Steering Wheel Controls Faulty

[JohannG]

Hi everyone,

Please excuse my ignorance if this has been discussed here before. I did search, but I might not have used the correct keywords.

Since last night, the steering wheel audio controls on my 2009 MK7 Titanium started acting up. At first the volume (+) button stopped working, then the volume (-).

I switched off the radio for a while and then the volume (-) button became the volume (+) button, as in pressing the volume (-) button increases the volume!

For a while everything worked correctly again, but this morning only the volume (-) button (which still thinks it's the volume (+) button) works. The skip forward & backward buttons don't work at all now. Leave the radio off or play with the buttons long enough and it works OK or at least some of the buttons start working.

The buttons on the audio unit itself work fine. I'm baffled by this. Could it just be corrupt firmware or something other than a hardware fault?

Please, any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm going to the dealer later today/tomorrow, but I suspect that their first resort will be to remove the audio unit and/or steering wheel controls. I'm hoping that this can be avoided. I don't need more rattles...

Thanks.

[werdnarolyat]

Hi JohannG,

I realise your post is old but did you ever find a solution to this? I have just bought a 2009 Fiesta Titanium and I am having the exact same problem.

Is the best solution everyone else has found to simply replace the audio control button unit on the steering wheel?

Thanks.

[JohannG]

Hi,

I ended up taking the car to the dealership and they did a firmware update on the audio system.

According to the service advisor, the vehicle did report a couple of odd faults (he seemed to think it was a firmware corruption) when hooked up to the diagnostic system.

This seemed to have fixed the issue, but I do recall having it happen once or twice afterwards, but not as bad as before.

Unfortunately, I can't say if it was a long term fix as I have sold the car roughly 3 months after the post above and I haven't driven it very often during this time.

I suggest you try the firmware update first (it should be done for free at the dealership) and take it from there.

Take care,

J

[werdnarolyat]

Thanks very much for such a quick response. I am taking the car to the dealership tomorrow (for another reason...) so I'll suggest they investigate a firmware update.

Cheers,

werdnarolyat

[Trav]

Thanks very much for such a quick response. I am taking the car to the dealership tomorrow (for another reason...) so I'll suggest they investigate a firmware update.

Cheers,

werdnarolyat

Did you every manage to get this sorted? I am having the same problem with my 2010 Zetec S

[werdnarolyat]

The dealership updated the firmware which seemed to temporarily correct the problem. Since then it has been quite temperamental, but I'd say the majority of the time it works ok.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

[Trav]

Thanks, seems so strange that it has begun playing up now.