Who has installed cruise control?

The cruise control switch on the right side of the steering wheel in my '01 has something sticky in it that makes the switch hard to push. What kind of screw is holding the trim cover on from the backside? I tried Phillips, but couldn't get it to bite. Is there anything else I have to do to get the cover off?

It should be a Torx bit. I am not sure what size though.

Thanks, I'll try that. Hopefully I didn't strip the head. If I did, I'll just shoot some contact cleaner in the groove around the switch.

Keep in mind you are in air bag country working in that spot. be very careful about poking around in there. Matter of fact I think the FSM starts off with 'disconnect the battery' for almost anything that involves the steering column.

i know this probably sounds damn but i want to be safe. is there anyway for hte airbag to go off if the battery is disconnected?

Ramsey said:

i know this probably sounds damn but i want to be safe. is there anyway for hte airbag to go off if the battery is disconnected?

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Not that I know of offhand but I imagine that you *could* hit it with enough of a static charge to fire it so don't wear leasure suits or spandex when working on that area

Disconnecting the battery pretty much takes care of the problem. If you wheel a lot you may want to put a switch in the circuit to disable the airbags on trail.

I installed the factory unit in my '98, after disconnecting the battery, wait about an hour for the capacitor that energizes the airbags to discharge - I believe from memory that the reason a capacitor stores the b+ is because sometimes in an accident the battery is destroyed before the airbag has a chance to deploy. I could be wrong, but I remember the instructions said to wait.

A good idea that after everything is reconnected, reach in from the passenger side to start the vehicle. I also vaguely remember that the airbag/cover should be placed gently downward on the cover side on a bench, if it pops, it'll cause less damage that way.

This was five years ago, anyone else feel free to refresh my memory if this sounds inaccurate.

Mike/NY #300

also when you d/c the battery, turn the key to get rid of any current that may be hanging around just to be on the safe side