2014 Steering Wheel Control Install

Write up time, baby! Just finished installing the steering wheel controls in my base 2014 access cab. The controls installed were 2014 model along with the appropriate spiral cable. Lets get started!

stock wheel



Torx (T30) from side access holes removed and airbag pulled straight out



Pry up on small yellow locks



Wires pull straight out with a light snap



Ground for horn



Harness removed for Cruise Control, note the horn wire, more on this later



Steering wheel nut removed, 19mm and somewhat tight.



Wheel pulled off. I read somewhere to just pull sharply on the wheel straight out, I suggest you try pulling gently first as I nearly wanged myself in the face with the thing. It did not engage the spline very tightly. Also note the marks for alignment, there is a corresponding mark on the column shroud.



Remove shroud for access to spiral cable, 2 screws in front.



Continued in next post! Stay tuned...

 

This thing is a bit fiddly to get separated. I had best luck pulling straight down at each corner near where the screws were. I then continued pulling straight down either side til it popped apart.



These are the hooks on the bottom piece of the shroud. There are corresponding barbs on the top part. I tried squeezing inward on the sides of the bottom shroud, toward the column but it did not seem to release the hook and barb situation. I just gently pulled straight down and it came off with no breakage.



Here I'm trying to show the barb holding the top part of the shroud to the column. The 2 black barbs need to be squeezed together to pull the shroud straight up. I decided to leave this in place, as it does not really hamper progress.



On to the spiral cable! This is the barb on the left side.



Right side



And top, all popped off easily with just fingers



Plug removal on spiral cable, simple enough, or so I thought...



The yellow one was tricky, It took me a minute to figure out how it came out. I know it was for the airbag system and usually the airbag stuff has extra secure and complicated locks on the wiring, like the 2 on the airbag itself. Hmmmm...



Turns out there's a little spring loaded slide in the bottom of the plug, facing the floor. You stick a small screw driver in there and push it toward the passenger side. Slick!





More pics in next post!

 

Last white plug hidden in the back.



Cable pulls right off!



New spiral cable part number



This is the old spiral cable, see that boxy looking part on the back with the white plug? The new one did not have that part, so I transferred it from old to new. There were a few hooks and barbs holding it to the spiral cable body.



This is the new cable, see how it's missing that boxy part with the white plug?



Boxy part removed and transferring to new spiral cable. Line up the blocks on the boxy part with the notches in the spiral cable. One is bigger than the other so you can't mix it up.



Lined up, snap it home!



New spiral cable with boxy part transferred.



Install by simply pushing straight back, it snaps in with a very satisfying click. Then re-install all the plugs on the bottom side, which also snap in with a satisfying click.



Here's a close up of the wires on the black plug, which I believe heads to the radio. Maybe someone doing a different year swap will find this useful.

Top side



Bottom, latch side



A little more to go!

 

Shroud re-installed



Now for the wheel controls, remove the 4 phillips screws, one at each corner holding the trim panels on.



Panels pop right off, they sort of clip to the round part of the wheel, so it may require a bit of a tug.





Steering wheel controls part number. I went with black (-C0). I think the silver ones are the same part number but with a -B0 suffix.



Installed



I passed the airbag wires through the wheel then snapped off the orange tab that centers the spiral cable. Then I pushed the wheel back onto the steering shaft splines being careful to line up the marks. It's fairly obvious if you're off a whole spline in either direction.





One more post should do it!

 

Now for the horn wire. Since there is a spade connector included in the steering wheel control harness, I assumed you do not need the spade that goes to the cruise control harness. I depinned the spade connector wire from the cruise harness and connected the one from the wheel controls harness.



Depinned, remember to lift up the small locking tab on the plug (the square hump on the top side) with a tiny screw driver. It does not need to be removed, only lifted up with a click about 1/16"



I used this for depinning. It's a fine exact-o knife blade ground down on the bench grinder. Seems to work, though I have yet to master depinning...



I find depinning difficult as you never know how the plug is set up. Fortunately this plug had an empty spot so I could kind of see how the barb was oriented. This plug depinned from the front side, opposite the wire. When I did the yellow wire mod, that plug depinned from the back. Tricky.



All re-installed and steering wheel nut tightened up



Airbag hooked back up, don't forget to push down the yellow lockers.



All Complete!



All in all it took about 1 hour and was very easy. I encourage everyone to try this mod if you have a desire for steering wheel controls.

My truck was the very bottom base vehicle and it seemed to be pre-wired from the factory. I have not tested the phone or voice functions yet but the others buttons seem to work and so do the lights! The only thing I haven't figured out is if you can turn off the radio from the steering wheel. When I hit the loopy return arrow the radio just beeps twice, I thought maybe that would turn it off but... Guess I'll bust out the manual and see if it helps.

So that was my first write up, I hadn't seen an install guide for 2014 steering wheel controls, only older ones. Hopefully this can help out some of you guys! It was a blast to make!

Thanks!

 

Fantastic job!

 

Thanks, man! I thought doing a write up would be tedious, but it was actually a lot of fun!

 

Nice ... I would prefer all black vice the silver I have ... IMO it looks mucher nicer ... great job.

 

Thanks, I hope it inspires others to take the plunge! Steering wheel controls are awesome.

 

Looks good man. Would have loved it 5 days ago but I'm sure it will help alot of guys in the future! ill post the link in my build thread to point people here that have asked about doing this.

Btw if you are putting a newer model controls on an 05-11 you need the 12-13 style buttons for full illumination and function

 

looks great. what dealer and how much for the needed parts? I'm from Pittsburgh too

 

Good job it turned out Great!

 

I got everything online.

Steering wheel controls from: Toyotapartsexpress.com, about $115 with shipping

Spiral cable from: Ebay. I decided to skip the cheap $50 Chinese part and opted for an OEM part. It was about $190.

 

dude, this is an awesome write up!!

 

Thanks!

 

Great job, hope everything works like it should.

 

Thanks!

 

Wow, thorough write-up. Nice work.

 

Excited to hear if all the buttons work

 

Everything seems to work, including the horn. I tried the phone buttons and voice button once I had a compatible phone connected, all functioned properly as far as I can tell. I never had wheel controls before so I have no benchmark.

I've been driving the co.pany truck the past few days so I have yet to spend any length of time with them.