Hello again,

Does anybody know if the steering wheel from a 2002 (or up?) QX4 will fit in a 2001? If so, what, if any, modifications would be needed, or would it just drop in? I love the 2002 version and would totally swap in the sexier one if I come across one. Thanks folks!

As far as I know, it should be a direct swap. I'd imagine pinouts would match for the spiral cable (which connects the horn, cruise, audio controls, and airbag). I'm having a difficult time finding pinouts in the FSM between the years at the moment, but I'll try again later when I have more time to delve into the wiring diagrams.

That inner piece sure does look alot better, but to lose the wood trim around the wheels circumference? I love the wood

Groovy. I'll keep an ear to the ground and post my findings here when I find one and give it a go.

After staring at it a bit more I'm betting I can leave the wheel there and just swap the center and buttons. Guess we'll see!

CanuckQx4 wrote:That inner piece sure does look alot better, but to lose the wood trim around the wheels circumference? I love the wood

I just realized what you were saying The wood isn't gone, they revised it so that the wood was only on the outside; leather's used on the inside of the wheel. I like it a bit more; I'm just not sure if the juice is worth the squeeze just for that.

try to take some pic's when or if you do it, I was thinking about a new steering wheel but am scared of the airbag poping out.

So, I've started down the trail and have my first question regarding the airbag. My 2001 airbag has 2 wires leading to it, a positive and negative:



The 2002 airbag has 4 wires going into it, with the negative being shared between the two, and positives staying separate:



I'm speculating that it's because the 2002 has two explosive devices in it. I'd like to know if I can link the two positives together the same way the negatives were. Anybody have any insight on whether this is a good solution? Maybe just wiring one up is sufficient?

I'm wondering if maybe one is a sensor of some sort instead of an explosive, maybe they run at different voltages, the timing for when each is triggered is different when deployed, one's just a backup for the other...things like that.

I believe this may answer your question. (pasted from a Q & A website)

Some earlier generation air bags have been known to injure or kill adults and children who were seated too close to the driver or right front passenger air bag when it deployed. "Too close" can occur when an occupant, typically unbelted or leaning out of position, slides forward just before the crash impact (the period known as pre-crash braking) to within a few inches of or directly on top of the rapidly accelerating air bag. NHTSA estimates as of June, 2003, 231 people (144 children and 87 adults) have lost their lives in such incidents.

Advanced frontal air bags were designed primarily to minimize the risk of an air bag-related injury or death to children and small-stature adults. In crashes where a higher-powered air bag deployment would not be necessary and/or could cause injury, such as in a low-speed crash or in a crash where the occupant is leaning out of position, the system reduces the risk of an air bag injury by either: 1) shutting off (suppressing) the frontal air bag, or 2) deploying the frontal air bag with less inflation force.

Advanced frontal air bags are designed to meet the needs of the occupant in a variety of specific crash situations. Depending on design, advanced frontal air bag systems automatically determine if and with what level of power the driver frontal air bag and the passenger frontal air bag will inflate. The appropriate level of power is based upon sensor inputs that can typically detect: 1) occupant size, 2) seat position, 3) seat belt use of the occupant, and 4) crash severity.

Buzzman, that was exactly what I was looking for! Thank you

So, a bit of an update. I finally found a steering wheel for $50, so I'll be doing this soon. Controls have been giving me a headache, though. If you buy the correct type, you should be able to swap 02+ controls into an 01; just line the right wires up. Here's the diagram for an 01:



The diagram from an 02 is functionally the same, but with wires in different locations on the connectors (and probably different connectors):



No problem, I can handle THAT! The wrinkle in this tale is that 02+s can also use a second type of cruise control, which adds support for distance matching, and is completely incompatible:



And if this wasn't complicated enough, Maximas (and most other Nissan/Infinitis) and others have audio controls with a trip button that don't work for me, in addition to using the ICC-type cruise controls:



So here's a guide on picking some controls that will make your swap easier. For audio, find one that doesn't have a Trip button.



In regards to the cruise controls, find one that uses 5 wires, not 2. It will definitely not have the distance matching button.

I think the ideal situation here would be to find a donor 02 QX4 without distance matching. Grab the steering wheel, airbag, and steering wheel controls, and you should be able to get it wired up pronto-like.

And by the way, I'm crazy jealous that the Maximas and I30s have heated steering! That's definitely a no-go for us QX4/Pathfinders. They use a special spiral cable that has two extra larger-gauge wires that are used for the heater. Even if we had the option, it would mean giving up the wood trim. Heated steering wheels only come in all leather.

Keep us posted. I'm following your thread with great interest.

Well, I swapped it in this weekend and am declaring it a success! I used the steering wheel from a 2002 QX4, and had absolutely no problems with it. The peg on the spiral cable fit and lined up perfectly. I had tried using the steering wheel from a Maxima in the hopes that I could use the heated portion of it, but the peg didn't line up nicely. It ended up dragging a bit anyway (not sure if it was a warped wheel cover or what), so that was a big no-go. No comment on my plan for connecting the heating element...I didn't have a good one.

The airbag/controls portion was more complicated, but only because I took the hard way. The airbag and controls I have right now are from an 02-04 I35. It had the dual airbag detonators. Which brings me to a correction:

The 2002 airbag has 4 wires going into it, with the negative being shared between the two, and positives staying separate

When I said this, I was referring to the 2002 I30, I believe. Based on the diagrams I posted above, the 02 QX4 should only have one.

I also used the controls that I got with the airbag, which were the wholly incompatible type. I bought some diodes and wired it up the cruise controls by hand. I won't make the recommendation to do things that way, but it's certainly possible! The connectors that plugged into the spiral cable were completely different, so I had to pilfer the connectors from my old setup. All that to see that the gray on the airbag is a shade lighter than the steering wheel Fine, whatever. I may buy some airbag paint and respray it someday.

The audio doesn't work at the moment, but it didn't work before the swap anyway thanks to the aftermarket stereo. When I get around to it I'll probably cave and buy a proper audio control switch instead of trying to wire my own again.

Anyway, the big takeaway from all of this is keep it in the family. If you'd like to do this without buying multiple flavors of airbags and steering wheels to Mickey Mouse something together like I did, get the full setup from a 2002 (and probably up) QX4. The worst you'll need to do is a connector swap. Even the connector swap is pretty easy. Just trace which wires go where and you'll be able to sort out which wire goes where on the new connector.

If you're feeling adventurous, the airbag and controls from Maximas and I30s all physically fit into the steering wheel. And no, the style airbag in the 02+ does not fit in an 01 steering wheel, and vice versa.

I'll post some pictures of the finished product when I get done with the latest project and the inside's tidied up again. Right now it pretty much looks like the first pictures I posted. For now, here's what the wires look like in the old wheel. The connector on the left is for audio, right for cruise. Audio has 3 wires: black for ground (gets bolted to the wheel), blue, and red. Cruise has red (which also goes to the horn), blue, yellow, green and white.



A shot of the column and spiral cable:



And the control connector. There's 5 wires; the brown one's kinda hard to see.



Fat list of disclaimers:

Remember that this job involves monkeying with the airbag. In all reality, it's probably as safe as handling a cigarette lighter, but lighters aren't generally deadly when something goes wrong.
1. Follow the guidelines of disconnecting the car battery and airbag connector and waiting for 3 or more minutes before doing anything else.
2. Reusing the two bolts the hold the airbag onto the steering wheel is a no-no. The official recommendation is to buy new ones each time; they have a special coating that is only good after the first tightening.
3. Finally, store airbags face-side down.
4. Who knows what condition airbags are in when you buy them from eBay. I've heard of some crooked bastards that will sell you an empty pack. Not to mention they're all as old as the car, could have seen water damage, etc.
I say all that so you can make informed decisions

Hi all,

Are any of those steering wheel buttons/switches back lit?

Nope, not backlit unfortunately