Saturn Vue Horn - Sticking. Temperature-related?

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

The vehicle: 2004 Vue, 128,000 actual miles. 4-cylinder, pretty vanilla, all-original everything except of course wear parts (tires, batteries, and so on). It’s our fourth Saturn, we’ve loved all four of them, and we’re REALLY sorry there won’t be any other new Saturns in the future. (My step-son owned a Saturn because of all the great things we had to say about them, and he was a USAF Academy Graduate on his way to fighter pilot training at the time. Also, my older brother recently bought a used Relay minivan for the same reason. They both also loved their Saturns.)

OK, what I have already looked at or tried, and what I already know or suspect:

I’ve already changed the relay. I now have a spare relay in my fix-it kit, there was nothing wrong with the original relay.

Checked all the wiring I could trace, no nicks, breaks, shorts, cuts, etc. (The wiring harness of course disappears in places going through things on its way from the horn to the fuse/relay box and the switch in the steering column, but it is in perfect shape where I -can- see and inspect it…)

This seems to be related to the cold. I’ve seen a few odd things when trying to search for details about this problem, regarding something to do with plastic parts in the steering column shrinking in the cold and shorting the horn button “on.” No details, no, “How I fixed it” information, just, “It’s stuck.”

I’m not too sanguine about diving into a steering column loaded with explosives (airbags are activated by explosive charges) if I can help it, but I need to fix this problem permanently so I can be shot of the annoyance. Not having a horn is dangerous. Pulling the horn relay every time the temperature approaches 3C/38F or less is not a permanent option, either.

So, any best guesses? Is this actually likely to be a temperature-related issue? If so, is the problem in the steering column switch parts? Is there an improved/fixed switch to replace it, or is there a modification that can be made to stop this from happening?? And if the column is the problem, what’s the safest way to de-fang the boomies in the airbag system so I don’t wind up eating a face-full of airbag parts? (Pulling the battery cable of course I already know about.)

Inquiring minds would appreciate knowing. Thanks in advance for any help.

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Quick recap, if I understand the question correctly when it is cold the horn does not work?

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If you aren’t real particular on how it looks, you can get a horn button that clamps to the side of the steering column and bypass the wiring internal to the column. A good mechanic with electrical knowledge can install this for you. Since your Saturn is 8 years old, this may be an inexpensive way out. I did this on my 1950 Chevrolet pickup that I once owned and it worked out o.k.

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No, Barkydog, that’s not at all what I said. What I said was that in the cold the horn gets stuck. A “stuck horn” is a well-known problem, it has occurred myriad times before. The term always has the same, specific meaning, at least in English; there is no ambiguity here. In cold weather, the horn becomes STUCK. As in ON, as in blowing, continuously, loudly, incessantly, until I yank the relay (or the battery cable).

Triedaq, appearances are not the issue. I would however like to have assurance that there is not something worse (such as a potential dead short somewhere inside the steering column wiring) waiting for me as time passes. I don’t mind a cobbled-together jerry-rigged horn switch, but I would definitely prefer not to have a fire start in the steering column wiring. If the wiring is faulty in there, as it already seems to be to some extent - the horn circuit at least, I cannot discount that there might be a distinct possibility of things getting worse, making life a lot less pleasant. (I don’t like watching cars burn, it’s expensive, you can’t roast marshmallows on the fire, and they smell too bad for another thing…)

So, from this I can see that I have wasted my and your time. No-one has any knowledge of this problem in Saturns, nobody can help with the removal and repair of the switch or wiring or whatever this problem really is, and the airbag issue is ignored completely. Sorry to have bothered you all and wasted your time.

Thanks for the two posts, but I’ll be going now.

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I would have to see a wiring diagram for the Saturn Vue, but many horn systems just complete the circuit to the chassis ground of the car. If you install the external horn button, you disconnect the wire to the horn switch that goes inside the steering column.
If you have changed the relay, my guess is that the problem is in the contacts in the horn button on the steering wheel. I had this happen on a 1971 Maverick and my brother had it happen on a 1977 Cadillac. This was the day before air bags and the horn button was easy to change. On the Maverick, the button consisted of two metal bars so that when the button was pushed, these bars made contact. I suggested the button outside the column to get around the problem of the air bag.