That airbag was the least of my worries. The left half of the tilt hinge point on the tilt steering column was broken for a few years. The ignition lock to ignition switch linkage wasn’t lined up right as a result, and I couldn’t remove the key, plus it also wouldn’t start via the key.
So I had to crank it by jamming a screwdriver in the right side tilt hinge to hit the linkage rod directly. You think I wanted to chance that airbag popping in my face just because I had to crank it in a weird way?
Yes eventually I replaced the steering column once I found a replacement at a junkyard, but still, that car was a beater, and would ever so rarely even be used to push other smaller broke down vehicles home for neighbors. Don’t want the airbag going off from a friendly push home either.