4Runner radio turns off and on by itself

I have a 2010 4Runner SR5. The radio turned on and off by itself, scrolled through the stations and different functions, the volume went down all by itself and the different phone functions on the steering column kept going on and off. Also the cruise control indicator light would go on and off on the dash but would not engage. I wasn’t sure what the problem was but I did notice that when I was parked and rotated the steering wheel the cruise control indicator would go on and off. Therefore, I concluded that the problem must be inside the steering wheel possibly the clock spring. Took it into the shop and sure enough the clock spring was malfunctioning. I had it replaced two years ago but it was not installed properly. I took it to a reputable auto repair shop that was familiar with clock spring replacements. It cost $850 for the part and $150 to install. To me it’s worth it to have it done by a professional correctly. It’s called a clock spring or an airbag spiral cable with Bluetooth. So if anything like this happens to you and you have to replace the clock spring, it might be worth it to have someone do it that knows what they’re doing because its hard to do it correctly. The Toyota dealer wanted about $1300 to do the same job. Now I am back on the road again and everything works fine. Also the seatbelt indicator light on my dash finally turned off as well. Hope this information helps someone when they can’t figure out why the radio and phone functions go crazy. By the way I love my 4Runner because it’s morfunr.

 

Thanks Perry!

 

Ok....so I will have to DuckDuckGo a clock spring, no idea wat that is.

 

Your mechanic will know. You can research it online Google it. Apparently it affects a lot of different functions on your steering wheel including airbags.

 

Install it myself to make sure it's done correctly. Got it. Have a part number?

 

I’ll check

 

ahh, ghost in the machine

 

No part number It’s called an airbag spiral cable with Bluetooth or Clockspring.

 

THANK YOU!!! The controls in my steering wheel were intermittent and then just stopped working. The air bag light stayed on and now I am experiencing what you described, especially when I turn the steering wheel. I went to worse case scenario and thought electrical. Now to find a good shop to replace the clockspring... Mine is a 2007 with 248K miles and with regular maintenance keeps on trucking.