Freelander 1 Pre2001 vs 2004 steering wheel airbag arrangements [SOLVED]

For 45€ I bought what appeared to be a new old stock 1998 black leather steering wheel to replace the disgusting 2005 HSE steering wheel.

I removed the airbag assembly and see that there is an elastomerically mounted yellow coloured mass which I presume contacts the airbag module in high impact cases to activate the bag. It is mounted to the hub with 3 Phillips screws.

My new steering wheel doesn't have the mountings for such a mass.

Did 1998 FL 1's not have airbags? Or have I misunderstood what is in situ on my 2005 HSE as some type of anti-vibration damper mass??

Thanks in advance!

Doh! I answered my own question!!!
The yellow item in the picture of my question above is an anti-vibration dampener for diesel engined vehicles only (see the attached pic). The steering wheel I bought was for a 1998 1.8i petrol vehicle.
It will be interesting to see how much vibration I feel through the steering!

Well done for putting 'solved'.

I hadn't noticed, but I think your explanation is correct.

Why can you post photos and most others including me can not !?!?

andyfreelandy said:

Why can you post photos and most others including me can not !?!?

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Cos some have it and some dont



Sorry dont have a Hippo pic.

J

Kerlaan said:

It will be interesting to see how much vibration I feel through the steering!

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I could feel a buzzing through the steering wheel at certain speeds when I removed the damper.
It's definitely worth installing for improved refinement.

andyfreelandy said:

Well done for putting 'solved'.

I hadn't noticed, but I think your explanation is correct.

Why can you post photos and most others including me can not !?!?

Click to expand...

Hello @andyfreelandy, one reason may be I use an Apple laptop using Safari browser. I can just drag the image I want into the message and it uploads that way. Using the icon in the toolbar just doesn't work.

Nodge68 said:

I could feel a buzzing through the steering wheel at certain speeds when I removed the damper.
It's definitely worth installing for improved refinement.

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Thanks @Nodge68 - I guess I might find out tomorrow or Monday... (visitors you wish had something else to do got in my way...) I'll post my findings here.

I use my phone exclusively for posting pictures, and the link doesn't work at the moment.
Apparently Windows users can simply copy and past pictures into threads, but I can't be bothered to send pictures from my phone to the lappy, so I can copy them over.

Have flagged problem to Admin. Just in case they didn't know.
I can copy and paste on my phone. The picture appears for a second then disappears from the post !

Kerlaan said:

Thanks @Nodge68 - I guess I might find out tomorrow or Monday... (visitors you wish had something else to do got in my way...) I'll post my findings here.

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@Nodge68 - yes there is a slight buzz, the refinement of the damper on the steering wheel is worth having, I agree