Car horns question

[Midnight Shark]

Have any of you ever noticed how hard it is to drive and honk in the same time at high speeds? In the past couple months I have had my third experience on the highway where someone cuts me off in front of me probably not knowing how close he or she is and how dangerous their manuever onto my lane is.

I don't have my M3 with me anymore so i'm driving the durango, and believe me this thing takes a lot of effort to control at 65mph when taking evasive action.

well, I wanted to honk my horn to let them know they're too close but in the same time trying to do some evasive measures. But to do this you must use only 1 hand while driving since the horn is located in the middle of the steering wheel and needs a lot of pressure to actually sound off.

Why can't car manufacturer's make horns which are easily accessible while keeping both hands on the steering wheel? Maybe something like SMG paddles?

Any thoughts?

[corwyn]

Well, IIRC, when airbags first started showing up in cars, they used to put horn buttons on either side of the airbag within reach of your thumbs if you're driving "correctly." I found two problems with them: 1) they were far too easy to hit by accident when you didn't want to, and 2) my natural reaction is to press the center of the steering wheel to activate the horn, so I'd miss the horn when I wanted to use it.

[Midnight Shark]

I know we don't use the horn that much but in my above experiences I was forced not to use them unless I take one hand off the steering wheel. I'd rather hit the car horn by accident than get into an accident when trying to tell someone he's too close to you.

This is the only problem I see with the car horn in the middle. Car horns as you said that were placed elsewhere at least have no safety issues.

[carstereopro]

Originally Posted by Midnight Shark

Have any of you ever noticed how hard it is to drive and honk in the same time at high speeds? In the past couple months I have had my third experience on the highway where someone cuts me off in front of me probably not knowing how close he or she is and how dangerous their manuever onto my lane is.

This happened to me twice this week while driving my van.

[corwyn]

Originally Posted by Midnight Shark

I know we don't use the horn that much but in my above experiences I was forced not to use them unless I take one hand off the steering wheel. I'd rather hit the car horn by accident than get into an accident when trying to tell someone he's too close to you.

This is the only problem I see with the car horn in the middle. Car horns as you said that were placed elsewhere at least have no safety issues.

Yeah, but in that sort of situation, about the last thing I'm thinking is to use the horn, anyway. I'm spending my entire $100 on avoiding/minimizing the accident. I guess it's all what you're used to.

[95325is]

you can get a hella horn loud as hell

[L3it3r]

hmm.. SMG style button activated horns? I'd dig that.. make it a split switch and make it so you can flash your lights by pulling one, or flash your lights and hit the horn with the other.

[corwyn]

Originally Posted by 95325is

you can get a hella horn loud as hell

Is the Hella horn...hella loud?

Just don't get the Griot's Garage compact air horn. I had two die on me within days of installation.

[Andrew]

I love the horn buttons on my e30. I have the gay 4 spoke wheel, with one button on each spoke. Its so simple. They are very close to the thumbs, and even better, they can be used for rapid fire horn action by alternating buttons quickly!

[Faux Don]

hes very right ^

the 4-spoke steering wheel on some e30's has 4 buttons, and they are all right next to your thumbs at natural positions (but hard to hit accidentally when steering)

[Midnight Shark]

yeah, older cars' horns were easily accessible using your thumbs. My other car had 4 hella horns 2 of which I detuned to give it a big fat tone.

[95325is]

Originally Posted by corwyn

Is the Hella horn...hella loud?

Just don't get the Griot's Garage compact air horn. I had two die on me within days of installation.

are you talking about the italian air horn?

[Rybak]

Citroen made kinda like this (in C4 for example)- the horn button (really small) is on the centre part of wheel, but it isn't good way, because it's too small to be useful