Found an Abarth steering wheel, just wondering if I could still use the Panda's controls ie. will it be plug and play for the volume/Bluetooth?

If anyone could shed some light on this it would be much appreciated.

jamiejesus said:

Found an Abarth steering wheel, just wondering if I could still use the Panda's controls ie. will it be plug and play for the volume/Bluetooth?

If anyone could shed some light on this it would be much appreciated.

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Presuming we are talking A500 to Panda 100HP.

I can shed a little light in that I understand how the controls work on these wheels and would suggest it is very unlikely to be plug and play. For starters, you have a different set of buttons as A500s are blue & me and Pandas are not. I will be impressed if someone does know, i.e. has tried and tested, but would be great if there was an answer! Will certainly require chopping of leads and soldering to correct ones on Panda as 500 has more button outputs and should therefore have different connectors with more wires heading towards ECUs.

I'm interested in the swap myself, but you require a wheel and matching airbag to even consider it. Is this what you have found?

I've found the wheel but can source an airbag to go with it. It is to Panda 100HP yes, but I think I'll be giving it a miss as it seems like more hassle than it's worth. Plus if I chopped wires and they didn't work I'd be tempted to set fire to the thing!

I would be obliged if you could PM me or state here where you can source the airbag from for sensible money (£550 from FIAT).

lewey said:

I would be obliged if you could PM me or state here where you can source the airbag from for sensible money (£550 from FIAT).

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https://www.fiatforum.com/500/252800-parts-stolen-order.html

Do the panda wheels have blanks for the blue and me buttons at the bottom,, our idea does so it may be configured to work with either.

Is it hardwired or is the steering wheel a CAN node?

ivantate said:

Do the panda wheels have blanks for the blue and me buttons at the bottom,, our idea does so it may be configured to work with either.

Is it hardwired or is the steering wheel a CAN node?

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The design of the steering wheel and buttons is completely different.

306maxi said:

https://www.fiatforum.com/500/252800-parts-stolen-order.html

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lewey said:

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It's not my fault I was born Australian

I've currently got an omp race wheel on my 500 while the normal wheel is off getting covered in black alcantara.

The buttons on the 500 are actually a tiny board with the 4 press switches, one block/button at each side of the wheel. These and the horn connect to a wiring block connector inside the steering column. I can tell you which 2 connections in that block connector are the horn buttons and which are Blue&Me connectors.

The airbag uses 2 wires, a green and a yellow that connect into it, these are separate from the block connector mentioned above.

I took pictures of the wheel in its disassembled state if that would help. I'll have to find the camera cable and get them off the camera.

I've not taken a Panda wheel off before but I'm guessing it would be closer to the traditional horn/airbag combo with the extra buttons added using their own wiring back to the stereo, rather than what I suspect is a canbus module like the 500.

lewey said:

I would be obliged if you could PM me or state here where you can source the airbag from for sensible money (£550 from FIAT).

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My mate has an Abarth 500 and is after a smaller aftermarket steering wheel.