SRS---near catastrophe? (slightly long) (archive)

I got an SRS warning light which refused to go out on Friday. I parked the car, removed the neg. terminal on the battery. Let it sit for 20 minutes. Then began dismantling the steering column shroud to unplug the orange SRS connector. I removed the airbag from the steering wheel, and *gently* removed the red connector on the back of the bag. I began to run tests on the blue and brown wires running up the column to the bag.

First odd thing: The blue and brown wires, which run from the SRS controller to the ORANGE PLUG, switch sides on the other end of the plug. That's right, even though the plug can only meet in 1 direction, blue was running into brown and brown into blue at the orange plug.

Second odd thing: I was getting CONTINUITY at the air bag red plug on the 2 terminals. I traced the breech back to the WRAP AROUND WIRING HARNESS on the back of the steering wheel. This is the black disc which has wire coiled around it internally so that the horn and SRS can function no matter what position the steering wheel is at.

So my question is 2-part. One, is there any possible way I nearly had this thing go off in my face, and two, is a breech in the coiled wire a typical failure?

Thx
--CB

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