2015 Horn Issue

Hi all!

Long time lurker, first time poster. I use the forums a lot to troubleshoot minor issues, but now I've got a question I can't figure out with my horn not working. I think it's the horn assembly, but wanted to see if I could get a confirmation or suggestion since it's like a $600 part.

The horn works with the panic button, but not the steering wheel. So I swapped the relay, no change. Then I removed the airbag and touched the grounding wire to the metal inside the wheel and the horn works. Pic below, I made sure the wire was connected properly, no change, then I disconnected it and touched it to frame of the steering wheel and the horn worked.

That makes me think that the clock spring is fine and it's the horn assembly/airbag. Since everything after the airbag piece works, the disconnect is in there. It looks like there are 3 grounding points in the airbag and no combination of pressing it down sets off the horn. I'm hesitant to troubleshoot much more with this piece because I don't want to set off the airbag. Any input would be great, but I do think that I just need to replace the horn assembly/airbag at this point, right?

Additional info, this is the video I was using to troubleshoot and at this timestamp is where I touched the ground wire to the steering wheel and it works. https://youtu.be/lt1s6rioQuY?si=JQJZdHL63K_MNrW0&t=875

 

Your spiral cable is broken.

 

But that piece is behind the grounding wire on the circuit, right? So if it was broken, my horn wouldn’t honk when I ground the wire on the steering wheel frame.

 

Here is the circuit. The wire you are grounding is the one shown as Green with a Red Stripe. Your Spiral cable is broken. When you ground this wire it completes the coil circuit for the horn relay which supplies power to the horns via the Gray wire.

What are you calling the horn assembly? The Horns are under the hood. You can prove them again by running a wire from the battery positive terminal to the wire terminal on each horn (there should be two). If they blow then the Horns are not the issue.

 

Clockspring

 

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Hold the horn button down and turn the steering wheel. See if the horn comes and goes

 

This test works best in the middle of the night.

 

So I’m confused and it’s probably my terminology making this more difficult.

First, the “horn assembly” I’m referring to is the piece that contains the airbag. When you compress that there are 3 points of contact in there. When those make contact, their not completing the circuit.

The wire I’m grounding is the one that’s connected to the airbag but isn’t either of the cables that have the safety lock (brown wire in my original picture).

My understanding based on numerous videos is that the clock spring lives inside the steering wheel shaft. Meaning that when I touch the grounding wire that connects to the back of the airbag, it should not be setting off the horn. But it does in my case. And that is the confusing part for me. If the clock spring/spiral cable is broken the horn should not be going off.

 

The piece that contains the airbag is not the horn assembly. It is an Airbag Assembly. The Clock Spring ( actual name is Spiral Cable ) is behind the steering wheel and looks like this:

The Airbag assembly provides the Horn Switch via the ground contact points.




I have a better understanding now. When you disconnect the wire from the airbag assembly and ground it the horn blows which indicates a good circuit.

But when it is assembled and you press the Airbag Assembly it doesn't blow which indicates a defective circuit.

Seems like you are correct in an issue with the connection on the airbag or a contact issue with the grounding points on the airbag switch.

Here is a good video to test the circuit. It shows the Green wire with a Red Stripe at about the 18 minute mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt1s6rioQuY

 

[QUOTE="Jimmyh]

Here is a good video to test the circuit. It shows the Green wire with a Red Stripe at about the 18 minute mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt1s6rioQuY[/QUOTE]

so this is the video I initially linked in my post, at the 14 min mark when he takes the airbag off.

Really appreciate the follow ups Jimmy, kinda confused on where I should go from here tho. In the video at that mark, he says if the circuit is good you can touch that horn ground to metal and it will sound the horn.

 

so this is the video I initially linked in my post, at the 14 min mark when he takes the airbag off.

Really appreciate the follow ups Jimmy, kinda confused on where I should go from here tho. In the video at that mark, he says if the circuit is good you can touch that horn ground to metal and it will sound the horn.[/QUOTE]


At the 18 : 31 mark in the video he is pulling the connector from the input side of the spiral cable with the Green wire with a Red Stripe. That is the wire I am talking about. It completes the coil circuit for the horn relay.

The other wire with the female spade connector that plugs into the steering wheel is the ground side of the spiral cable on the print.

Green wire with Red Stripe >> Spiral Cable Assembly >> Ground Wire >> Steering Wheel Ground.

You are correct IF the horn blows when grounding the naked female spade connector the horn circuit is probably good. Test it when turning the steering wheel by pressing the horn at the same time. If it cuts out intermittently doing this the spiral cable has an open circuit and needs to be replaced.

 

Much appreciated! I’ll give it a whirl during the day and see how it goes.

 

I recommend disconnecting the batter the night before, then go for it. I added the hands free switches on the right side of my steering wheel, and taking off the airbag and getting into that was easier than I expected.