Would a Friendly Aftermarket Corvette Horn Reduce Road Rage?
Imagine grabbing another motorist’s attention, but not their poor attitude. Is it even possible?
Road rage is a real issue in this country, and sadly we are part of the problem. Being surrounded by the millions of utter morons that can clog our roadways brings us one step closer to an aneurysm every day. With that in mind, sometimes all I really want to do is ask someone to look up from their stereo/phone/latte/etc., but the horn can sound a little too aggressive, especially when you’re just maneuvering around a parking lot.
Engineer and YouTube guru Mark Rober felt the same way, and he has rigged up a set of alternate “courtesy” horns inside of his car that redesigned to be less intrusive and harsh, hopefully reducing the amount of unwanted altercations in the world.
The idea is pretty simple. Take a few cheap electronics, some hardware buttons, a small amp, and then a horned speaker. Put a few kind, but attention-getting noises into the sound processor, wire the buttons, run the output to the amp and speaker, and viola. You now have a courtesy horn.
ALSO SEE: What Forum Members Have to Say
Mark’s car is a VW Jetta which actually already has some blank buttons on the dash near the shifter, so the end product almost looks factory. And yes, the standard factory horn still works. After all when that idiot on the 405 is trying to drift into your Corvette because he’s reading an email, you need more than a “kind beep” to let him know he’s about to crush your pride and joy.
But of course we here at Corvette Forum care most about what you think. You are our favorite people after all, so sound off on this idea of a courtesy horn. For now, we ask you ignore the fact that integrating a custom system like this into the Corvette will be a bit harder thanks to the lack of blank buttons across the dash. Just focus on the idea of having multiple horn options in a Corvette. A short little beep to act as a hello when passing other Corvettes, or a gentle attention getter for the person holding up the drive-thru line at lunch. Would this be something you would like to see offered as a factory option? Let us know in the forums.
