Help with steering wheel radio buttons and cruise control buttons

My wife spilled water all over the steering wheel on her way home from work today and now the cruise control buttons and the radio control buttons on the steering wheel aren't working. Also she must've spilled on the window controls too because they aren't working also. This is on a 2013 Jetta. I already checked the fuses that are under the dash. Anyone have any other ideas as to where I can start to hopefully fix this?

Thanks, Curt

I would suggest trying to park somewhere warm and trying to get the water to evaporate as quickly as possible. Generally water alone is only a temporary problem. The issue is the corrosion that results can cause long term problems.

On the plus side, the window switches and steering wheel buttons are pretty easily replaced. Not so sure about the cruise control stalk however.

Divorce her, get a new steering wheel in the settlement...

vwracer said:

Divorce her, get a new steering wheel in the settlement...

Click to expand...

Shell get half tho

Warm this time of year in Nebraska is kinda hard to come by... Last night I tried the window switches and the front ones worked, but the rear ones worked on and off. Radio controls were spotty too, so some progress has been made. No luck on the cruise yet, so we will see what happens there. I was thinking of taking a hair dryer and seeing what some gentle heat does to help things dry out and hopefully getting things operational. And to vwracer, a divorce isnt in the cards with baby #1 on he way...

Yes a hair dryer is a good idea, just don't melt anything.

To start, ban her from having any liquids in the car. That's just a bad idea to begin with...

Next, you may want to try removing the switches (removal of the airbag is necessary to get the steering wheel buttons) and letting them dry in a bag of rice over night.

The rice acts as a desiccant and wicks moisture away. It has worked for lots of people with their cell phones.