Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Fixed my Horn!

As long as I've owned this car I've hated how difficult it is to beep the horn. It seemed I darn near had to stand on the Wheel pad to activate the d___thing!
Well, last night, my battery died (original battery that came w/ the car; not too bad 5 yrs old) and I had too get a new one and therefore turn off the power system. So I figured this was the opportune time (0 deg F, mind you) to remove the airbag and check what needed to be done w/ the horn.
I removed the 4 compression springs that are part of the horn system. Noticed they needed a fair amount of force to compress them. So took a ride to the local hardware and found a similar dimensioned spring, but lighter wire and therefore less force to compress them.
Bought 1/2 doz (.40@) and raced home to install them!
Put the car back together, checking the contact force before I reinstalled the airbag; and then installed the battery.

The horn works great!!!

I'm not sure if the spring code is the same in all h'ware stores, but this spring is a #90

The difference in loads:
Original spring needed greater than 10 lbs to compress it <1/2"
The #90 needed 3 lbs to compress it 3/4"

Seems Ford should have used a much lighter spring; probably would have saved them a lot, too. ($1000??? ha ha)

Anyway, it's not a difficult task, and perhaps someoneâ??s written it up already.
If you do decide to change the springs, make sure you disconnect both battery terminals so as not to activate the airbag. Not sure it's necessary, but better to be safe.

Good luck!

Thanks for sharing.

I remember Ray McNary sharing a similar experience with the horn pad / air bag. I thought it was in the FAQ, but I can't find it. It seems like he was able to use the same springs but mount them differently to get the same result you did.

This is something I keep meaning to do with my car but never have.

Thanks for sharing.

Just pointing out that it is ABSOLUTELY necessary to disconnect the battery before servicing the airbag.

Good job!

Steve

Thanks for sharing.

This is defiately something I will be attempting

yes, i noticed that also on my 96 contour,, had since new and found the springs it the steering wheel kinda hard to just push for a horn... maybe they used the springs from an old clutch pressure plate system??????

Thought I'd hive the specs of what I did:

Tools:
#25 Torx screw driver (need screwdriver, not enough room to use a cordless drill and recessed hole isn't wide enough for a removable bit driver)

#30 Torx scew driver (can use a bit for electric drill)

Parts:
You need 4 Springs:
Old New
Spring OD .480" .503
Spring Free Length .75" .75"
Spring Force 3/8" ~8lb 2lb
Wire size .050 .035

Remove both cables from the battery, I've heard you should wait 10+ minutes before removing the clip to the airbag pad

Remove the 2 screws on each side of the airbag (actually behind the airbag or between the steering wheel and the instrument panel) with #25 Torx. There are 2 whole on each side, only 1 has the torx screws. A small mirror might help you see them.

Unclip Airbag

You'll see 2 metal bands held down with #30 Torx screws
The springs are behind these bands captured by the 4 Torx screws.

It's pretty self explanatory from there, although the new springs might seem to large in diamater, they'll be okay because they're captured by the Torx Screws

If I stop at the h'ware store where I bought them later today, I'll post the spring manufactorers name

Good luck!