Chrysler Repair: 96 Cirrus horn, airbag, cruise wont work, snail mail, electrical interconnection

Question
I had a garage put another motor in my 96 Cirrus.When I got it back, the horn, airbag, and cruise wouldn't work. It's been back there several times, they have no clue why (they all worked before). It took them 3 months to do the motor--I don't have time to leave the car there for them to try to find the problem anymore. It seems like there is something not connected since these are the only 3 things in my steering wheel. The fuses are fine--everything else works. Any clue?

Answer
Hi Kim,
I think you hit the mark by noticing that all three systems share a common feature: controlled from the steering wheel.
There is a module mounted at the interface between the top of the steering column and the steering wheel proper called a clockspring which consists of about 6 flexible wires that connect the push buttons/air bag leads to the wires that run up the column from its base and thus allow for electrical interconnection even though the steering wheel has to rotate.  Those wires will wear out, or could be broken if the wheel were removed without care. Also, there are electrical disconnects for the airbag and the cruise/horn wires at the base of the steering column which may have been inadvertantly disconnected during the motor replacement rather than the clockspring being broken. So look under the dash near the base of the column for a 2-wire yellow color disconnect and a 5 or so wire natural color disconnect fittings and put them back together to get these all to work.
If you don't find anything disconnected then I would assume that the problem is with the clockspring unit. I can xerox send you by snail mail the pages from the '96 manual that show how to replace that if you want to do it yourself. I believe it is unlikely that the three systems are interconnected as far as power supply is concerned so a common blown fuse is unlikely to be cause of the common failure.
Please let me know what you find and if I can be of further help.
Roland