A few months back on a really hot day my horn randomly started honking while driving. I pulled the fuse as a quick fix and brought it into a body shop. They initially thought it was something to do with the airbag part and ordered one, but ended up making new bushings instead. The center of the steering wheel was a bit off-center and the left side was pretty sensitive but it worked for a couple weeks. When it started happening again I used a couple pieces of gorilla tape to dampen the vibration and that worked for about a month and a half but last week it started happening again. Now it’s only during right turns and when it gets bumped just so. Applying light pressure to the left side of the steering wheel seems to help but sure makes my commute a pain.
Anything I can do to fix this on my own or guidance I can give to the mechanic (he was pretty baffled last time I brought it in)? My first instinct is to take the air bag module out and reattach it but I’m worried about messing with the airbag. Thanks!
It sounds like a bad clockspring to me. Is that the “airbag part” the shop was referring to? If so, was it replaced?
No, they thought it was something to do with the airbag itself, neither were replaced.
The problem is most likely with the horn membrane switch in the air bag.
If this switch cracks/ruptures, it takes very little for the contacts to touch causing the horn to sound.
The air bag needs to be replaced in order to replace the horn membrane switch.
If it were my vehicle? I’d pull the horn fuse and live without the horn.
Tester
It’s possible that a clever auto-electric shop could wire in a horn button on your dashboard too. Bypass the steering wheel horn switch. Not as good as a steering wheel version, but at least you’d have a horn to sound if you needed one in an emergency. If the air bag has to be replaced to fix it, that’s probably what I’d do. Note this may not pass your state’s safety inspection, so check up on that if you need to pass a yearly safety inspection. But no horn at all won’t likely pass either.
Thanks all. Drove it with the fuse pulled for about a month, but that’s the same fuse as the parking lamps and dashboard backlight are on. Wasn’t bad in the summer but it’s getting dark way too early for that now. I’m going to be out of town for a few days so I’ll drop it off at the mechanic tonight and see if they can work some magic.
If the same fuse operates the dash lights and parking lights just pull the horn relay.