# Illumination of cruise control steering wheel controls



## commuter kw (May 22, 2020)

2001 Altima GXE, 59k miles (not a misprint). I have had the car about a year and have not driven at night until recently. When driving at night I can not see the controls on the steering wheel for the cruise control. All other lights work fine and the cruise control works fine. Is it supposed to illuminate with the headlights? I can not find anything in owners manual or Haynes repair manual that address this issue. Before I start investigating this I just want to make sure that the controls are supposed to illuminate. TIA for your response.


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## VStar650CL (Nov 12, 2020)

The illumination WD doesn't show any wiring through the spiral cable, so nothing in the wheel is illuminated.


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## commuter kw (May 22, 2020)

VStar650CL said:


> The illumination WD doesn't show any wiring through the spiral cable, so nothing in the wheel is illuminated.


Wow, that means I wont be using the cruise control at night. Seems somewhat unsafe to be designed with no illumination available. I guess Nissan thought the same years later as on my 2015 Rogue it does have illumination for all steering wheel controls. Thank you for saving me the frustration of trying to fix something that is just normal operation!! 😀


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## VStar650CL (Nov 12, 2020)

The WD actually shows one unused position in the spiral cable, so you might be able to arrange a backlight if you want to disassemble and modify the switch module. On the diagram, + and - terminals are the airbag, 3 is the horn and 4-5 is the cruise switches. If the blank terminal goes through the spiral on both sides, you could run a backlight wire from the illumination circuit through the spiral and ground the backlight inside the steering wheel.


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## commuter kw (May 22, 2020)

VStar650CL said:


> The WD actually shows one unused position in the spiral cable, so you might be able to arrange a backlight if you want to disassemble and modify the switch module. On the diagram, + and - terminals are the airbag, 3 is the horn and 4-5 is the cruise switches. If the blank terminal goes through the spiral on both sides, you could run a backlight wire from the illumination circuit through the spiral and ground the backlight inside the steering wheel.
> 
> View attachment 7551


Thank you, I am going to look into that!


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## VStar650CL (Nov 12, 2020)

You're most welcome. Post it with pics if you make a project out of it, I'm sure there are other old-Altie owners who are also annoyed by the darkness. Happy motoring!


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