Horn Problem... Unbelievable!

My '98 Sebring Convertible began occasionally doing something peculiar in December. When I tapped the horn once quickly in traffic to warn someone that I was going around them, my horn stuck. It was embarrasing because it went off for 30 seconds until I stopped, found the fuse, and pulled it. The next time it happened was a few weeks later, and I wasn't able to stop and pull the fuse out (the door has to be open to get to the fuse), so I hit the horn a few times and with my heavy final downward blow it stopped.

This would only happen occasionally over 3-4 months (I don't blow my horn that much), but finally a few weeks ago I took my car in for warranty service for the shift-linkage (for the 3rd or 4th recall for it in 5 years), and afterwards when I parked my car and armed the alarm, my horn went off and wouldn't stop. I unarmed the alarm, but the horn kept going. I then did the "hand blow to the center of the steering wheel" trick and it stopped. It did this a few more times over the next week and then one day, when I returned to my car the horn nor radio worked. Apparently the horn blew until the fuse blew.

I took it in to be serviced again, and they (Chrysler) replace the fuse & the horns (they said they were blown out, and that the reason they would "stick" was because they were old.... whatever.) Well, after waiting nearly a week for parts, Chrysler put the new horns put in, and that night I got woken by a call from the police in my hotel room. My car had been blowing its horn for over an hour...it was 2AM. I went out and unarmed the alarm, hoping that would prevent any more troubles. I received yet another call at 5:30Am from the police telling me that they were going to break in and pull the fuse if I didn't take care of it.

I immediately took it to another Chrysler dealer in a different city (I travel with a touring show), and after a day of diagnostics they determined that I need a new horn SWITCH/PAD. Okay...new horn pad.. shouldn't be too hard to replace... it's just a switch.

Well, then they told me it would be over $1,000... ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS to fix my.... (gulp)....HORN!?!?!? I have NO idea why the horn or horn pad are faulty as I haven't used them that much. But the RIDICULOUS part of this all is that I have to pay a thousand dollars for to fix my horn. They explained that they would have to replace my ENTIRE Air Bag system in the steering column. Unbelievable and shameful! They explained they can't replace the switch/pad by itself and that they are limited by law to replace the ENTIRE assembly. I'm sorry. This IS ridiculous.

I asked if there was ANY other way to fix this, perhaps with a non-Chrylser dealer. To which they DIDN'T say yes or no... meaning there probably was a way to fix it without Chrysler's limitations.

Does anyone have any ideas how to fix this? Where to fix this? What kind of place to look for to fix this? Can I fix myself? Where can I get parts to fix? etc.

Thanks in advance,

Rod

The contacts on the horn pad are most likely the culprit. It is a big deal without the proper tools to replace. But in no way should it cost $1,000. if it isn't something you feel comfortable doing yourself... at least buy a manual, and look over what's involved. Also, go to another dealer, and ask the Service Department, if you can have photo copies of that area of the manual. I work in an Autobody shop...and I run into all sorts of these problems. You may want to stop by a local shop in your area...one that's smaller, not a production repair facility, and see if it is something that they can diagnose.For the dealer to tell you that the horns were "old" is ridiculous... You should have talked to the Service Manager, and demanded a more feasable explination of why they changed the horns. They were working right? They wouldn't shut off!!....so why were they BOTH bad. A horn either works or it doesn't. And BOTH don't go bad because they're old. I have a 29 year old Chevelle with the original horns still in it.
Try a local body shop, that's my advice. You're going to have to deal with removal of the air bag, and possibly the clock spring. I've never changed the air bag on a 98 Sebring, so I'm not entirely sure how they have the contacts set up under the steering pad. One other option is to go to a junk jard and look at another 98 Sebring ( yards remove the airbags...but leave the rest of the steering column intact.)
Hope some of this will help you out with your problem Rod!