A few months ago I was having problems with a steering wheel position sensor, this was on a column I had received from a salvage Corvette, I attempted to recenter it with a meter.
When I did this the column was mounted in the car but was disconnected from the rack (obviously), I very carefully rotated the wheel a few turns in each direction and I never once felt any hesitation from the ribbon in the clockspring being stretched.
Once I got the steering wheel centered and hooked everything up I suddenly found that I had the famous "airbag" light and a B0026 fault code, a few checks later confirmed that I was reading a direct short across the airbag terminals under the steering column, I ordered a new clockspring and when I replaced it I decided to cut the old one open and take a picture.
It appears that the ribbon actually winds around the shaft in 2 different directions, first going one way and then looping back and going the other, it then terminates at a solder joint which is where the ribbon pulled out.
Looking at the clockspring from the outside without opening it up I would have pictured a brush/slider arrangement rather than this ribbon.

 

The brush/slider setup would have been much simpler and less costly to produce.

However the brush/slider has an inherent flaw in that over time it is susceptible to momentary loss of electrical contact at various spots along the contact area due to dirt, wear, etc.

With this type on connection the air bag is "hard wired" and as a result much more reliable to deploy when needed.

 

Interesting. I never did take one apart. Thanks for the pic.