Airbag Replacement and Dash removal

DIY

Below are some pictures and tips I wrote for removing and replacing the airbags in 2000, 2001 and 2002 Model Years of the Toyota Echo. Might be same for later year Echo's as well. You must remove the entire top portion of the dash in order to replace the passenger side air bag.  Unfortunately the Echo did not have the sensor in place to determine if someone was sitting in the passenger side, so if the driver's side deploys so does the passenger. There are a few pictures I forgot to take and I did not make note of all the sizes of sockets and Torx bits you need, but you can find those out by trial and error.  Before you begin you MUST disconnect the battery before attempting anything regarding airbags. How do you remove and replace them? Here it goes:

Here is what you might be faced with:

You only need to remove the two Torx bolts on the either side of the back side of the driver airbag.  These don't come completely out without force so feel free to leave them attached to the airbag once loose unless you need them for your new one.

Once loose the airbag comes right off.  You will need to disconnect the two yellow wires connecting the airbag to the steering column.  Once removed, simply reverse the steps and attach your new airbag!

To begin removing the passenger side airbag.  Start with the center console.

The center console plastic simply pulls straight out with no tools required

Remove the four Phillips head screws shown below.

Unplug the two wiring plugs by depressing the tabs and remove the cluster.

Remove the lower glove box by simply squeezing the sides together to clear the tabs to allow the glove box to swing down and drop it off.

Look up under the dash after removing the glove box and you will see the yellow passenger side airbag plug.  You will need to unplug this

You will have to look upside down up under the dash to see the 12mm bolt you must remove to allow the top part of the dash to come off to remove the airbag.  You will need an extension to reach this bolt.

Next remove the plastic trim from both sides of the "A" Pillar. Gently pry these away by hand if possible using car not to break the clips that hold them in place.

Next remove the front speaker grilles by gently prying up on them by hand.

There is a 10mm Phillips head screw on both sides of the dash that needs to be removed.  It is possible to remove them by not removing the speakers, but I found it much easier to to just remove the speakers and take out the screw.  Not to mention you lessen the possibility of loosing the screw down in the dash.  Shown below is the speaker removal and the bolt I am talking about.

Now on the front of the console.  You do not need to remove the front of the console, Only pull it out enough to release the clips that hold the top of the dash in place.  You do not need to remove the trim plate around the radio although one of my photos below show that trim plate removed.

There is a small gold Phillips head screw to the right of the center HVAC Console that you must remove.  There is not one on the left, only the right.

Gently begin to pry the dash forward enough to release the clips that hold it in place.  There are also two white clips that I can not show in the photos about halfway down in the middle that need to be depressed from the top with a flathead screw driver in order to get the HVAC Console to fully release.

Once you have the HVAC Console pulled far enough out you should be able to lift up on the entire dash and remove it.  It will look like so:

Now simply replace the entire dash or your airbag module to the old dash and reverse the entire procedure.

One last thing to mention.  In order to completely restore the car to normal after an airbag deployment, you will need to replace the airbag control module located under the center of the dash below the radio.  It is mounted to the transmission hump in the floor with 4 gold Torx bolts.  You will also need to replace both front seat belts since the airbag control module tells them to lock up once a deployment is detected. 

I hope this helps some of you!  If you have any suggestions or corrections, please feel free to email me below:

This Site was last updated on 02/01/18.