed and into my wife’s Alltrack. @riambink was right. Huge pain in the ass getting that cover on. Even with full body weight, there was NO WAY I was getting those clips to where they needed to go.

Ended using a board and clamps to get it pressed down. Got it in and got my wife out on a test drive.

View attachment 197208View attachment 197207

Did all the buttons work?

 

[ReadTheBook]

Did all the buttons work?

Yep

 

[ReadTheBook]

To update, I ended up buying a genuine 2017+ GTI airbag from a VW parts seller on eBay after further comparing the airbag cover I got for the alltrack and being concerned with the safety side of it.

For under $200 shipped it was absolutely worth the peace of mind.

 

[Mk7tsi3door]

Were the differences easy enough to describe?

thanks for the update it’s good to hear the longer term update when the excitement of getting something done wears off

 

[ReadTheBook]

Yeah material on the Ali one felt more plastic and less “soft touch” if that makes sense.

The honeycomb pattern was actually slightly larger than on the real one.

The rear edge that you don’t even see was totally different with the OEM one being finished in a rounded more nice looking manner.

The VW logo itself looked pretty good on the Ali one but upon comparison did not appear to be flush with the cover in the same way at all which makes me the most nervous of everything in the event of a crash.