[Hal Adams]

Has anyone replaced, or had replaced a steering wheel on the 172? If so did you have to have the car reprogrammed to recognise the buttons and paddles?

Does anyone know if reprogramming is necessary? I was given a 'spare' wheel with my car by the PO that I installed on the other day and only now notice the buttons/paddles do not work! The wheel is an SLK (ie it has the p/n A172etc labelled) and looks in perfect order.

I have replaced many wheels on MBs, and each time there are more buttons and less connector pins - with the 172 it is three pins for the CAN and three for the airbag, so not difficult to get them wrong!

 

[JudgeMing]

I replaced mine. No problem with the buttons and flippers. A pain was the vibration motor. Seems that the electronics inside the wheel changes every so often and MB decided to change the polarity on the vibration motor ...

I had a 2012 P30 wheel and went to a 2013 designo wheel. Too bad the flippers on the P30 are metal and the new ones black plastic. Their fitting is also very different. (smaller hole in the wheel)

 

[Hal Adams]

Thanks - I just heard from someone in the States who knows the MB electronics and yes, you are right, they had several releases of electronics, many having completely new control boards dotted around the place with the steering wheel being one. He says, what we all know, that these cars are getting more and more computerised by the day so that great care should be taken in conversions and upgrades to be sure that the electronics understand what is going on.

It is also not possible to reprogram some of the boards to suit a newer release. Which of course begs the interesting question - how did the spare wheel I inherited ever have worked on my car..!

Anyway, the good news is that these control boards are available as a part.

I tell you, the day cars moved away from good old fashioned 12V auto-electrics was a bad day for me!

 

[JudgeMing]

Also a good thing: you can take the board with you on the other steering wheel! I had to upgrade my board (added lane assist), but if you stick to the same functions you can take the board out easily, Got pictures if you need them.

 

[Hal Adams]

Definitely, and I say this for anyone in the future referencing this thread, as part of a steering wheel swap - take your control board from the old wheel into the new one. Allegedly there are three changes from 2012 alone, each with a new control board.

 

[wja96]

Also a good thing: you can take the board with you on the other steering wheel! I had to upgrade my board (added lane assist), but if you stick to the same functions you can take the board out easily, Got pictures if you need them.

I was given Hal Adams old steering wheel and I need to remove the board to send it back to him to make his buttons work (ooh err missus!). Could you please post up the pictures so I can get the board out without breaking it?


Thanks.

 

[Hal Adams]

You will need to know the complete removal procedure - assuming you will be removing the wheel of the new car to replace it with the re-worked wheel. If though you are having your conversion people do the whole job, then skip item 1. It is worth posting the full procedure for those in the future wishing to replace wheels as the new wheels have a new procedure.

1. Disconnect battery. Find a rod with a blunt end - something like a torx 15 or 20 driver is ideal. Feel under the spokes of the wheel, on its hub for two indentations in the material -= they are at 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock. insert the driver carefully into these holes one at a time and. here is the hard part, feel for a strong spring - keep pushing in until the end of the driver meets a springy resistence and push at the same time keeping a pull on the airbag. It will suddenly release with a 'ping'. Do the same on the other side and the whole airbag will lift out. Unplug the yellow connector and put the airbag carefully to one side. Unplug the purple CAN connector and leave. With a 10mm allen key, remove the centre bolt and the wheel will lift off.

2. From what I have learnt, it is best to remove the control board from the original wheel and replace into the new wheel. Again, from what I have learnt it is not good to try to re-program a board using STAR.

First, unscrew the torx T15 screw holding the earth wire from the large triangular steel airbag retaining ring to the wheel hub. Then unscrew the three large torx screws holding the steel ring (T20). Lift off the steel ring and underneath you will see a black plastic circular housing with a a large connector at 12 o'clock with two or three small connectors to the sides. Remove these connectors, lift out the black housing and you are holding the control board!

I attach a pic showing the triangular airbag retaining ring and a pictor of the control board that sits behind the steel retainer.

 

[JudgeMing]

Pictures as requested.

 

[andresfg95]

Hi, do you remember how many pins are there present on the brown connector? I'm trying to retrofit paddles to my r172 slk but all the information I found is for the R171. I removed my airbag and the brown connector on my car has 3 wires (pins 4,5 and 6) so im wondering if pins 1,2 and 3 are for the paddles. Thanks.

 

[LeonardoDaBenz]

Hi, do you remember how many pins are there present on the brown connector? I'm trying to retrofit paddles to my r172 slk but all the information I found is for the R171. I removed my airbag and the brown connector on my car has 3 wires (pins 4,5 and 6) so im wondering if pins 1,2 and 3 are for the paddles. Thanks.

Thread is 4 years old. In the future, always best to start a new thread describing your issue.

Please have a read:
https://www.slkworld.com/new-members-introduce-yourself-here/233026-posting-old-thread-how-fix.html