A friend asked me this... and I can't find anything in the HTA.  Is it illegal to remove airbags in a car?

HTA says no rebuilt units... but that's only talking about reinstalling them.  Mentions nothing about removing them.  

I believe the big concern is that a shop won't do it, due to liability issues.

Anyone have an official answer.

See this Transport Canada link for more info:
http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/absg/absg_e.htm

Something that many people don't realise is that seat belt systems are designed to work in conjunction with the airbag.  To reduce the risk of chest compression injury from high belt loads, seat belt systems are designed with load limiting features that permit the webbing to spool out extra slack if the webbing loads reach dangerous levels.

There are all sorts of different designs to accomplish this, as simple as an extra loop of webbing fastened with tear-out stitching that pops a couple of inches of slack into the system if the load threshold is exceeded, or as complicated as a friction lock in the retractor that unrolls extra webbing when required to limit the peak belt tension loads.

Under such high load conditions the airbag provides a safer means of cushioning the body, distributing the restraint loads over a much larger surface area, as compared to focusing the loads through a mere 2-inch wide webbing strap.  By allowing the webbing to spool out, belt loads are reduced and the restraint function is off-loaded onto to the airbag.

Here's the catch.  If the airbag is disabled or removed, the spool out of the stock belt system in a severe collision may be so large that the belts will not prevent the occupants from contacting the dashboard.