This is a question for all the techs on this site.

I was driving my 2003 XK8 yesterday and while making a right hand turn I heard a thump. It took a little while to figure out what exactly was causing it until I noticed that the steering wheel cover and airbag have actually come detached from the steering wheel on the left side. Gently pulling on it the airbag/cover will pull out about an inch from where its supposed to sit.

I just had the car in the dealer less than two months ago for a no start. They determined the key transponder module was the culprit and replaced it, then spent about a week chasing an unknown short in the car which they eventually claim was due to something in the LoJack. In doing this repair I want to know if they might have had the steering wheel cover and airbag off and could have possibly broke something or forgot to reattach it while they were in there. After getting the car back I found a screwdriver wedged in between my drivers seat and a pulled fuse in the back seat they didn't tell me about so I don't exactly have the most confidence in my dealer.

This is a 4000 mile car, never been in an accident and has no reason why anything in the steering column should fail or break. If its a simple matter of getting it re-attached or just a case of bad luck I don't mind doing it myself, but if it is related to the repair work done on the car I'd like to force the dealer to make things right.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Jason

 

damn I thought I grabb myscrew driver from your car, send it back and Ill tell you where the fuse goes...........
theres a torx T30 bolt the screws the air bag to the wheel, they probobly(defintily) didnt tighten it..Take it back or if you have the tools you can do by tightening. The bolts are in the back of the wheel at 9 and 3 oclock

 

Brutal,

Thank you for the tip, sure enough whoever was in there forgot to tighten the steering wheel cover. After tightening it I realized it has never been right since I've owned the car. Its made a world of difference.

Just yesterday I realized the sport mode button on the console is broken. When you push it in it will turn off but it won't stay depressed to keep the car out of sport mode. It feels like something mechanical in the switch, any tips on removing the J gate shifter trim to get at it?

I swear if I didn't have bad luck with this car I'd have no luck at all.

Thanks again for all your help.