Hi all,

I almost never honk my horn... In my opinion it's a nasty sound that is as offensive to me as it is to other people.

Well, I did honk once and now I really wish I hadn't.

I hit the MINI emblem on the center of my steering wheel horn "button" area, and now it's concave instead of convex, plus it has a nasty bend in it off to the right side... I must have hit it with my knuckle in anger.

ANYWAY, is there a way I can get it off of the steering wheel and to press it out from the other side to make it convex again, and try to straighten out the bend in it?

I want to make up for my mistake.

Thanks and best,

 

removing the steering wheel cover should not be hard to do. just be sure
to unplug the battery before you do it to make sure you don't accidentally
deploy the airbag.

as far as removing it, i have not done the MINI's yet so don't know the
specifics, but usually there are 2 torx screws on each side of the steering
wheel. you remove that, and the airbag cover should come loose. now,
undo the airbag harness, cruise, etc. if they are attached to the cover
portion and you should be able to remove the airbag unit by removing
a couple of screws to expose the back side of the cover.

perhaps mini2 might have specific instructions, but usually it's the same
on most cars. ive changed steering wheels on previous cars, but kept
the MCS's stock.

 

We had something like that happen to my wife's '05 except one of our jackets caught on the right edge and pulled it up. About a quarter inch at the end was sticking up and constantly catching on our coats. Our dealer replaced the whole assembly (it includes the airbag) under warranty. Because of the airbag, I wouldn't muck with it. Your dealer should replace it under warranty.

 

Sure, I am afraid to honk now. I guess I will have to settle for yelling and gesturing. Like waveing to the other MINIs.

 

i did the same thing!!! no one could tell except me but it is quite disturbing.

"luckily" i got in an accident (someone hit me) and my airbag deployed and now i have a new steering wheel.

no more dent.

but, im sorry to hear about the damage...ppl really cant drive these days

 

 

Thanks all.

I think I'll let my dealer worry about this one. Even if I could disassemble the air bag cover and find a way to bend things back into shape, I would always wonder if the airbag was still working properly -- until I needed it to. Best to let the dealer worry about that.

Thanks again!

 

the SRS error light will turn on if your airbag is not active.

 

I would say go the the dealer. MINI Dealers are really nice. It could be a hazerd when the airbad deploys! It should be covered under warrenty.

 

I agree... take it to the dealer.

The last thing you want is a face full of bag at high velocities just for bending a logo back.

Ow... that would hurt.

 

Has anyone actually removed the center emblem on the steering wheel?
I need to get it off so I can paint the trim ring to match.

 

Sorry to hear about that, it's crazy to think they didn't take things into account correctly (apparently) when designing the horn and the emblem

I have to use the horn pretty often to navigate through a world of bad drivers and those not paying attention - thank gawd for the 'offensive' sound, without it I'd have no doubt been hit multiple times by now

 

I did the same thing to mine, but I was able to basically press it back into the correct shape. Still a lame design on MINI's part. I drive in Boston, so I use my horn every day, but now I know not to mash it right in the middle.

 

The same thing happened to me two or three months after I took order of my 2006 MCS, the dealer didnt know if they could replace just that or not, so its still there, do they even sell those seperately?

 

Don't mean to hijack but would a dealer replace a bent emblem under warrany? No offense, but isn't that user abuse? I mean if I hit my tailight and it stops working is a dealer going to replace that? Rgds, Michael

 

I though all the MINI steering wheels had thumb buttons for the horn or is it different for the 06 and or 3 spoke wheels? Just wondering.....

 

My '06 has the horn in the center ring.

 

well the emblems in the middle but the actual horn part of it for the three spoke multi-function wheel on my 06 MCS is kindve on the sides of the bigger outer ring.