Airbag Replacement & SRS Repair in Tampa

No, and you should walk out of any shop that offers to. A deployed airbag is a spent one-shot device — clearing the light does not put a bag back in the car, it just hides that there isn’t one. Under Florida Statute §860.146 it is a second-degree felony to knowingly install or reinstall a fake airbag or a junk-filled airbag compartment, which is exactly what a car with a cleared light and an empty module is. We will not do it at any price.

We install new OEM airbags. Florida Statute §860.145, the Airbag Antitheft Act, makes it a third-degree felony to knowingly possess, sell or install a stolen airbag or one whose manufacturer part identification number has been removed, altered or defaced — and it requires anyone dealing in salvaged airbags to keep records and disclose it in writing. New parts with traceable numbers keep you and us clear of all of that.

On a covered collision, yes — it is part of the repair like any other damaged component. It is also one of the largest single line items on a modern estimate, and it is a common reason an insurer starts looking at total loss on an older car. We write it accurately either way and tell you plainly which direction the numbers are heading.

Because you are almost never replacing one thing. A single front deployment typically takes the bag itself, the clock spring behind the wheel, the control module that recorded the event, both front seat belt pretensioners, and the dash pad the bag came through. The estimate breaks every piece out line by line so you can see where it goes.

The labor is not usually the holdup — parts are. Airbag components are ordered against your VIN and some modules ship only from the manufacturer. We order the moment the estimate is approved and give you a real date, not an optimistic one.