Horn??

[SigGuy]

Since the subject of the horn came up... I am in the camp that I think many of us owners are in-- I LOVE this car and I mean L-O-V-E this car. But that said I have a good 15 things that I think they failed at as compared to other cars in its class (can you say 99¢ store vanity mirrors?) and one of them is the horn. It's not the sound- that's fine. It's the pressure needed to sound it. There's no way to "toot toot" the guy texting at the red light. The pressure needed to sound the horn makes it hard not to blast it. Anyone else finding this to be the case? Maybe my horn blowing skills are lacking but I never had this issue with any other car.

 

[SuperCoug]

Tesla Test Drive - YouTube

pre-production car, but presumably the same. I suspect the horn is from the Mercedes parts bin.

Charlie -

I think you may be right because that horn sounds EXACTLY like the horn in my Mercedes C-Class.

 

[Francis Lau]

Since the subject of the horn came up... I am in the camp that I think many of us owners are in-- I LOVE this car and I mean L-O-V-E this car. But that said I have a good 15 things that I think they failed at as compared to other cars in its class (can you say 99¢ store vanity mirrors?) and one of them is the horn. It's not the sound- that's fine. It's the pressure needed to sound it. There's no way to "toot toot" the guy texting at the red light. The pressure needed to sound the horn makes it hard not to blast it. Anyone else finding this to be the case? Maybe my horn blowing skills are lacking but I never had this issue with any other car.

I have my MS since December and have never used the horn. After reading this thread, I tried it tonight. It was loud but I too found that you have press quite hard to sound the horn. I don't think I can 'toot toot' easily too.

 

[ZDM]

As a car was blindly leaving a parking spot and turning directly into our S, my wife tried honking, but . . . Nothing. She didn't realize how hard it needed to be pushed. Fortunately, the other car finally saw her and stopped with 2 inches to spare.

 

[Msolomi]

I have the same issue with the horn. you have to push hard to get it to sound.

 

[nrcooled]

I thought the exact same thing initially. Move your pressure point to sound the horn further in on the wheel and it is a bit easier to use. I have gotten my technique down now and I can "toot-toot" to the guy sleeping at a new green light.

 

[igotzzoom]

Since the subject of the horn came up... I am in the camp that I think many of us owners are in-- I LOVE this car and I mean L-O-V-E this car. But that said I have a good 15 things that I think they failed at as compared to other cars in its class (can you say 99¢ store vanity mirrors?) and one of them is the horn. It's not the sound- that's fine. It's the pressure needed to sound it. There's no way to "toot toot" the guy texting at the red light. The pressure needed to sound the horn makes it hard not to blast it. Anyone else finding this to be the case? Maybe my horn blowing skills are lacking but I never had this issue with any other car.

Some cars have the opposite problem. The horn on my wife's 2004 Acura TSX is so hyper-sensitive, it practically honks if you look at it funny. Just barely brushing it or applying the slightest amount of pressure makes it sound. I know the Chevy Volt isn't universally adored around here, but one kind of clever feature it has is a "pedestrian alert" feature where it sounds the horn as a friendly "beeple" (my term) instead of a blast. See video below:

 

[jammerdjc]

If you need to "toot toot" use your smart phone app. Granted it doesn't work if you need to diplomatically alert someone backing up (takes too long), but then maybe you should be less diplomatic.

 

[brianman]

Is it my imagination or does that sound very much like the "you tried to switch from Neutral to Drive without tapping the brake" sound from the Model S?