105 Series 3 Wire Cruise Control Retention Module
View product: 105 Series 3 Wire Cruise Control Retention ModuleUse this article if…
- You're upgrading your wheel and you want to keep cruise control.
- You've fitted the wheel and your cruise has stopped working.
- You're deciding whether the cruise retention module is a part you actually need.
If your wheel controls stop when you switch your lights on, that's a power fault rather than a cruise one. Read the horn booster article.
Problem
- You want your cruise working after the wheel upgrade, and you want to order the right part the first time.
Symptoms
- Your cruise won't set after the wheel swap.
- Your cruise sets and then drops straight out.
- Your cruise stalk no longer clears the new wheel.
- You've read that the kit is plug and play, then seen the install video soldering wires.
Cause
- Your stalk decides it. The older three-wire cruise stalk sends cruise through wiring the upgraded wheel doesn't carry, so it needs the retention module bridging it. Later stalks keep working untouched.
- Plug and play covers your wheel, not your cruise. Your wheel and your wireless controls module talk to your headunit wirelessly and leave your factory clock spring alone. The cruise module is the one part that gets wired in.
- Your vehicle may never have had factory cruise. A 70 Series built before 2017 has none to retain, so there's nothing for a module to keep.
- An aftermarket cruise unit changes the answer. A unit fitted by someone else wires into your column its own way.
Fix Step-by-step
- Photograph your cruise stalk plug before you order anything, and send it to us. That photo is what tells you whether you need the module, and it takes a minute.
- Count the wires: three wires at the stalk is the older style that needs the retention module.
- Order the module separately if you need it: it doesn't come in your steering wheel kit, because most vehicles don't need it.
- Budget for wiring, not plugging: the three wires join into your cruise wiring at the steering column during the wheel install. Your installer does this while the column is already apart, so do it in one visit.
- Check your stalk clears the new wheel: hold the wheel up to the column before you commit to it.
- Road check it: on a legal test stretch, try set, resume and cancel.
Notes
Still stuck? Send us these photos
The cruise retention module, and whether it's yours to buy
The 3 Wire Cruise Control Retention Module keeps cruise working on a 100 or 105 Series that was built with the older three-wire cruise stalk. It's sold on its own, away from the steering wheel kits, because most vehicles that come through here don't need it.
It's wired in rather than plugged in. The three wires join into your cruise control wiring at the steering column while your installer has the wheel off, which is what the install video shows when it gets to the soldering.
That's the part worth being straight about, because the kits are described as plug and play and they are. That describes your wheel and your wireless controls module, which run wirelessly and never touch your factory clock spring. Cruise is the exception.
Cruise on the rest of the range
The retention module is a 100 and 105 Series part, and it also suits the airbag 80 Series, which has the same clock spring and the same 3-pin cruise plug. The non-airbag 80 Series has no factory cruise. The other vehicles each work differently.
- 70 Series before 2017: no factory cruise to keep. Cruise is a separate aftermarket kit, fitted on its own rather than retained through your wheel.
- 300 Series: aftermarket cruise runs to the Autostrada matrix, so check your module against that before you order the wheel.
- An aftermarket unit already in your column: tell us the brand. Something like an Auscruise unit is wired in by whoever fitted it, so what you need next depends on how they did it.
The 3-pin plug at your clock spring
On a 100 or 105 Series, or an airbag 80 Series, the clock spring carries the horn wire plus a separate plug for factory cruise. On the older three-wire stalk that's a 3-pin plug, and the new wheel has nowhere for it to go.
- Keeping cruise: the retention module is wired into that plug and moves cruise to the buttons on the right-hand side of the wheel.
- Not keeping cruise: leave the plug unplugged. Your horn and steering wheel controls still work, and only cruise is lost.
The 100/105 wiring diagram shows the module, the horn feed and the cruise connections.
