# OEM horn - about useless!



## GoldenCruze (Dec 18, 2011)

Morons will be morons. The horn has saved my butt two or three times already.


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

GoldenCruze said:


> Morons will be morons. The horn has saved my butt two or three times already.


Eh, I want the morons to be alerted they're being moronic. The stock horn doesn't do anything in that department, at least around me. Bring on the horn races!


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## GoldenCruze (Dec 18, 2011)

A relative of mine sold RVs and he drove one from the lot to visit us. It was a used model and the previous owner had installed a regular siren in it. He said it was useful for clearing the passing lane when someone was just camping in it. Hit the switch, the driver would pull over while swiveling his head around, and the motor home just drove on by.


A fiend of mine has a regular set of air horns that he mounted on a VW camper. That really gets the attention of the other drivers.


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

Nice! Attention when when about to get merged into is a good thing.


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## boats4life (May 28, 2011)

I'm wanting to eventually put big rig horns under the trunk area facing backward for tailgaters. Should be fun.


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## iCruze2 (Dec 16, 2011)

My buddy installed freight train horns on his truck...lmao! People move Hahaha


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

To bump this, I finally got serious about this 10 months later when my stock horn wasn't even heard by the idiot who pulled out in front of me when they could have waited 5 seconds to let my car, the only car in sight, pass. I just ordered a Fiamm El Grande low/high tone horn set:









They're going to go behind the upper grille opening so they can project out of the car, not get muffled by the wheelwell liner. Power will be supplied by a relay running from the underhood power center. The stock horn may or may not be left, I'm not decided yet. It depends whether or not the security system plays well with the new horns. IIRC the stock horn is used for the security system, and lock confirmation when using the keyfob. I'll make a writeup on how to do it. Time to assemble the parts list and purchase the needed items to make a set of horns that get attended to!


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## UpstateNYBill (Jan 14, 2012)

How about a short video of before and after so we can hear the difference? :wink:


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

UpstateNYBill said:


> How about a short video of before and after so we can hear the difference? :wink:


Can do!


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## GoldenCruze (Dec 18, 2011)

boats4life said:


> I'm wanting to eventually put big rig horns under the trunk area facing backward for tailgaters. Should be fun.


I'd rather have a flame thrower, but I don't think I would get away with that for long.

A couple days ago I prevented a side swiping. A couple of cars were side by side in front of me, when the one on the left drifted two tires over the line towards the other. I leaned on the horn and they both woke up.

I hate it when some paces along beside me on the highway. Usually happens when they "pass." They never really do. Instead, they hover near my fender. I'll punch it to get away from them and leave them behind. The really clueless ones might do that to me one or two more times before they finally put their foot down, pass me, and go away. That's what I want, for them to go away.


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

GoldenCruze said:


> I'd rather have a flame thrower, but I don't think I would get away with that for long.
> 
> A couple days ago I prevented a side swiping. A couple of cars were side by side in front of me, when the one on the left drifted two tires over the line towards the other. I leaned on the horn and they both woke up.
> 
> I hate it when some paces along beside me on the highway. Usually happens when they "pass." They never really do. Instead, they hover near my fender. I'll punch it to get away from them and leave them behind. The really clueless ones might do that to me one or two more times before they finally put their foot down, pass me, and go away. That's what I want, for them to go away.


The horn in my Eco would not prevent somebody from merging over. They wouldn't hear the thing. I'll take an additional 1 lb onto the car to be safe.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

I can yell louder than the horn in my ECO.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

GoldenCruze said:


> I'd rather have a flame thrower, but I don't think I would get away with that for long.


I'd like to be able to remotely water paint "Tailgater" on the front of their car. Maybe a smoke screen device mounted to release smoke from right next to the tail pipe so they think I've blown my engine and back off as fast as they can hit their brakes.



GoldenCruze said:


> I hate it when some paces along beside me on the highway. Usually happens when they "pass." They never really do. Instead, they hover near my fender. I'll punch it to get away from them and leave them behind. The really clueless ones might do that to me one or two more times before they finally put their foot down, pass me, and go away. That's what I want, for them to go away.


I agree. The other one I really dislike is when I'm running on Cruze Control and start passing and they speed up. I've actually had them go up to 80 before they realized how fast they were going.


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## Sunline Fan (Jul 29, 2012)

Other than accidentally hitting the lock button twice a couple times for remote starting, I don't think I've ever used the horn. But I suppose if it becomes a problem, I have a spare Excursion horn I could put on.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

I read on here once that one of the weight saving things GM did to the eco was use a lighter single tone horn. I don't know if this is true but I know the horn on my 1LT is a duel trumpet & pretty loud. 

If I ever wanted to upgrade I would probably look into the 4tone Cadillac horns. 
4 tone cadillac horns - YouTube


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

Moving ahead with this. The horns got ordered today. Now to purchase my relay, 10 amp fuse, and wiring to run 14-gauge wire to these horns so they're plenty loud. Electrical things usually work better with more power. I'd probably be fine with the stock wiring, but want to give these new horns a good power supply to work their best.


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

I got the horns in last night. They're basically a set of AMS80 low tone and high tone horns. The package came with two horns, mounting brackets, and a relay. The relay is a dual-87 relay, so each horn gets its own power supply. The horns also ground through the body of the horn, so simply bolting the horns to a metal surface ought to be sufficient to ground them. I'll be scuffing the mounting hardware to shiny metal before installation to make sure they have a good ground. After that, everything will be covered in dielectric grease to keep it weather-tight. 

For wiring, I have 10 gauge wiring and connectors laying around in sufficient quantity, so that will be used. It's massive overkill for the power draw. 

Pictures will come later, once I get around to installing these. It's too cold right now.


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## jakkaroo (Feb 12, 2011)

i have a fire truck siren wired into my cruze haha that moves people out of the way real quick.post pics of install sciphi


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## chrisholland03 (Oct 13, 2011)

My horn has a cold right now. Need to have it checked at the next oil change. My honk has turned into more of a snork.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

chrisholland03 said:


> My horn has a cold right now. Need to have it checked at the next oil change. My honk has turned into more of a snork.


Tighten the nut on the front.

You know, it's funny. In the South, no one EVER honks at anyone. Driving in VA/MD, I'm constantly using mine because I'm surrounded by idiots. People back home will look at you like you just smacked them if you honk.


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

I'll post pics of the install. As a warning, it won't be for everybody. Where I'm thinking of putting the new horns requires removing the front bumper. They're going right behind the front grille, using the bolt I left in there when I deleted the intake resonators. They should sound better there than cooped up in the wheel well like the stock horn is now. 

If somebody wants to replace the stocker in the stock location, removing the driver's side front tire and wheel well liner should provide more than enough room to work.


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

Gah. Finding wiring parts can be difficult. Nothing at Radio Shack for 10 gauge wire blade-style fuse holders. The Internet yielded one for $3, should be here next week sometime. After that, it'll be time to wake up early and install my new horns!

Here's what I've needed to buy so far for this little project:
1. $20 set of horns
2. $10 on about 20 feet of wire (already had on hand)
3. $10 in ring terminals, butt connectors, and spade terminals of appropriate gauge (well, I spent $3 since I had ring terminals already, and only needed female spade connectors)
4. $3 on a fuse holder (we want to be safe while installing new circuits so we don't turn the horn button into a "fry the Cruze" button)


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## iKermit (Dec 13, 2010)

sciphi said:


> Gah. Finding wiring parts can be difficult. Nothing at Radio Shack for 10 gauge wire blade-style fuse holders. The Internet yielded one for $3, should be here next week sometime. After that, it'll be time to wake up early and install my new horns!
> 
> Here's what I've needed to buy so far for this little project:
> 1. $20 set of horns
> ...


I sell all of that, except the blade fuses and horns lol 

Too bad those horns are illegal here (people still have them but you know)


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## gt_cristian (Apr 7, 2012)

I would like to add on the stock horn beeing of little use. My car alarm was tripped one day and I could not hear the car from inside a house 100 ft away. That made me think about changing the horn. It needs to be louder


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

sciphi said:


> Gah. Finding wiring parts can be difficult. Nothing at Radio Shack for 10 gauge wire blade-style fuse holders. The Internet yielded one for $3, should be here next week sometime. After that, it'll be time to wake up early and install my new horns!
> 
> Here's what I've needed to buy so far for this little project:
> 1. $20 set of horns
> ...





iKermit said:


> I sell all of that, except the blade fuses and horns lol
> 
> Too bad those horns are illegal here (people still have them but you know)


I'm installing these:







They're regular electric car horns. Not the boat horns I linked to at the start of the thread. They're the same as can be purchased at a parts store, and meant for replacing factory horns. I don't see how they'd be illegal considering their design and power supply. All I'm doing differently is making sure these horns have sufficient power going to them and changing location from the muffled factory location.


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

I got around to putting in the horns today. I ended up using the stock location since time was short. It turns out the Eco has a Fiamm AMS-80 low tone horn. It's fed with 18 gauge wiring, so there is little current making its way to the horn. So, good horn, junk wiring. Reminds me of the headlights. 

The new Fiamm horns were wired up with 10 gauge wiring and a relay drawing power from the battery, so they have plenty of power. The stock location is a bit tight for 2 horns with foglights. They sound louder than the stock horn. 

Pictures will be up once I am back on a real computer, not my ipod. 


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## EcoDave (Mar 7, 2013)

Does it sound like this?


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

EcoDave said:


> Does it sound like this?


Like this: http://http://youtu.be/ZlFA5tatJsg


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## EcoDave (Mar 7, 2013)

sciphi said:


> Like this: http://http://youtu.be/ZlFA5tatJsg
> 
> 
> Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App



Link Fail
Link fixed = http://youtu.be/ZlFA5tatJsg




Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with the OEM horn. People around where I live tend to fall asleep at red lights and I wake them up with a quick short blast.
It does it's job in my experiences so far.


Sent from my Brain using Telepathy


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

Thanks for fixing my link. This app isn't the greatest. 

Folks around here act like they cannot hear the stock Eco horn. It's left me in the lurch numerous times. So it got a high-tone twin and beefed up wiring for more power. Twin power unite! 


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## Epickphale (Jan 30, 2013)

Lol you will all want to watch out for the noise police... and by that I mean the police. Seriously. Cops man, they will get all upset if they hear you with one of those.


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## mayo302 (Jan 24, 2011)

sciphi said:


> ... It depends whether or not the security system plays well with the new horns. IIRC the stock horn is used for the security system, and lock confirmation when using the keyfob. ...


It would be nice to have this loud horn for the security system (alarm) rather than the half-honk that it currently does; the alarm on these can't be heard from more than ~50 feet away. Don't know how to easily turn that intermittent signal into a solid - on one though.


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

Epickphale said:


> Lol you will all want to watch out for the noise police... and by that I mean the police. Seriously. Cops man, they will get all upset if they hear you with one of those.


I replaced the OEM Fiamm AMS-80 low tone horn with a Fiamm AMS-80 low tone and AMS-80 high tone horn sold in a set as Fiamm El Grande. That is not going to get anybody's knickers in a twist. They are not train horns or other show-off horns. What they are is functional, something the single low tone horn was not. 

I appreciate the concern. It is unfounded in this case, though. 

The new horns play just fine with the security system. They sound at half power when locking the car or to say the system is active, and at full power when needed. 


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## Jeff257 (Mar 19, 2013)

I used my horn just the other day when an idiot woman in a Prius decided she didn't have to stop at a stop sign. I was in the Target parking lot and there was a car stopped trying to turn left and she was going right. I knew when I saw her that she probably wouldn't stop. I slowed down but not enough to give her room. So as soon as she kept going forward I honked twice her head whipped around and she stopped quick. Then as I drove around her front end she decided to honk back and man that thing was weak. I don't know why she honked at me. I guess maybe she thought I would just let her keep pulling out in front of me. I certainly haven't had a problem with my horn. It sounds better than the one in my Saturn Vue and is also easier to use as well.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

mayo302 said:


> It would be nice to have this loud horn for the security system (alarm) rather than the half-honk that it currently does; the alarm on these can't be heard from more than ~50 feet away. Don't know how to easily turn that intermittent signal into a solid - on one though.


I quite like the little half honk (at least from my LT - I dunno what the Eco sounds like). My moms Accord will honk quite loudly if you press the lock button twice. Enough to make people in front of the car jump. 


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## BowtieGuy (Jan 4, 2013)

To revive an old thread, I have had my new Eco a little over a month now and sciphi is right, NO ONE reacts to the Eco horn. It IS useless!! I can lay on my horn all day and no one would even realize I am honking. I blare my horn and morons still cut me off like they had no clue I was there. Does anyone know if the two tone non-Eco horn(LS/LT/LTZ) is plug and play with the Eco single tone horn? Do they use the same gauge wire, or does the Eco use thinner gauge wire for its single tone horn? 
Or should I just go with something like the Hella trumpet horns? I need something that says "No, dumbass" without being train-horn annoying.


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## brianleon (Jun 15, 2013)

The horn is the only complaint I have made about my car I want people to RESPECT me when I tell them to move--at work I honked the horn and everyone fell about laughing cause I squeaked at them it was funny really but the respect level was zero no one is gonna move if you squeak at them ,I would like one off a train maybe .


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

BowtieGuy said:


> Does anyone know if the two tone non-Eco horn(LS/LT/LTZ) is plug and play with the Eco single tone horn? Do they use the same gauge wire, or does the Eco use thinner gauge wire for its single tone horn?


This is a great question, hopefully someone will know. I have a 1LT and have no complaints about the horn, so this would seem like a great and cheap upgrade if it was truly plug and play. 

Anyone ever compare the ECO horn volume/tone vs the LS/LT/LTZ? Which horn does the diesel use?


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

I don't have a problem with the horn but can anyone tell me why people insist on overtaking on freeways and then slowing to a slightly slower speed than I have my cruise control set on. Happens quite a lot and is really annoying.


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

All I can say after upgrading the horns is that every Eco owner should do it. The dual horns make woodland critters flee, other cars take notice, and inspire confidence that one's horn will be heard. 

The Eco has a Fiamm AMS-80 low tone horn stock. The other Cruzes probably have low and high tone horns as stock. 

I bet the OEM LT horns are plug and play. If not, the Fiamm El Grande is the aftermarket version. 


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

sciphi, can you do a How-To on replacing the horn?


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## Rochas (May 27, 2013)

I went to try the horn for the first time the other day to give a few short friendly beeps because the guy in front didn't move on the green turning arrow... and nothing. I had to press hard to get it to work and even then it was pretty lousy sounding.


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## Dragonsys (May 27, 2013)

obermd said:


> sciphi, can you do a How-To on replacing the horn?


Yes, please. I am trying to replace my horn, but I cannot get the new ones to work, so I am not sure if it is a bad relay, or bad wiring...


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## airbornedave (Jan 26, 2013)

I'm about to upgrade my ECO's horn with a Stebel Nautilus air horn. 139db of dual tone, attention grabbing horn! 

 Amazon - Loud GENUINE Stebel Compact Nautilus Air Horn for Motorcycles, Cars & Trucks

I'm thinking that I can access the horn by removing the driver's side headlight assembly, but I haven't confirmed it yet. Once I get the horn and figure it out, I'll do a walk through before I close everything up.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

If one wants to upgrade the crappy ECO horn would the LT dual tone horn not be plug and play? My horn is loud on my 1LT.


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## airbornedave (Jan 26, 2013)

spacedout said:


> If one wants to upgrade the crappy ECO horn would the LT dual tone horn not be plug and play? My horn is loud on my 1LT.


I wasn't aware that there was a difference in horns between the models. I've got to find the part number for the 1LT horn and check it out. I would much rather something that mounts the same and is plug & play (if in fact it is/does)


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## airbornedave (Jan 26, 2013)

spacedout said:


> My horn is loud on my 1LT.


Part of me wants to go to the dealership and start testing horns! LOL


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

airbornedave said:


> I wasn't aware that there was a difference in horns between the models. I've got to find the part number for the 1LT horn and check it out. I would much rather something that mounts the same and is plug & play (if in fact it is/does)


I did read when the cruze ECO was first introduced one of the many accumulative weight saving features was a single tone horn. However If I'm not mistaken only the manual trans ECO gets these additional weight savings(just like the gas tank being restricted to 12.6 gallons only on the manual). 

Mine is definitely dual tone & is more than loud enough.


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## airbornedave (Jan 26, 2013)

spacedout said:


> I did read when the cruze ECO was first introduced one of the many accumulated weight saving features was a single tone horn. However If I'm not mistaken only the manual trans ECO gets these additional weight savings(just like the gas tank being restricted to 12.6 gallons only on the manual).
> 
> Mine is definitely dual tone & is more than loud enough.


I'm looking for a deeper, louder tone. I'll have to look, but mine sounds like a single tone horn. Even if it is a double, it sounds like a mouse choking on a hunk of cheese, and not very loud. 

I've installed aftermarket horns on several other vehicles, and the Nautilus is very loud and has a crisp, clear sound. It can be somewhat of a PITA to install tough. 

If it turns out that mine and yours match, I may check into the part number for the horn in my wife's 2012 Equinox. It's very nice!


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

Just found this video, my horn sounds nothing like this, this sounds like a toyota. Standard 'Gay' horn on my Cruze - YouTube


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

I did find this website below that lists two different part numbers for the cruze horn, one is dual tone one is single. If the website is accurate you want the *95231066* part number horn. I also googled the part number and found a cruze horn on ebay and a few other websites so its probably an accurate number. 

HORN for 2013 Chevrolet Cruze


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## airbornedave (Jan 26, 2013)

spacedout said:


> Just found this video, my horn sounds nothing like this, this sounds like a toyota. Standard 'Gay' horn on my Cruze - YouTube


Yep. Sounds like mine! That's funny, because my wife calls it gay every time I lock the car! 




spacedout said:


> I did find this website below that lists two different part numbers for the cruze horn, one is dual tone one is single. If the website is accurate you want the *95231066* part number horn. I also googled the part number and found a cruze horn on ebay and a few other websites so its probably an accurate number.
> 
> HORN for 2013 Chevrolet Cruze


Thanks a lot! I was actually in the process of digging this up.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

airbornedave said:


> I'm thinking that I can access the horn by removing the driver's side headlight assembly, but I haven't confirmed it yet. Once I get the horn and figure it out, I'll do a walk through before I close everything up.


I would never recommend any of the "other" cruze websites, but I can verify there are pictures on one of them showing that one can access the horn by removing the driver side headlight.


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## airbornedave (Jan 26, 2013)

spacedout said:


> I would never recommend any of the "other" cruze websites, but I can verify there are pictures on one of them showing that one can access the horn by removing the driver side headlight.


I see where you're talking about. Took a Google search of "gay Cruze horn" to find it 

Looks like the bumper has to come loose too. 

I wish they would come out with a Haynes/Chilton manual already!


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## Patman (May 7, 2011)

If you think about it horns in of themselves are effectively useless. Typically when they are blown is "more or less after the fact and does nothing more than makes the point that someone is upset they have to pay attention to what is going on"


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

Patman said:


> If you think about it horns in of themselves are effectively useless. Typically when they are blown is "more or less after the fact and does nothing more than makes the point that someone is upset they have to pay attention to what is going on"


That might be true in some instances, but I had a stupid prius driver a few weeks back decide to pass in the last 100 feet where a 4 lane merged down to a 2 lane. I looked over my shoulder and seen they were going to plow into the side of my car or run me off the road, I laid on my horn, then they jammed on their brakes. I have no idea what they were thinking, the right lane(passing) merged back into the left & with such a slow car there was no where near a safe amount of space to pass. 

Seen a report on the news later that night that made me laugh, said the worst drivers on the road drive a Prius.


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## airbornedave (Jan 26, 2013)

Patman said:


> If you think about it horns in of themselves are effectively useless. Typically when they are blown is "more or less after the fact and does nothing more than makes the point that someone is upset they have to pay attention to what is going on"


I've had the horn save my bacon quite a few times. Most times I'm able to get a few blasts off after observing early signs that something bad is gong to happen. 

The reason for my wanting to change out the horn is because it appears that people don't hear/pay attention to it. Lately, I have had numerous people suddenly cut in front of me without signaling, a few times almost contacting my front bumper. I can't slow back quick enough without getting creamed. Ordinarily, my horn would alert the driver that I'm there, but the one in my Cruze doesn't seem to.


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