ericnovikoff

I followed mroberte's instructions from "Happy to report..." to remove the steering wheel from my 2015 A3 8V. However, once I pried off the spring off the hook on one side of the back of the steering wheel, the airbag assembly did not pop off as all the various postings about removing it say it will. Instead, I tried pulling on it, and the result was to honk the horn since it appears something else is holding it down in the center, which caused it to rock down on the opposite side and trigger the horn switches.

Has anyone had this problem? Is there another fastener other than the two hooks holding the airbag assembly in place?

I thought finding a used steering wheel with paddles in germany was going to be the hard part, never expected getting the airbag off would be the sticking point, so to speak!

Thanks

clearwatersense

Hey - I'm not sure if I read your post correctly (you only popped off one hook/clip?) but I think there's two clips that hold the airbag onto the steering wheel. I'm actually going to be installing a flat-bottom steering wheel tomorrow so I'll let you know.

ericnovikoff

Yes, I'm aware there are two clips, but looking at the first one with a dental mirror, I saw that despite pulling hard on the airbag assembly while holding the clip clear of the hook, it did not move away from it, so when I stopped prying on the clip, it just went back over the hook, locking the airbag back in place. There was no point in prying on the second clip (though I did, and it was the same situation.) The behavior of the airbag assembly was like a teeter totter, as though it had some other firm attachment to the wheel (more than the two clips), closer to the center of the wheel. As a result, when I pulled on the side I was unhooking, the other side moved TOWARDS the wheel, causing the horn to sound!

clearwatersense

Ahh, I see what you mean now. Well I'll give it a shot tomorrow and if I figure it out I'll let you know.

ericnovikoff

Good luck! I look forward to hearing it was a success. Just remember to protect your dash, especially the clear window over the instruments.

illmatic41

While the chances are slim, I would advise disconnecting the negative terminal to the battery. You don't want that airbag to accidentally explode...after all, it is an electrical charge that sets off the explosive to activate it.

When I installed my flat bottom steering wheel, I remember holding that clip with a small screw driver, then pulling the top of the airbag(as in the area which is now to the side since the wheel is turned) to loosen it from 2 of the circular holding bumps inside, then turning the wheel to the other side to get the second clip and pulling the bottom to loosen the remaining 2 bumps. Good luck.

ericnovikoff

I agree, disconnecting the batter is the best choice. Not so much because of the airbag going off, since the connector self-shorts when you pull it out. However it's very irritating taking the airbag off when the ignition is on because of the horn beeping. But more importantly, if the ignition is on when you separate the airbag, you'll get error codes locked into the ECU that you'd need VCDS to remove. So the ignition should never be on with the airbag separated.

clearwatersense

Good news - I was able to get the steering wheel installed! It's truly a great improvement - the extra thickness and heft, the flat bottom, the paddle shifters, it really makes driving around so much nicer. After all, the steering wheel is what you're touching 99% of the time you're driving! I also opted for the perforated leather, which I really love the feel of.

But anyways, on to the more important details. So I also initially had trouble with getting the two spring-loaded hooks at the back of the steering wheel off. After some finagling, I figured out that you need to move the hook to a position in which it can slide off, and then pull as hard as you can on the airbag, on the exact same side as the hook you're jamming "open" with a flat-head screwdriver. I've attached two pictures for reference:

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet
In this picture, I'm showing what the backend of the steering wheel looks like. The red flat-head screwdriver is pushing against one of the hooks you'll need to slide to the gap on the right (gap on the left for the other hook) into an "open" position, and then pull hard on the airbag edge that's on the same side as the hook.

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet
This picture is a screencap from a youtube video that shows an A1 steering wheel change (similar procedure to ours, ). It shows how the airbag will come off if you pull at it (I had to pull quite hard!) while you have your screwdriver pushing the hook open.

mroberte

I cannot stress enough, but always disconnect the battery when doing this!! One, safety, but moreso two, because the car will throw an error code. Without the VCD cable, you have to go to the dealer to get it reset. I had my passenger foot airbag throw a code and got a world of questions from my dealer as to why it was on and what I was doing to make it go off.

@ericnovikoff - I'm assuming that when you get one clip off, then turn the wheel to get the other off, the airbag is actually reseating itself on the first clip you were trying to get off. This happened to me the first time I tried.

Try making making sure to keep pressure and pull on the side you unclipped first. When I did this, I pulled on the opposite side of the airbag, while unhooking the other side clip on the backside. This allowed for the airbag to come off completely. The first time will be rather difficult as its in there pretty good.

sdjaime

Any after pics to share? Where did you pick up your new steering wheel? Europrice?