1994 Mazda Protege from North America - Comments

Horn gets stuck on and you have to replace the switch inside the steering wheel. CV boots need to be changed every few years.

Despite the horn problem, this is a decent car. But if you own a protege and you haven't ever changed the horn switch inside the steering wheel pad, you probably will have to. The horn gets stuck on, particularly during weather changes, i.e. the first cold night after summer time. You can unplug your battery cables to make it stop immediately. You can also unplug the horn itself and continue to drive the car until you can have it fixed. The horn is small and is located under the hood on the passenger side near the front of the car. You can get to it from the top, no need to climb under the car. There is a cord that runs into the horn. Unplug it. If you notice a clicking noise coming from your dash, hit the steering wheel to stop it. The part you need is about 10-20 dollars and you can probably get the whole thing fixed by a mechanic for around $50. The switch that is inside the steering wheel horn pad has gone bad.

This is a horrible surprise that you get from this car. Mine went off in the middle of the night and nearly scared me and half the neighborhood to death!

Hopefully, this will help someone going through what I've already been through.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! for the posting about the horn. My 1994 protege has served me faithfully for almost 10 years (and 196,000+ miles) --but I first encountered this horn problem one cold morning a week or so ago--and then just a few moments ago (at night--of course!). This has helped us to "fix" (at least temporarily) the problem--as I can't quite put my hands on the owner's manual.

Unfortunately, I am now learning about this horn problem with the Proteges. My 1992 Protege has also served me quite well and has always been reliable. Two nights ago when the weather turned very cold, my horn was stuck on during the night and I did not know what to do, except to disconnect the battery. My mechanic is now charging me $105 for the horn pad (not the switch) and $45 labor. Not that cheap! DP.

Funny I came across this entry. My Protege's horn also went off in the middle of the night (twice within a week). The weather was also cold. I had never heard of such a problem. In fact, I ignored the sound thinking it was someone else's car or car alarm. As soon as I just touched the steering wheel it went off. A mechanic replaced the horn pad and so far it hasn't recurred. (not cheap though...$90 for the part and 60 for labor). Knock on wood.

My wife's 94 protege LX so far hasn't had the horn problem and it has 130,000 miles on it. Perhaps we just got lucky with this one. It's been a great little car during the past 10 years, but it is starting to cost us since we just had the timing belt replaced for a nice chunk of money and the mechanic said the clutch may not last too much longer. Time for a replacement...

This is really funny, because I encountered the same horn problem one cold night. I heard the sound and thought it was someones alarm going off. However, going into the store and explaining what is wrong was very difficult. One dealer told me that I would need a whole new steering wheel!! (Which you do not need) Thanks for sharing your stories, it has really helped me.

LoL... And here I thought I'd broken my horn in a fit of anger when I punched the steering wheel *embarrassed face here* My boyfriend ticked me off one day and I took it out on my steering wheel... the horn didn't go off until a few hours later... driving down the road... I ended up almost ripping the steering wheel cover off to disconnect the plug!! Thank you SOOO much for this review.. I've tried time and again to reconnect it with no luck... as soon as I put the cover back on it goes off and doesn't stop.. I thought I'd bent something... now I know it can be fixed and relatively easily..

I have a 2002 Mitsubishi and the horn got stuck this morning at 6am. I found this website while I was searching for a way to turn it off. Thanks for the info. This was the first cold night here, so that may be the cause. Thanks again, my husband was at work so he couldn't help me out.

Oh yeah, the police showed up too. Those mean neighbors! Just kidding. At first I thought, "Who's the moron making all the noise?", then I walked outside and discovered it was me.

I have a 94 protege that has 210,000 miles. So far, the car has been very reliable- but, I can see that the future will start to bring more repairs. Has anyone been successful in dealing with the horn just rusting out? The horn sounds very wimpy and I believe that it is due to part of the horn rusting away.

Does anyone have a 94 protege with more miles on it? If there is, how are the front seat holding out? Thanks for reading.

Another way to fix the horn problem is to go to the local auto parts store and buy a whole new steering wheel and adapter hub assembly. I did this myself and was able to find a really sweet looking sporty wheel and with the hub assembly it cost only 79 dollars. Installation was easy and straightforward and the new steering wheel looks much nicer than Mazda's stock one.

I happened to see this title about the horn sticking. I just bought a 1994 Protege DX 4 door. Nice car. It gets cold out here at night and sure enough just a couple of minutes ago it went off, around 8pm. I thought too that someone's alarm was going off or mine, but I didn't remember them telling me about an alarm system. Raccoons and cats abound here so I thought something was on top maybe jumping up and down. Funny picture in my head.

I tried to pop the hood, but the latch sticks. I tried and tried and finally just hit the horn and it stopped. I like the idea of unplugging the horn till I can get a replacement switch. Now I need to open the hood. It stuck a little when I investigated the vehicle before buying, but thought it was due to it sitting since October. I will have to make sure that hood opens so I can disconnect the horn. Don't want to wake up in the middle of the night. Geesh, that thing is loud.