Peugeot 307 horn intermittent not working

I bought this car in 2009 and it had the intermittent horn problem from the start, despite a 300 Euro "service". Bashing the airbag would get it to work but, next day, it would be as bad as before.

It turned out to be a very common Peugeot fault and it's easy to see why. The clever Peugeot designer has put a brass or bronze tab in contact with a "mazac" (zinc alloy) casting - a combination known to suffer from corrosion problems! My simple answer was to clean up the contact surfaces with a "needle" file then apply a generous coating of silicone grease to keep out moisture and oxygen. (It's REALLY important to use grease, otherwise this fix won't last.)

Fixing this horn is a really easy job and all you need is a flat-blade screwdriver (or a 3.5mm diameter rod), a needle file, sandpaper and a portion of silicone grease. (SatCure sells grease.) You can use petroleum jelly instead, but it may not be quite as reliable.

DISCLAIMER: The method used on this page is NOT recommended by Peugeot. It may cause problems with your airbag and could create other faults. However, it worked for me and it has worked for others. YOU USE THIS INFORMATION AT YOUR OWN RISK!

If you find this information useful, please link to it in your favourite forum.

Peugeot horn repair.

First disconnect the battery (-) negative terminal. This is done simply by flicking up the lever and lifting off the entire connector.

Wait 30 minutes for the circuits to discharge. You don't want the airbag to explode in your face!

To remove the airbag and its plastic housing is simply a matter of pushing with a screwdriver. See below.

There's a hole behind each of the two steering wheel spokes.

You can see a tiny portion of the screwdriver blade (red arrow pointing up at left of photo). The idea is to push the wire spring to the right (blue arrow) - see below.

The green arrow points down at the offending brass connector!

Pressing gently with the screwdriver will cause the wire spring to release the plastic hook of the airbag housing. Do this at both sides.

(I'm showing you this with the Peugeot airbag housing already removed so you can understand what's happening, instead of poking around blindly as I did!)

I didn't find it necessary to disconnect the airbag. It hung out of the way anyway.

Use the screwdriver to press down on the brass lug while you grip it with a pair of pliers and gently pull it out of the oblong hole in the metal casting.

Use a needle file to clean the surfaces of the oblong hole.

Then use it to clean the contact surfaces of the brass lug - especially the edges AND the inside of the hole in the metal casting - see below. (Thanks, Omar, for reminding me to stress this point!)

Apply silicone grease to the inside of the filed oblong hole and to the brass lug. Pull the U-shaped lug apart slightly to ensure a tight fit and push it into the oblong hole.

Press the airbag housing back into place in the steering wheel.

Before reconnecting, clean up both lead battery terminals with sandpaper and apply a coat of silicone grease to them.

Your horn should now work reliably and continue to do so.

Feedback

We welcome all feedback. If this worked (or didn't work) for you, please tell us your story so we can help others. We believe in freely sharing information!

Below: the COM2000 module, complete.

Failure is usually caused by breakage of a ribbon cable. Unfortunately, this is not usually repairable so the entire unit must be replaced. Really poor design!

Left: the COM2000 Printed Circuit Board

Peugeot 307 horn repair:

I went by your tutoral and it worked great, thanks.

Tony Hammett

(Scotch brite is an abrasive cloth used in the refinishing trade.. but is almost the same as a pan cleaner.. the push bar is the triangular piece of plastic pushed when you push the horn or air bag. In each corner (3) there is a brass contact so the horn blows whichever corner you press.)

Terry Munt

I wish that I had found your info. before I wasted two hours removing the horn, checking fuses etc. Peugeot quoted £75- to fix the problem, but thanks to you I sorted it myself in 15 mins.

Regards

Steve Sinclair

ian whiteway

Found it via HonestJohn when googling Pug 307 horn fault as mine failed the MOT today and I was worried about prising the horn button off because of the airbag.

Anyway, it was great to find the fully documented procedure so I can sort it out at the weekend.

Thanks for taking the time to publish it.

Chris Murr

I want to say thank you so much for this instruction you put online, I followed it exactly and it has resolved the horn issue.

thank you again.

Mohon Miah

Estimado amigo:

estoy muy agradecido por la perfecta explicacion para reparar el claxon del Peugeot 307 cc. En 10 minutos solucionamos el problema.

Un cordial saludo

Eduardo

This kind of problem, a regular autocentre can't usually handle and you have to hunt down an auto electrics specialist to even diagnose something like this. And it can be a big hassle. So thanks very much for posting this, is really appreciated.

Omar

A huge thankyou for publishing the guide on removing the Peugeot 307 airbag and repairing the horn. I was a bit nervous about removing the airbag, but it was actually quite easy following your guide. The offending connector looked fine, but once I'd given the hole a good rub with one of the wives nail files (really), the horn worked perfectly. Thanks a million.

Duncan MacL.

I tried this last night to fix my horn as it had totally stopped working and my car is due its MOT.

I am by no means the best person to attempt to fix a car but this worked very very easily. Can't thank you guys enough, without doing this I would probably be £100-£200 out of pocket from peugeot ripping me off!

Thanks Again.

The only part that was tough was actually getting the front cover off, the screwdriver works easily to release but it actually requires some force to pull the cover off. Spent 15minutes doing that and 1 minute fixing it :)

OllyR

After following your excellent step by step guide to sorting it out all I can say is you are a star it worked and I just wanted to thank you very very much.....A+

Mark Bray

Also see Diesel additive minimum level for Peugeot 307

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