I plan to do some continuity tests this weekend to confirm, but my diagnosis is that my cable reel (under driver's side air bag and steering wheel) has failed. First thing I noticed was the SRS light which I reset, but it came right back on. Next was the cruise control which made me look at the circuit diagrams after which I tried the horn (not working). All three of those and only those items run through the cable reel.

Two events happened within two days right before I noticed that the SRS light was on, the dealer replaced the tail lights (recall) and I autocross'd. Most likely the autocross (8 runs) put it over the edge.

I will start shopping for one once I confirm it. Does anyone have a recommendation on where to buy one and how much it might be?

How common is this failure?

Thanks,

Rob

 

Might be easier to check all the fuses first.

 

www.hondaautomotiveparts.com

 

Thanks, fuses checked out okay.

 

Just to complete this thread...

WARNING: an airbag is involved with this work, make sure you follow all the warnings in the helms manual. This is mainly to disconnect the battery and not work in front of the airbag.

Continuity tests revealed that the horn and cruise control circuits running through the steering wheel were not working. I did not test the air bag circuit, but concluded that the cable reel was bad just from the horn and cruise control tests. I tested through the cable reel connector near the ignition switch. The connector is small and in a tight location and was very frustrating to get on the pins with the ohm meter. In hind sight it would have been easier to remove the airbag/steering wheel and had full access.

I purchased the cable reel from www.hondaautomotiveparts.com as suggested by squeezer (Thanks). This saved me about $50 over the price the local dealer offered. Price with shipping was $159. It feels good to have a brand new cable reel, I'm not sure a used one is the way to go for this part. They seem fairly fragile and it's directly associated with a safety system (SRS).

Installation was straight forward as depicted in the helms manual. A steering wheel puller and a T-30 torx are the special tools required. Make sure the bolts for the puller are in far enough. My first attempt pulled out some threads on one bolt because it was not in far enough. Fortunately there were enough threads left to get the job done.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the SRS light will need to be reset. This too is easy to follow in the manual. Leads (that can insert into the connector) connected to a simple switch work very well.

 

Here are some related pictures including the broken cable reel and where it failed.







The rest of the pictures are here... Cable Reel Pictures