horn switch issues 94 Buick RMW

Guys,
today I was struggling with my horn function, they doesn´t work at all. I checked the relay and the horns, everything ok. Then I went to check the wiring inside the steering wheel and removed the airbag.
The thin red / black wires to the horn buttons are quite strange, at least the ground cable which is plugged to the inside area of the steering wheel but strangely all this area is coated with rubber and there´s definitly no connection to ground.

But funny enough the horn works if I put this ground cable to real ground of the steering column without pushing one of the horn buttons. This looks as if the buttons might have a
steady connection, but it´s hardly to believe to me......

Can someone tell me whats going wrong there ? If the horn buttons are really dead, is it possible to replace them alone without scrapping the airbag ? I`m German and it would be a mess to source a new airbag unit because no one would send it over the pond....Does everyone know if new horn buttons are available individually? Furthermore: What´s the sense of the ground cable which connects to the rubber of the s.wheel? For me, it would work once the ground cable leads really to ground and the buttons would disconnect the ground lines as supposed- maybe I´m wrong...

Lot of thanks for your advices !

Udo

A lot of people replace the switches in the airbag with small momentary contact switches. The switches are notorious for shorting or not working at all. The lead with the spring goes to a "ring" behind the clockspring.

Fred,
thanks for your response. Can you confirm that there are switches within the airbag? Yesterday, I´ve considered again that probably there are no switches at all, and the whole airbag unit might be moved to the steering column when activating  the horns. Then the unit connects to ground or to the suspicious ground cable. But if you are sure there are switches, is it possible to open the airbag unit to remove them?

Did anyone do this modification to use momentary switches? Can one tell me how to do this? And which function has the suspicious ground cable?


Udo

There are two switches in the airbag. You do not have to "open" the airbag to replace them. They are accessible from the back of the airbag. I do not know what the back of your airbag looks like, so I am not sure about the suspicious ground cable. Can you post pics of the airbag, and the steering wheel where the bag is mounted.

All of the 94-96 RM airbags are the same design, so, if you can find one of any color, you could paint it to match. I would not have a problem sending one to you, if I had one, but I do not know if the USPS would accept it, and I do not know of any other shipper that would either. I do not have access to Seamail, or they would take it. The shippers do not like to ship airbags, although they have a safety so they can not explode when not hooked up.