Hey guys, now that my truck is fixed, I need to help a friend of mine with a problem on his. He has a 2003 F-150. The emblem on the horn pad was dented in, so he pulled it off and straightened it out. When he inserted it back into the horn pad, the **** on the emblem dented the pad underneath that has the wires on it. The horn will not stop blowing now. The dealer said this part cannot be bought seperately. It must come with the whole airbag assembly and everything. Is this true? The part number on the little pad with the two wires is: TRW P/N:30316161C
Option 5
PRESSAC
P/N: 57/3196

Is there anything he can do or somewhere to check for this part separately, rather than have to pay $700.00 for the whole airbag assembly?

Thanks,
Rick

 

Hella has a small airhorn kit for less than 40 bucks..

 

I have the same problem. It is ridiculous to have to pay 700 dollars just to get the horn working! Were you able to find a work around for this or maybe a way to order just that once part?

 

If Im not mistaken,the horn works on a ground line principal,there is one wire that feeds the horn button,and the action of pushing the horn pad completes a circuit to ground....Meaning that the horn relay B+ is hot all the time.
Now with that being said,I suggest that your friend carefully remove the steering wheel cover,and locate this wire(Probably Black)... disconnect it,and re-route it to a cheap horn button(Auto zone...4 bucks) somewhere in proximity to the steering wheel(maybe lower part of the dash)..Ground the other side of the horn button,and hes set....From what Im gathering from the original post,he has inadvertantly pierced the airbag contact assy(which is in effect grounding the factory horn setup).....I suggested CAREFULLY because this airbag can"Fire" even by Static electricity,and it can be deadly in some circumstances...Hope this helps

 

Rick,
I just did that repair today on a 2006 f-550 part number is the same.
you want to get ford part # 6c3z-13b802-c it's called a horn repair kit.
are you sitting down......list price is $300.95
it is no wonder why ford didn't want any bailout money from the goverment when they rip off there customers like that...

 

Welcome to the site.

Then maybe you could manufacture the part and provide at a much cheaper price?

 

You provide the seed money and I'll do the manufacturing, I think 10mil should get things started for the first quarter. Bank draft or cash...

 

While I do not recommend this procedure due to the requirement to mess with the airbag unit, I was not ready to fork over $700 or $300 for the relevant parts so after pulling the airbag from the vehicle (I used Haynes re how & safe procedures with the airbag - mainly I waited 30 minutes after removing both battery negative connections, instead of the Haynes-recommended two minutes, before working on it), I removed the two torx screws on the bottom and peeled back the faceplate (releasing the four wedge locks as I did) so I could remove and inspect the membrane switch.

The reinserted emblem tangs had dimpled the outer membrane layer such that it was permanently shorted - but in my case, only when it got cold which in SoCal meant the horn went off and stayed off until I beat the horn-push area (two occasions) or pulled the fuse (third) at 1-2am on three different nights (my neighbors must love me).

The bottom layer (hindsight after I did what I am about to describe) has many tiny silicon dots on it to keep the two copper-clad inner surfaces of the two layers from making contact unless pressed - or dimpled by the "Ford" tangs - by the rows of little plastic fins on the underside of the horn-push area. Note this central area, where the emblem is, is NOT used at all for making contact (no fins to push on it), so its unnecessary presence creates this problem!

BTW I have an 03 F250 but same part nos. as previous posts, and I created my problem the exact same way. After I'd removed the membrane switch as above, I carefully cut out (repeated scoring with an exacto) a small central rectangular area of just the upper (outer) layer where it was damaged (dimpled) by the tangs on the Ford emblem, then sliding a small piece of thin mylar, slightly bigger than the cut hole, between the two membranes to prevent the new edge (of the hole I'd cut) from shorting out onto the bottom layer. I used toothpicks to keep them apart to make insertion and adjustment easier.

Note the two layers are not bonded or attached at least in this central area. I'd also cut a hole in the mylar slightly smaller than the hole I cut in the membrane, so when I placed a piece of harness tape (high quality vinyl tape, 1-in wide, just over 1 mil thick) cut just big enough to overlap the hole cut in the upper membrane, it secured the upper & lower membrane layers and the mylar all together. I could have removed less of the upper layer of the membrane, i.e., just the damaged area with visible dimples, but I like to be vaguely symmetrical... plus that area isn't used to effect contact anyway.

I bench tested (thought it unwise to check when back in airbag unit) it for shorts and operation (light finger push adequate) and reinstalled it - I forgot to properly engage the wedge locks at the sides the first try, so had to take out the torx screws a second time to correct that)
Et voilà!

BTW if I do have to revisit this, I found the repair kit mentioned in previous posts for $213 plus change & shipping at <www.directfordparts.com>.

As I say, I'm not recommending this, it's a personal decision re airbag work, but it's what I did to fix mine, all good so far. In hindsight, after pulling out the emblem and straightening it (it had been dimpled in the middle and annoying me for two years) I would have cut off the tangs and glued the darn thing in with a blob of Goop or something. Now? I tossed the emblem - I like the ugly hole better.

 

$213 repair kit was at Silver State Ford Parts Genuine Ford Truck Parts Lincoln Mercury Parts OEM Ford Parts and Accessories - I don't know if I forgot to copy the link into my reply or it was removed automatically for some reason. If latter, it won't show again this time either, so I hope the mention isn't bad manners.

Also I meant to write horn went off and stayed ON until, etc., etc. Odd we say things go off when we mean they go on... something to do with horses maybe. Or veggies. Sleep now. zzzzzzz.

 

BTW n5926g, the membrane switch has both sides insulated from ground and metal in the airbag assembly and both wires on the connector carry out into the harness, no local ground visible. So the issue with these horn switched is that it's an internal short in the membrane switch that causes this, it is VERY unlikely the aluminum tangs on the emblem could pierce both layers of copper-clad mylar (or whatever the insulator material is) and even if they did, the membrane is laid between two plastic parts, no metal there, except where the two torx screws that screw into the airbag metal trap it and the steering boss cover via a metal plate that also is the horn connector bracket.
Sorry but the horror is still fresh in my mind.

But since I'm sure you're right about it being a grounding connection, I was going to use your suggestion of running the relevant wire to a cheesy switch - or maybe an old-style overhead lavatory chain - if I couldn't fix the thing.

 

I have a 2006 F250 and the horn wouldn't stop blowing. I think driving habits may cause the fins to deform (if you drive with your hands on the center of the steering wheel, like I do) I simply cut the 2 bottom rows of fins of the back of the airbag cover and this fixed the problem.

 

F*** Ford, just do what BarryJB did. I was having the same problem and fixed mine the same way today. The only difference is I used a rectangular piece of plastic that I cut off of a package and used electrical tape to tape it over the exposed side of the copper plate that I cut out, and then I taped the other side of the copper plate over that. It works and it's free. If you remove the steering wheel emblem and put back in, or put in a different one, take the airbag cover off first and bend the emblem tabs flat against the outer cover. This way the tabs aren't poking the horn pad and creating the constant beep issue. The cruise control wasn't working when I had the horn fuse removed or when I unplugged the horn connection but works now that I have everything connected again. Oh and I also did what BarryJB did and didn't put the emblem back on, since I painted my outer emblems black anyhow..figured I may as well leave it off.
</www.directfordparts.com>

 

Same problem, same part on a 01 Expedition. I separated the membrane and put lines of pinstripe about a half inch apart to give some space between the membranes. Works perfect, no dead spots, easy fix. I used pinstripe because i had it laying around and it has an acrylic adhesive that won't degrade and turn to slime