Found this picture on AACA forums. Even though it's a Buick dash, this is what the original 1974 ACRS steering wheel looked like. Not sure if passenger side dash was different on the big Buicks like it was for ACRS equipped Oldsmobiles.

http://photos.aaca.org/showimage.php?i=4472&catid=500

They use the exact same airbag technology now as the original 1974 GM system.

 

Are you sure? I know seatbelt technology has advanced quite a bit since the 70s. When I worked for TRW in Alfdorf, Germany they were engineering seat belts for use in modern VWs and Audis that used explosive charges and electric motors for tensioning during collisions. That was some pretty advanced stuff. The factory I was in also did airbag development but I didn't work in that area.

BTW, thanks for the picture.

 

Technology has added some benefits, but the basic concept and configuration hasn't changed that much. I think his point was simply that GM had air bags figured out 35 years ago but quickly learned the public didn't want them if it knocked a few bucks off the price of a car. I'm quite sure that if you had to pay an extra $1,000 to get airbags in a current car, most buyers would skip it. They'd probably buy huge chrome rims instead.

 

Aside from the concept most guys have that an air bag is someone who just can't build pressure because they won't shut up........

Quite a few years back, I was "shopping" at one of our local boneyards and came across a 1973 Custom Cruiser that had an air bag steering wheel. I know this because it actually said Air Bag on the padded part of the wheel. At the time, I didn't pull it because I wasn't sure how, and also was afraid that the darn thing could explode! (So I was a lot younger then and didn't know that you needed to have it hooked up to a battery). I do remember that the wiring at the bottom of the column had an extra clip to plug in.