controls

Has anybody had to deal with the whole "buttons on the steering wheel not working, turn signals not activating, high beams not activating" ordeal? Just installed a GPS tracker for my personal 2015 S550, and I must have bad karma somewhere, because I disconnected the negative terminal and moved...

I'd like to #1 swap out my steering wheel for an aftermarket WITH the airbag space but WITHOUT the cruise/phone/radio controls. If not then #2 just remove the controls from the existing steering wheel and fabricate pretty covers for the gaps Anybody know if this would this affect the normal...