Over the last couple years my steering wheel controls had worked most of the time. I had a few issues where they would not respond but a smack to the steering wheel and they would be fine. (which made me think it was just dirty/loose contacts) Now they have finally stopped working all together. I took apart the steering wheel today and checked the contacts and made sure they were working. I even checked the resistors on each contact to make sure they were still good. (all appeared to be within the tolerance on the resistors)

I know the wires are solid up to the connector that is behind the airbag. I checked the resistance in the plug pressing each button to make sure it was changing the resistance. ( I am assuming by the setup the stereo reads the differing resistances/voltages to know which button is pressed)

It was all working great for a couple minutes today but when I was half way through putting it all back together I checked it and it had stopped working again. I ran through all my checks again and they were all good but still was not working.

Any ideas what else to check or what may be the problem?


The only other issue I have is the switch on my parking brake is flaky at times and says my brake is on when it is not. Don't know if it is related somehow but figured I would toss it in there as well in case it is related on some weird way.




**UPDATE**

It is looking like the issue may be the contact points that transfer the steering wheel controls off of the wheel. the controls seem to work when the wheel is not in the center position. Any ideas?
I have never dealt directly with the way the steering wheel transfers electrical from the wheel to the car (guessing circular contacts that line up with pins or other contacts on the wheel)

 

I am having exact same problem on my 06 Endeavor. Did you get this resolved?

 

No solution yet. When I get a chance I am going to try some electronics connection cleaner and some super fine sand paper. Will let you know if it works.

best I can tell is each switch has a different resistance and the car reads the varying drop in voltage to know which switch is being pressed. Be very careful if you take the switches out. they are soo easy to break the housing.

 

Ok, thanks. I've been looking for something that identifies how to get too the switches. I've been a little hesitant to poke around the airbag too much. Please keep me posted on your progress.

 

it all comes apart really easily. Airbag is a simple connection. the switches themselves are hard to get to but you can get to the wires that lead to them (if I remember correctly) you can take a multi meter and check the resistance across the switch with each button press. it should change for each one.

I would not remove the switches if at all possible. I do not think they are the issue at all.