The air bag in the steering wheel was taken out, now the horn does not work. Do I need a new air bag in order to repair the horn?

Clockspring in steering column may be bad .

This vehicle has a part called a "clockspring" that is located in the steering column beneath the steering wheel. It is the contact unit for the steering wheel controls and the air bag wiring in the steering column. Sounds like to me that you have a bad "clockspring" and it needs to be replaced. The part is available aftermarket from many parts stores so you don't necessarily have to go back to the dealer for the part. The part is not extremely hard to replace, however, it may not be suitable for a DIYer (requires steering wheel puller). You may want to take it to a trusted repair facility and have them repair it for you. The labor is approximately 1.5 hrs at the given shop rate. Good luck. Hope this helped. Here are a couple of websites.. one for instruction and the other for parts pricing.
Instructon on repair. & Chrysler Forum with info.

Used part on Ebay & New @ Mopar Wholesale

It's usually the contacts in the steering wheel behind the horn and air bag. You will have to remove the air bag to access the horn contacts. Make sure you remove the battery terminals from the battery before working on any air bag system! You may have to pull the steering wheel completely, depending on the setup. You can rent the puller from your local parts store. If you can not adjust the wires/contacts for the horn, you may have to buy a new set. Fairly inexpensive, but they may have to order the part, in which you will have to put everything back together until the part comes in, and then start back over. I was able to access mine in my Crown Victoria by just removing the air bag, hopefully it's the same. Hope this helps!

If you bought the car at a dealership, all saftey related problems should have been repaired before the vehicle is sold, at least thats the law in Canada, If your air bag light is not on, the air bag should work correctly, the air bag module is the center of the steering wheel where the air bag is contained, usually the horn circuit is seprate from this module and is more common for a clock spring contact to cause you issue. The clock spring is the contact point to allow the steering wheel to turn and yet keep contact with all the other steering wheel controls

It sounds like your clock spring, as we call it, has failed under the steering wheel. To remove the assembly you must first disconnect the negative battery cable to avoid deploying the air bag. There are 2 to 4 screws on the back of the steering wheel holding the horn pad onto the wheel. Remove those screws and carefully lift the horn pad off and disconnect the wire plugs. The horn wire is usually red and the air bag usually yellow. You will need a cheap steering wheel puller from the local auto zone to remove the steering wheel. They have a small round disc type that is easy to use and cheap. Now remove the large nut from the center of the steering shaft. Install the tool and remove the wheel. Now you will see a large round disc or air bag ribbon held on by a clip. use an pick tool and a small screw driver to remove this clip. Now trace the wires under the column and unplug the other end and you can remove the ribbon or clock spring. Now feed in the wiring for the new ribbon and reverse the process to reassemble. While you have the horn pad off test the horn switch to see if the horn pad is bad and may need replaced also. If the switch is good find the horn relay in the fuse box under the hood and see if when you press the horn does it get power from the switch. to test the horn itself apply 12volts to the two connectors on the horn and if it sounds it is OK. The system is made up of horn, horn relay, and horn switch. Thanks for looking for a solution at Fixya.com.

I'd say $125.00 is a good price for a steering column.

First, have to remove steering wheel (but I don't have instructions for the steering column. For that, maybe try alldata.com, but that will cost):

STEERING Steering Wheel REMOVAL & INSTALLATION Without Air Bag EXCEPT F-SUPER DUTY STRIPPED CHASSIS MODELS AND MOTOR HOME CHASSIS MODELS Fig. 1: Remove the screws from behind the wheel - F-150 model without air bag
Fig. 2: Pull away the cover with the wiring still connected
Fig. 3: Disconnect the wiring at the steering wheel
Fig. 4: Matchmark the steering wheel
Fig. 5: Remove the center nut from the steering wheel
Fig. 6: Use a steering wheel puller to remove the wheel
Fig. 7: Remove the steering wheel from the shaft
Fig. 8: Correct steering wheel installation
NOTE: The factory recommends that the front wheels be set in the straight-ahead position and you paint or make chalk marks on the column and steering wheel hub for alignment purposes during installation. Of these two safeguards, it is more important to mark the column so even if the column is moved slightly, the steering wheel can still be repositioned in its original position.

1. Disconnect the negative battery cable.
2. Remove the one screw from the underside of each steering wheel spoke, and lift the horn switch assembly (steering wheel pad) from the steering wheel. On vehicles equipped with the sport steering wheel option, pry the button cover off with a suitable prytool.
3. Disconnect the horn switch wires at the connector and remove the switch assembly. On trucks equipped with speed control, squeeze the J-clip ground wire terminal firmly and pull it out of the hole in the steering wheel. Don't pull the wire out without squeezing the clip.
4. Remove the horn switch assembly.
5. Remove the steering wheel retaining nut and remove the steering wheel with a puller. WARNING
   Never hammer on the wheel or shaft to remove it! Never use a knock-off type puller.
   
6. Install the steering wheel in the reverse order of removal. Tighten the shaft nut to 40 ft. lbs. (54 Nm)

F-SUPER DUTY STRIPPED CHASSIS MOTOR HOME CHASSIS MODELS

1. Set the front wheel in the straight-ahead position and make chalk marks on the column and steering wheel hub for alignment purposes during installation.
2. Disconnect the negative battery cable.
3. Remove the one screw from the underside of each steering wheel spoke, and lift the horn switch assembly (steering wheel pad) from the steering wheel.
4. Disconnect the horn switch wires at the connector and remove the switch assembly.
5. Remove the horn switch assembly.
6. Remove the steering wheel retaining nut and remove the steering wheel with a puller. WARNING
   Never hammer on the wheel or shaft to remove it! Never use a knock-off type puller.
   
7. Install the steering wheel in the reverse order of removal. Tighten the shaft nut to 30-42 ft. lbs. (41-57 Nm).

With Air Bag Fig. 9: Remove the air bag module and disconnect the wiring harnesses
CAUTION
Read the air bag service precautions in Section 6 prior to doing work involving an air bag equipped steering column component. Always wear safety glasses when servicing an air bag vehicle and handling the air bag to avoid possible injury.

1. Turn the front wheels to the straight-ahead position.
2. Disconnect the battery-to-starter relay cable for at least one minute to let the air bag back-up power supply discharge.
3. Remove the air bag module from the steering wheel (refer to Section 6).
4. Disconnect the horn/speed control wiring from the steering wheel.
5. Remove the steering wheel retaining bolt.
6. Install the Differential Bearing Cone Remover/Replacer, No. T77F-4220B1, or equivalent, and remove the steering wheel. Route the contact assembly harnesses through the steering wheel as it is lifted off of the shaft. To install: NOTE: Make sure the front wheels are still in the straight-ahead position prior to installation.
   
7. Route the air bag sliding contact wiring through the steering wheel at the 3 o'clock position. Position the steering wheel on the shaft an align the marks. Make sure not to pinch the contact wire. WARNING
   Make sure no air gets trapped between the steering wheel and air bag sliding contact.
   
8. Install a new steering wheel retaining bolt, then tighten to 23-33 ft. lbs. (31-45 Nm).
9. Connect the horn/speed control wiring and clip in place. Connect the air bag wire harness. Tighten the module retaining nuts to 35-53 inch lbs. (4-6 Nm). NOTE: When the battery cable has been disconnected, then reconnected, some abnormal driving symptoms may occur for the first 10 miles (16 km) until the PCM re-learns it adaptive strategy.
   
10. Connect the battery to starter cable. Verify the air bag warning indicator light on the instrument panel.

My 2000 Cirrus had the same problem.

Before I describe how I fixed mine, a warning and disclaimer:
Working on the horn switch, clock spring and steering column requires working safely with the air bag module. An airbag that goes off unintentionally can cause serious or fatal injuries. If you don't know how to handle the air bag safely, do not attempt to fix this yourself!

Symptom: Horn sounds when steering wheel is turned or with slight movement of the air bag module in the center of the steering wheel.

Possible causes:
1. Deteriorated insulators under the air bag mounting bracket screws. (This is what caused the problem in my case.)
2. Warped or bent steering wheel or air bag module.
3. Short circuit in clock spring assembly.
4. Short circuit in steering column due to abraded or pinched wire.
5. Faulty horn relay. (Very unlikely if the horn only sounds when turning the wheel.)

How the "horn switch" works: The term "horn switch" is a bit of a misnomer because there is no identifiable "switch" as one might think. The "switch" is actually a combination of parts: The four air bag bracket mounting screws, four plastic bushings and washers that insulate the air bag mounting brackets from the screws which are fastened to the grounded steering column, four springs under the bushings and the metal back side of the airbag module. The horn wire, which comes from the horn relay up the steering column and through he clock spring, is connected to the left hand mounting bracket which is electrically connected to the back of the airbag module which is electrically connected to the right hand mounting bracket when everything is assembled. When the air bag module is pushed in, the metal back contacts one or more of the four air bag module mounting screws completing the circuit to ground and thus activating the horn relay.

Troubleshooting:
1. Disconnect the negative battery terminal on the strut tower under the hood and pull the two 10 A air bag fuses from the fuse panel on the left side of the dash.

WARNING!: WAIT TWO MINUTES TO ALLOW THE AIR BAG SYSTEM CAPACITOR TO DISCHARGE BEFORE PROCEEDING. NEVER DISCONNECT OR RECONNECT THE AIR BAG MODULE ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR UNLESS THE NEGATIVE BATTERY TERMINAL HAS BEEN DISCONNECTED FOR AT LEAST TWO MINUTES. FAILURE TO HEED THIS WARNING COULD RESULT IN UNEXPECTED DEPLOYMENT OF THE AIR BAG RESULTING IN INJURY OR DEATH.

2. Loosen the two torx head screws on the back of the steering wheel that secure the air bag module to the wheel. The screws are captive in plastic retainers, so don't try to remove them.

3. Remove the air bag module, pull out the connector lock and disconnect the air bag module connector.

4. Place the air bag module on a flat surface connector side down away from where you are working.

5. Locate the four air bag mounting bracket screws. Look for black gritty debris around the screw heads and inside the steering wheel. This is an indication that the top insulating washers have deteriorated allowing the mounting brackets to short out to the screws.

6. Now reconnect the battery negative lead and do the following tests:

a. Move the left hand bracket slightly. If the horn sounds, then the top side insulating washers are either gone or deteriorated. If you want to test the right hand bracket, you will need to connect a jumper wire between the brackets. If one washer is cracked or missing, it is likely they all are.

b. Disconnect the horn wire from the left hand bracket. Start the car and turn the steering wheel to the stop in both directions. If the horn still sounds, then you have either a bad clock spring or a short circuit in the steering column.

The repair if the insulating washers are bad:

The official Chrysler repair manual says to replace the steering wheel (about $260); however, there is a cheaper solution.

1. Remove the four air bag bracket mounting screws, bushings, springs and the two brackets, paying careful attention to how they are assembled so you can re-assemble them later.

2. Clean any debris, dirt and grease from the brackets and undersides of the screw heads.

3. Purchase or fabricate some thin insulating (plastic) washers to replace the ones that deteriorated, which unfortunately you cannot buy from Chrysler. I insulated my brackets and screws with kapton insulating tape plus some very thin plastic washers I cut from some blister pack packaging scrap (probably clear polystyrene). This plastic is very thin, but still is pretty tough. Some hollow punches are handy for punching the holes and making nice round washers, but you could probably do it with small scissors or your wife's scrapbook punches if you are careful.

4. Reassemble the air bag mounting brackets to the steering wheel placing the new insulating washers and/or tape between the screw heads and brackets.

5. Reconnect the horn wire to the left hand bracket and move the bracket around a bit. If the horn doesn't sound, then you likely have fixed the problem. Once again, to test the right hand bracket, you need to jumper the left and right brackets together.

6. Disconnect the negative battery lead and wait at least two minutes before proceeding to ensure the air bag capacitor is discharged.

7. Reconnect the air bag connector to the air bag module and insert connector lock.

8. Reassemble the air bag module to the steering wheel.

9. Reconnect the negative battery lead and test the horn. It should blow only when the air bag module is pushed in. Start the car and turn the wheel to both extremes to test the repair.
If the horn sounds continuously, then the washers you put in are two thick causing the air bag module to rest on the screw heads.

10. Turn the car off and reinsert the two 10 A air bag fuses, then restart the car and make sure the air bag light comes on briefly then goes off.

Hope you find this helpful.

If the horn works with the alarm button but not with the steering wheel horn pad the problem is most likely in the contacts beneath the steering wheel. This requires pulling the steering wheel and repairing the contacts.
If this vehicle has an air bag in the steering wheel make sure to deactivate the airbag circuit before pulling the steering wheel.

to repair this you must replace the steering wheel air bag, a very expensive fix

You need a new clockspring. It is behind the steering wheel, at the top of the steering column. It has wires wound around it like a clock. You will need to disconnect the battery, remove the air bag, then the steering wheel, and the steering column trim. Unbolt it, and install in reverse order.