I have found numerous threads on numerous forums on how to remove the steering wheel radio controls. Most say to pry up on the bottom of the controls with a small screwdriver and work it out. But no one tells how to get it back in. Well, I got one out, but how do I get the *&@#(!! thing to go back in and stay? There doesn't seem to be anything holding it in except friction. Every time I push it in, it just slides halfway back out.

 

Yea... you have to pry carefully.

There are three (if I remember correctly) barbs on the end of the switch housing that engage in slots in the back of the switch cavity. Sometimes, if you pry too hard, they can bend or brake. If the barbs are bent, the switches won't go all the way in.

Check to make sure the barbs are straight and the switch should go straight in to the cavities.

 

Maybe something changed between 96 and the year of your car, but I don't see any barbs or any sign of where barbs once were, nor do I see any place for them to engage.

The only thing on the back of my switches is two plastic pieces that stick out of the back near the upper middle. They are in the shape of parentheses () and line up with a hole in the back of the switch cavity. But they don't seem to catch inside the cavity.

Anyone have any other ideas?

 

Yea - that's them. Don't you have pockets/slits in the steering wheel cavity to accept them?

 

There is a hole back there that they line up with. I will take a better look tomorrow and see if it looks like something broke. They don't seem to be grabbing.

 

Finally got it to work. Two clips sticking out the back are supposed to lock into the hole in the back of the switch cavity. The trick is to insert the switches at an angle with the top going in first toward the middle, then slide the bottom in pushing the top upwards against the back. That allows the clips to slide into the hole properly.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.