Ever so subtly and with no fanfare or warning, the horn – the automobile drivers’ ability to sound itself—is disappearing. Well not entirely, yet. Nonetheless, I am so disturbed by what is transpiring in the industry with the iconic horn, I am getting dramatic.
The horn is now placed, still, as it always was, on the steering wheel. But its size is reduced by enormous real estate and its’ form is no longer recognizable. Now, I need my ‘readers’ to locate the horn, for goodness sake. What happened? As technology, design and connectivity advance in our industry, what, pray tell, has happened to the horn?
The turn signal remains as loud as ever. The headlights are still, if not more, annoyingly glaring, yet the mighty horn on many new models is all but transformed into something entirely unknown to most new car buyers. On the Cadillac, it’s the size of an oval thumb strategically placed in symmetrical positions. Truth be told, that’s a child's thumb size. Or, take Land Rover who on the 2010 Sport has the horn looking like two brilliantly positioned cylinders, likened to the size of Virginia Slims -- for those of you that remember and may have had an inhale or two. And, to remind you that the horn is on the Range Rover Sport, they not only protrude from the steering wheel, but are bright and shiny to help you see them, when needed.
As with both forementioned brands, do we now market these vehicle as having multiple horns? Instead of just one, there are two? “Bonus horn, now available on the latest model”, says your friendly salesperson.
What is this all about? When did the horn as we know it begin to go the way of the Dodo bird?
Horns have been a driver’s form of auto expression since they were first used in the 19th century. Drivers use their horn to express skatalogical emotions and frustrated feelings aimed at fellow road-mates, some to gently prod, many use as warning signals, and there are many who use to communicate a ‘thanks’ . Others, still, use the two-signal bump for the proverbial ‘goodbye’. No matter the reason, horns are a form of safety, assurance and expression that we have been our entire driving life.
Now, with safety being paramount – which I am not adverse to – there are more airbags, wiring, and frankly, intel, in the steering wheel. The effect of this, as my expert auto-pal George tells me, is it simply costs too much to get past the horn if the air bag deploys in newer cars. So, to keep service costs manageable (i.e. down), technicians, engineering and design collectively are working to downsize the horn as we know it. These exceptionally smart people clearly aren’t looking at the marketing opportunities of the horn in the same manner as the creative writers for Saturday Night Live are.
I, too, will concede and learn how to work these minute noise-makers. But, only after I have had my say and clearly, under duress.
