Custom Car Horn Is Super Friendly or Shockingly Angry

Signaling drivers of other cars is very simple. You have your turn signals, and a horn. Then again, unless you resort to “manual” signalling, there’s not much nuance. Sure, you can do the “nice” tap to other drivers to stop texting and obey the green light, or the “lean on” horn blast to let someone know you’re angry, but the difference between these variations can be difficult to discern.

Engineer Mark Rober decided to do something about this, installing three custom horn buttons based on Bob’s I Like to Make Stuff video seen below.

Bob’s version goes over a few more details of the build, but Rober’s version, seen in the second video, is a more permanent solution. In fact, it looks like it could have been installed at the factory. This setup powers an Adafruit Audio FX sound board via the cigarrette lighter and an inverter, then “pumps” these less-threatening sounds out of a cheap PA system. The first option is a low-volume horn double-tap, and there is also a second button that emits an even friendlier R2-D2 sound effect.

On the other hand, perhaps you’re actually quite angry or need to get someone’s attention. For these circumstances there is a third button. This activates an ominous semi-style horn, grabbing other drivers’ or pedestrians’ attention even if they are extremely distracted. Presumably the normal horn also still works, so perhaps you could give bystanders a double-horn blast if you need even more audio power!

[h/t: Sploid]