The previous owner of my car had an aftermarket steering wheel on it but switched it back before selling it. None of the buttons on it worked and the air bag light came on so I figured it just wasn't connected. When I took it apart, I saw that I was correct.

I'm not sure how exactly it goes together though. I have a female connector on the steering wheel, and on the column I have an identical female connector plus a connector of a different shape. I've attached pictures to show them.

I figure I'm likely missing a pigtail that goes between, but I can't find the right parts fiche. Mazda puts all these parts in so many categories. Can anyone tell me what I'm missing?

 

You are missing the most important part ...it is what connects all the wiring on the wheel to the wiring on the column

Called the clock spring...or steering coil

 

That certainly appears to be what I'm missing. Hopefully it's in the box of factory parts I got because it's not cheap.

 

Yeah bummer snag hope you find it. If not let me know I have an extra assembly.

 

Looks like I have one. I accidentally left the box of parts at my mother's house so I have to wait for it to arrive in the mail but that's better than paying for one. Thanks for the help, guys.

 

Well it seems that one doesn't work. I guess that's why it wasn't on the car.

So I've looked up the part online and I'm finding two different listings with different part numbers. There's an FF1457K0002 and an NE5166CS0B. The former is the only one with a diagram showing where it goes, but the latter one is the only one that shows up when I do a search on eBay and it's a lot cheaper.

Out of curiosity, I looked it up for a 2004 and it shows two listings as well but both have the same part number and price. (The part number wasn't the same as either listed for my 2009 though, so I'm guessing the Series I and Series II are incompatible.)

So what's the difference between the two?

 

Basically it is a wiring interface between the wheel buttons and the steering column. It is designed so that it keeps contact when the wheel is rotated..

If the wiring harness/plugs are different then it will not work as expected

You should be able to test it to see if it works with a multimeter.....

 

The one I have seems to turn an unlimited number of times in either direction and doesn't feel like it's winding up, so I'm pretty sure it's no good. I'm just not sure why there are two part numbers listed for a 2009 RX-8.

 

I just looked up the part number for the air bag itself and it's the FF number above. Apparently that number got listed as both the air bag and clockspring. I ordered the NE part number.