Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Clunk in steering wheel (loose airbag?)

When I turn the steering wheel 90+ degrees on my wife's 95 Contour, I hear a clunk like something is loose and has fallen in there. Then when I return the wheel to it's orig position, I get another clunk the the item has "fallen" back into place. Any ideas on what this might be? Maybe the airbag assembly is loose? I have no warning lights pointing to any time of problem. Thanks for any feedback.

I hadmy airbag come loose before, if this is the case you most likely will be able to grab the airbag and move it around. If this is the case there are to torks(sp?) bit bolts on the bag center of the wheel, these two bolts hold the air bag to the wheel. tighten those and you should be all set. I allen wrench could also work if you find the right size

If I remember correctly, there is a counterweight that breaks away from it's mounting in the center of the steering wheel. When I have seen this, I usually just thow the loose part away. It doesn't really seem to effect much of anything. To get to it, you must first remove the air bag. Consult a manual if you haven't done this before as it can be dangerous should you accidently trigger the air bag.

My '95 GL had the whole airbag and horn assembly come loose as well. It was not anything inside of the airbag unit. It was the WHOLE UNIT.

There are two TORX screws (or what-ever you'd call them) behind the steering wheel. You have to turn the wheel about 90 degrees one way to get to one and then turn it 90 dgrees the other way to get to the other.

You could actually shake the whole airbag and horn assembly around!

This happened at less than 60K.
After I tightened them it has stayed in place for another 106K miles!

Personlly, I would dare open the actual airbag assembly! Those things scare me! Good luck!

DB

I'm not suggesting that you take the air bag apart. The part I've seen broken off is below the air bag. You just need to move the air bag out of the way. You must use extreme care any time you are handling the air bag.