Multifunction Steering Wheel

Created by Fredrik Andersen - Friday, Februar 21 2014, 13:29:39



This retrofit fits the following models:
Audi A3 8P Hatchback (2003 - 2013)
Audi A3 8P Sportback (2004 - 2013)


Introduction

It is not easy to find A3 8P models from before 2010 with an installed multifunction steering wheel. Personally I think it is a bit insain that the car is so expensive and still you need to purchase lots of extra quipment. I'll stop complaining now, I did this retrofit shortly after purchasing the car.


Time

1 hour

I got cruise control, aux and bluetooth installed at the same time, so the exact time for installation is hard to say.


Installation & Guide

The installation was done by Cartrends.dk (Denmark)

As I cannot help you much in regards to the installation of the steering wheel I will use this bullet to explain my purchases in detail.

I will try to split the information between the different retrofits.

Steering Wheel + Airbag:
There is so many different steering wheel types to choose between. I purchased a second hand via DBA.dk (Denmark) where the airbag was included.

After a lot of long nights with my reading glasses on I was not sure if my present airbag would work or not. Some says that there is just one type of airbag for all 4-spoke steering wheels while other said that there were two different types. The only way to see which airbag I had installed was to remove it from the car. Due to lack of technical skils I decided to purchase the steering wheel including an airbag

So my advice is, no matter if you change to the same type of steering wheel or not, purchase it together with a working airbag. A new airbag is really expensive and due to explosive charges they cannot be shipped from one country to another.

Airbag Cable:
You need to replace your airbag cable to one that supports multifunction steering wheels.

I purchased a new cable from ebay. You can find the correct cable by searching on ebay for this part number: 8P0 971 589 AD Q

Steering Control Module:
1) First you need to figure out which module you have installed today. You can see that with VCDS. I had part number: 1K0 953 549 AH installed.

2) Next step is to open this website, to see what the module supports.
http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/Steering_Wheel_Control_Module_Versions
In my case, I had a midline module installed.

Midline supports cruise control and board computer, but as I also wanted the multifuncation steering wheel I was forced to replace to a Highline module.

3) After speaking to multiple people and used even more hours online on multiple forums I figured out that this module would be the correct for my car. Part number: 8P0 953 549 F. This is a Highline module which supports cruise control, board computer and multifunction steering wheel.


Coding

1. 16-Steering wheel
2. Coding - 07
3. x?xxx: Steering Wheel

Options
0 = 3-Spoke, w/o Tiptronic, w/o Multi-Function
1 = 3-Spoke, with Tiptronic, w/o Multi-Function
2 = 4-Spoke Multi-Function (with Radio Control)
3 = 4-Spoke Multi-Function (with Radio/Telephone Control)
4 = 4-Spoke Multi-Function (with Radio/Telephone/Voice Control)

Find more coding options for equipment here


Usage

There is a lot of great features here, so I would recommend you to read your cars instruction manual, I have however decided to include a few of them below.

Left side
1) Wheel: Change songs or radio channel / flip through phone contacts.
2) Mode: Change between radio/media or phonebook. (if you have bluetooth installed)

Right side
1) Wheel: Adjust the volume for music. If the navigation is active and speaking you will adjust his/her volume.
2) Speech Dialogue System: You can use this to give commands to the car. Callback, Call a number or contact, etc.

The Speech Dialogue System is working really bad in Audi cars. I only use the re-dial function.


Part numbers + Price

Description New Parts Original Parts Price
Steering Wheel 8R0 419 091 S1 KT 8P0 419 091 CD 1KT 107 €
Airbag 8P7 880 201 F 6PS 8P0 880 201 AM 6PS 0 €
Airbag cable 8P0 971 589 AD Q 8P0 971 589 R 45 €
Steering wheel module 8P0 953 549 F 1K0 953 549 AH 90 €
Pris i alt     242 €
The above price is including shipping but not installation fees.