Steering Wheel Buttons / Controls

It sounds like the "clock spring", which contains the coiled wires inside the steering wheel, has broken strands. It happens, especially if the steering column recall was done, and the service tech allowed the steering wheel to turn too far.
New Prius Clockspring Part# 84306-0E010 | PriusChat

 

Digging this up- is there any fix for this, or is this a part that can be reasonably simply replaced? Mine has this same issue and I'd like to be able to get it working again.

 

The clockspring replacement is a simple straight forward task. You need a screwdriver and a steering wheel puller. My 05 started having the same problems as the OP where the buttons on the steering wheel would not function and would do strange things like control functions they weren't supposed to control. I opted to buy the china made cable from ebay because the OEM cable only lasted for 5 years so how much worse could an aftermarket cable be. Only issue with the china cable was that the pins in the connector needed to be tweaked slightly to get the harness to plug in properly. So far after 6 months the china cable is working great.

 

I was able to find someone selling an OEM clockspring fairly cheaply and have it on the way to me now- I'll likely be replacing it when I have the battery disconnected to do the brakes.