BW535xiT

From what I understand, you just need to insert something long and skinny into the small hole underneath the steering wheel and the airbag will pop out. I'm wondering if there are any other gotchas when working with airbags. Of course, I will do the work with the battery disconnected for about 5 minutes, but when I reconnect everything, will I be presented with any errors that need to be reset or will I be good to go after hooking everything back up? I'm just replacing my "sport" steering wheel with an M-Sport steering wheel. If someone has already written a DIY procedure, I'm all ears.

Phoenix803

Hi, personally I'd leave the car battery disconnected for half an hour and not reconnect until the air bag was back in position. I've recently removed mine as above and had no issues with any fault lights.
To remove the airbag, as you suggested, you will need to insert a thin screwdriver to press a release clip, if you push straight down the airbag will release, don't try pushing the screwdriver towards you/the airbag, just straight down towards the centre of the wheel.
If you google BMW E60 airbag removal there are numerous illustrations detailing this.

BW535xiT

It was actually very straightforward. I disconnected the battery, but I only waited for about 15 minutes before disconnecting the airbag. Swapped out the steering wheel without incident and I got everything reconected and the battery re-connected. When I sterted the car, I received a 4x4 and DTC error which was slightly alarming (no pun intended), but tht cleared itself after driving the car about 1/4 mile through my neighborhood. WHEW!!!