3 ms·

That's a weird issue I hadn't heard of before. Wouldn't a simpler and cheaper solution be to run an extra circuit to the horn? You'd then honk it by pressing a

by avar 3y ago

That's a weird issue I hadn't heard of before. Wouldn't a simpler and cheaper solution be to run an extra circuit to the horn? You'd then honk it by pressing a new button (or use an unused one) in the dashboard. The difficulty mainly depends on how hard it is to get a pair of wires from the horn across the firewall into the dashboard. On some cars this would take no more than an hour in total.

brudgers 3y ago
After I got the horn disconnected so the neighbors would stop hearing it and so the car could be driven…that’s the theory this dad had, too. The thinking about it reality was horn current is switched through relays, there aren’t obvious places to mount the new in-cabin portion of the horn, there aren’t well considered off the shelf options for the horn triggering system, and the horn is a critical safety system. And I didn't have a garage; never wrenched as a vocation nor much as a hobby; and my most motörhead friend lived in another state. Keep in mind the center of the steering wheel is designed to explode in an accident so hard objects attached to it will missile around the cabin if the airbag triggers. The dash was a lot of curved soft surfaces covering ducts and wires were it wasn’t instruments and controls. Cars ain’t what they used to be.
- avar 3y ago
  I looked up the interior of a 1997 LaSabre, there's plenty of places to add a new button. I don't think (but I may be wrong) that US law stipulates that the horn must be operated via the steering wheel, and modifying it is trickier for the reasons you mention. You could have a custom horn via a pull chain, see e.g. [1]. Anyway, this was clearly ages ago. I only chimed in to note that there's often non-OEM fixes for car troubles that are much cheaper, and will pass inspections. If all you need is a functional horn you can get a working one at a junkyard. Then all you need is to mount it somewhere, a 12V power supply, and a switch. Even if you can't do any of this yourself paying a mechanic to do it would be a small fraction of the $1600 you noted, which presumably was a full steering wheel replacement (airbag and all). 1. https://www.lalightbars.co.uk/hadley-air-horn-pull-chain-kit---truck-pull-chain-234-p.asp https://www.lalightbars.co.uk/hadley-air-horn-pull-chain-kit...
  - brudgers 3y ago
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1sM29zGxeo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1sM29zGxeo

by avar 3y ago

brudgers 3y ago

After I got the horn disconnected so the neighbors would stop hearing it and so the car could be driven…that’s the theory this dad had, too. The thinking about it reality was horn current is switched through relays, there aren’t obvious places to mount the new in-cabin portion of the horn, there aren’t well considered off the shelf options for the horn triggering system, and the horn is a critical safety system. And I didn't have a garage; never wrenched as a vocation nor much as a hobby; and my most motörhead friend lived in another state. Keep in mind the center of the steering wheel is designed to explode in an accident so hard objects attached to it will missile around the cabin if the airbag triggers. The dash was a lot of curved soft surfaces covering ducts and wires were it wasn’t instruments and controls. Cars ain’t what they used to be.

avar 3y ago
I looked up the interior of a 1997 LaSabre, there's plenty of places to add a new button. I don't think (but I may be wrong) that US law stipulates that the horn must be operated via the steering wheel, and modifying it is trickier for the reasons you mention. You could have a custom horn via a pull chain, see e.g. [1]. Anyway, this was clearly ages ago. I only chimed in to note that there's often non-OEM fixes for car troubles that are much cheaper, and will pass inspections. If all you need is a functional horn you can get a working one at a junkyard. Then all you need is to mount it somewhere, a 12V power supply, and a switch. Even if you can't do any of this yourself paying a mechanic to do it would be a small fraction of the $1600 you noted, which presumably was a full steering wheel replacement (airbag and all). 1. https://www.lalightbars.co.uk/hadley-air-horn-pull-chain-kit---truck-pull-chain-234-p.asp https://www.lalightbars.co.uk/hadley-air-horn-pull-chain-kit...
- brudgers 3y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1sM29zGxeo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1sM29zGxeo