Removing steering wheel

How to remove airbag and steering wheel from a VW Polo 6R

Removing driver airbag unit

Move steering wheel to lowest position.
Extend steering wheel as far as possible into passenger compartment.
Turn steering wheel 90° to the left.
Insert a screwdriver into hole in back of steering wheel to stop (approx. 18 mm) at left edge of opening.
Pull screwdriver upwards -arrow-.

The screwdriver mentioned in the following activities should be about 120 mm long and have a blade width of about 7 mm.

This action releases airbag unit fastener on right side of steering wheel.

Turn steering wheel 180° and release airbag unit fastener on left side of steering wheel as described.
Turn steering wheel back through 90° to middle position.
Remove airbag unit from steering wheel.
Release connector locking device -in direction of arrow- and pull airbag connector -1- off.

I usually use a can opener from an old penknife to pull the airbag off the steering wheel. You can j ust use a wide screwdriver 😉 You can also use a table spoon or teaspoon like iichel 😛

Removing steering wheel

Centre steering wheel (wheels in straight-ahead position).
Unscrew bolt -3- and pull steering wheel -2- from steering column.

-3- Pan head bolt /w multi-point drive, self-locking.

The socket is M12 based on the slot inside the screw. The screw has M18 metric thread.

**`N 90799102`** (`N90799102`) – Pan head bolt /w multi-point drive, self-locking, M18X1,5×18

To undo steering wheel you need to use a M12 XZN triple square bit socket.
If you don’t have the special 12-star bit, a regular six-star TORX bit (T55) will do just fine.

I recommend YT-7736 or YT-04354 from YATO. You can find them in Castorama stores or online.

After remove steering wheel pay attention to the correct position of the clockspring. You can secure position using tape or special plastic to prevent the ring from spinning.

If you see white tape in center position in this small window when the connector is on top everything is correct ; -)

Below I ‘ve posted a larger picture to better illustrate this.
Some clocksprings produced before 2012 don’t have this small window to review. If you don’t have it then pay special attention not to turn the ring!