I have a 2005TL (w/ navi) and my HFL system in general hasn't had any problem in the 9+ years I've owned the car.

Just recently (and tonight on my way home), I've noticed that the buttons on the steering wheel aren't working properly. Phone is connected and responsive. When it's not working right I have one of these situations happening:
1) you press the talk or end call buttons on the steering wheel and nothing happens
2) you press the end call button and it makes the sound (boop) that the talk button should make (instead of it performing a cancel action and cancel "boop boop" sound). Essentially you get stuck in a menu / dial situation and can't get out.

After the system eventually cleared itself out of the menus, I received a phone call and was able to press the talk button to pickup the call okay. So the buttons physically still work.

I'm not real active on the forum anymore so I am not up to date on HFL issues. Has anyone seen this before? Does my HFL unit need to be replaced? Do I have to buy the one for 2005 or is there a newer model that will work just fine in my car, that is more reliable/offers more features?

Looks like the 2005 part is on the "INTERIOR LIGHT" page for the part listing on acuraoemparts.com:

 

bump attempt 1

 

The HFL is probably bad-- check in the MID to see if the HFL status is "booting up" when it does not work. If so, it's bad. My HFL went bad with the same symptoms your HFL displays.

You have three options:
1) Disconnect the HFL and go without it;

2) Remove the HFL, disassemble it, remove the circuit board(s)[some years had 2 attached boards, others have only one board], bake the circuit boards @ 385*F for about 9 minutes and reassemble to see if that cures the HFL's issues (would have to be solder-related, and it has worked for a number of members; a couple of members had to bake the board(s) twice); or

3) Buy a new HFL and install it-- 10 minutes max.
If you have an ivory interior, get the cheaper gray or tan HFL unit and switch out the attached plastic bezel with yours, then install.

G/L.

 

So I bought a brand new one from acura and I am having the same problem again. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I was thinking the sun heating up the car causing really high temps might be the issue as I know it worked last night.

Any other ideas? Is there another part involved? Anything to look for with the wiring harness? Could I somehow have gotten a bad part even though it was new and sealed?

 

Typically replacement of the unit fixes this known issue. With that being said, it is always possible you got a bad new unit. Returning electrical components is typically/customarily hard or impossible to do. Do you know anyone else who owns a 3G TL where you could do some diagnostic swapping of units?

 

Nope. I mean there are enough in the area but all are strangers to me. Worked one time when I left work. But then as I got home I tried again and the buttons were both unresponsive again. This is really frustrating.

 

I have a service manual from 04 and found the attached below. Not sure if it is of any help or not - DTCs are Diagnostic Trouble Codes. PM me if you want or need more info / other pages.