As the title says

'96, does the airbag dashpad sound the horn, or just the buttons?

Mine does not, I need to depress the 2 buttons adjacent to the airbag

I thought it used to sound when I pushed on the bag area, but maybe im juz dreaming ?

The '96 has the same cabin electrics as 95 and earlier

 

I have a '96 can confirm no horn from airbag, you made me second guess myself so I went out and checked.

 

Have a 95 but its the same wheel. Buttons only.

 

The '93-'95 Grand Cherokee ZJ and '95-'96 Cherokee XJ use the same, exact airbag steering wheel. The horn is activated ONLY via the two buttons on the spokes of the wheel. They switched to a "Horn Pad" design (using the airbag cover) on the '96 Grand Cherokee ZJ, '97 Cherokee XJ, and '97 Wrangler TJ. If the horn won't sound in your Jeep, then it's likely an issue with the horn buttons themselves, OR the horns inside the engine bay. Some of them had a single-note horn, and others had two-note horns, depending on the model (I think most of the leather-wrapped steering wheels had two-note horns, since they were typically used in higher trim levels, while lower trim levels (with urethane or vinyl steering wheels (and sometimes EVEN without cruise controls at the bottom of the wheel) had a single-note horn). Hope this helps!

-Vince