I have a 97 nissan hardbody 4x2 2.4. The horn goes off by itself, especially when I hit a bump. I also hear something loose inside steering pad. I has an airbag. How would I go about removing the horn pad, deactivating the air bag, and repairing horn problem? I have moderate mechanical ability, changed timing chain, ball joints,ac compressor on same vehicle.

disconnect battery to deactivate airbag. I have looked at a few steering wheels from later trucks with airbags and there seems to be a star type set of screws holding the horn airbag cover on, may need to contact a body shop about that, they remove them all the time after crashes. or go to local junk yard and see if you can figure it out without tearing up anything.

RT22 wrote:disconnect battery to deactivate airbag. I have looked at a few steering wheels from later trucks with airbags and there seems to be a star type set of screws holding the horn airbag cover on, may need to contact a body shop about that, they remove them all the time after crashes. or go to local junk yard and see if you can figure it out without tearing up anything.

Thats gonna be a T50 Tamper Proof Torx bit. I bought one from NAPA, I belive I've seen them at autozone too. You'll find 2 holes to the left and right of the steering wheel. The torx bolts are there. I've seen plastic plugs on the wheels also that pop pretty easy with a flathead driver. and like RT22 stated, disconnected the battery, it'd suck have that thing go off, more so if you've got a tool in your hand. with the torx bolts removed the whole bag unit will lift off the wheel and you can unplug it. The horn sounds like a loose wire or a foreign object might be rolling across the contacts to the horn.

My '97 HB always had a clatter in the steering wheel. It was especially loud going over railroad tracks, or at about 80MPH on poorly balanced tires

I pulled the airbag by removing the Torx security bolts after disconnecting the battery, and found what is labeled in the factory service manual as a "damper"

Apparently it's there to reduce vibrations in the steering wheel transmitted through the steering column. Basically it's a heavy block suspended by rubber studs. These studs were dry rotted, but still intact on my truck - so I just put it all back together. In your case I bet the damper is just flopping around in there. I have head of this before.

The damper isn't available separately... so just toss it and that should fix your problelm.

If you want to review the procedure for removing the air bag check out the factory service manual at http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/

Heath

Thanks guys, I got 'er done last weekend. The two Torx bits happened to be T50 6-point with tamper-proof tab in the middle. Regular Torx wont work unless you chisel out the middle tabs on bolts. I removed the "damper" and now all works fine. I wondered what that thing was and if it was important.As a precaution, after disabling airbag, I worked from the side of it just in case thing went BOOM!Thanks

yeah a airbag in the face would really suck LOL

jonathan1173 wrote:Thanks guys, I got 'er done last weekend. The two Torx bits happened to be T50 6-point with tamper-proof tab in the middle. Regular Torx wont work unless you chisel out the middle tabs on bolts. I removed the "damper" and now all works fine. I wondered what that thing was and if it was important.As a precaution, after disabling airbag, I worked from the side of it just in case thing went BOOM!Thanks

Have you had any problems since you took the damper out? The little rubber tabs wore out on mine as well so I was just going to put it back together without the damper. If need be, I'm sure I could rig something up with some epoxy and home-made tabs.

Just so everyone knows you need to wait ten to fifteen minutes after disconnecting the battery for the airbag system to be deactivated. There's a separate capacitor for the airbag system in case the battery gets dislodged in an accident. It keeps power for a few minutes after the battery power is gone in case of a second collision. the timing is different per manufacturer and even from model to model in some cases but ten to fifteen minutes should do the trick on just about any vehicle.

That is good to know tech wow what a surprise if ti went off on you?

Sounds like a damaged clockspring to me.

Same problem. Loose damper bouncing around cracked nylon washer on horn assembly. thanks for the heads up to waiting 15+ minutes after disconnecting battery so as not to set off airbag. Autoparts stores didnt have washer. Home Depot had something close. Fix cost $4.99 for the T50 ratchet and 65 cents for the washer. This forum is the best. Thank you all!

to NICO - and way to search! It's funny, because I had completely forgotten this issue... as in I wouldn't have even remembered that there was a damper in there or that I pulled my air bag to check it, etc... Must be getting old.

Heath