nwcn98

Every now and then the controls on my steering wheel don't work for my stereo for the Mode and Seek buttons. Also, I have noticed at night that their illumination goes off and on when the steering wheel is turned.

The Volume controls work great and consistently, but these other two...not as well.

Any insights, suggestions, thoughts?

Habious

Yes, it's called the "Spiral Cable"...and they eventually go bad. The cable runs down the center of the steering column and has the wires for things like the horn, airbag, steering wheel controls, etc. Since it constantly moves with the steering wheel, eventually...one or more wires in the spiral cable break or become intermittent.

Dealer can replace it. It's a fairly quick and painless repair. (It's the dealer so, I'm not saying it's gonna be CHEAP)

scdroptop

iTrader: (1)

Spiral Cable is $481.40 dealer charge-just had mine replaced a month ago at Sewell under warranty (Thank God)...mine was making an annoying sound like a spring gone bad inside the steering wheel. I have a CPO but even though I do at first they were reluctant to replace because it hadn't "failed" yet completely. After talking to my awesome assistant service manager she was able to get it replaced because it had in fact gotten worse and was starting to fail, making it harder to steer and some of the inconsistencies that you mention above.

I hope yours is covered under warranty too. Not sure what the labor cost is-the line item for that is rather vague...it says .60 labor...so maybe .6 hours of labor to replace? That's not much.

nwcn98

Thanks Guys. I'm under warranty so I should be okay.

scdroptop

iTrader: (1)

great news!

nwcn98

Getting fixed tomorrow. I was originally told it wouldn't be covered due to it being part of the airbag system. But after a "discussion" with the powers to be, they came to see my side

scdroptop

iTrader: (1)

Nice!!!! Let us know if this does the trick!!!

nwcn98

Works like a champ. BTW - has anyone actually seen the part?? It's not what I thought. It's not just a cable...it's an inch high, plastic and circular with a cable connector coming from it.

scdroptop

iTrader: (1)

No, I haven't. Did they show it to you? I pictured a long spring like cable with a hook on both ends LOL

In 2011 I'm going to be a stickler for vendors, service providers, etc to SHOW me their work and worn out parts, etc instead of taking their word for it. Too many places/people cut corners to save a buck these days and the customer has no clue as far as what's been replaced or fixed unless they ask to see the part/service themselves in question....

A couple of examples that got me this year:

We have an extended home warranty...$45 deductible for anything big or small that's broken to repair...from toilets to HVAC to appliances we are covered.

Dishwasher gasket-came out, replaced with what I thought was the right gasket, started to run a cycle and left while it was on. After service guy left, I looked at the dishwasher and it was still leaking...so I opened it and they put the wrong gasket on!

Home Heater-TRANE unit...blower motor went out in middle of Feb 20 degrees of course and they came out with a rebuilt cheap, non-oem one. I didn't know until they left and I saw the packaging they had left as their trash up in my attic. It works fine, but that really pissed me off!

Paint people-were on my roof this year and noticed a large gap between my flashing and turret on the roof line so they allegidly fixed it. Later I had another service guy on the roof (I cannot access this part of the roof easily and don't really want to!) and I asked him to check out the work and he said the gap was still there! So, I called the paint people back and had them re-do their fix!!!

Bottom line-in 2011 I'm not going to have the same level of trust with service people and I'm gonna have them prove to me the work is done/the part is right before I pay or let them leave!

nwcn98-glad you were able to see the proof!