I have a 2015 gen 3. A charging cable got caught up in my steering wheel. I now have an airbag warning light, steering wheel switches and cruise control no longer function. Before taking this apart, I want to know what I’m getting into. Should I 1) buy a new/referbished OEM assembly, 2) buy an after market assembly, or 3) will I just be able to fix the current unit and reconnect wires?
hard to know until you open it up, but yes, it is replaceable, and you can find threads here on it, and maybe youtube videos, idk.
It's removable and replaceable. Taking it apart and repairing it goes beyond anything Toyota would do, though I've seen some posts here where people have. There's a thin ribbon cable wound up in there, and some posts have shown, say, using a bit of solder to bridge over a break. I'd be pessimistic about that lasting very long, as the spiral cable winds and unwinds and rubs against itself. I did a bit of (what I fancied to be) preventive maintenance on my gen 1's, when everything was still working but I noticed a faint sound like shuffling cards when I turned the wheel. (Not really like shuffling, I mean, more the sound of that 'cascade' or 'bridging' some people do after shuffling, that I never got the hang of.) I opened it up and sprayed the cable with some Elmer's Slide-All and put it back. I don't know if it was worth doing ... I didn't have any spiral cable problems after, but maybe I wouldn't have had any anyway. From pics I've seen, later gens might be more complex inside than gen 1's, with maybe an extra roller and maybe an extra change of direction. Can't say how easy to take apart or reassemble. I'd be leery of cheap aftermarket. Toyota's awfully proud of theirs, but then, you might buy one once in the life of the car.
I can tell you that I have changed out mine on my prius that needed it done when I bought it. I have never done such a thing on any car and did it on the prius no problem. I also bought a cheap ebay $10 one that lasted 5 years. All documented here in my posts. I am driving with the bad one now and have a used OEM one this time around that I also bought on ebay. I just havent got around to it because I have been very busy and its very cold. Easy to do just look up a YT video on it and follow directions. Make sure to disconnect the 12v first.
