Filed under: Etc., Technology, Ford
You’d think designing a car horn would be easy. Press the wheel, make it beep, and call it a day. It’s more complicated than that, as Ford’s Patricia Seashore can explain.
Ford adapts its horns to suit the needs of drivers around the world. Different cultures use the horn in different ways . As a result, vehicle horns must be tuned for the amount of use they’ll receive, as well as the tone they produce.
In North America, the horn is used less for warning others (“Hey, watch it, pal!”) than it is for friendlier communication (“Hey, I’m outside to pick you up!”). Ford tunes our horns to emit richer, more pleasing tones than past horns, but they’re still designed to get your attention. South American drivers, on the other hand, get a horn tuned for short, rapid bursts of sound. In India, Ford installs disc horns that have a longer life than our trumpet horns, which is necessitated by Indian drivers’ heavy horn usage.
Beyond cultural differences, Seashore’s team also studies different environments and how they’ll affect horn performance. Chinese drivers are serious horn users, so horn longevity is important. Chinese cars also need horns that can handle extreme heat and cold, plus a wide range of altitudes. Seashore says, “Altitude and temperatures affect the way sound waves travel – that’s just physics.”
Like we said, a lot of thought goes into your car’s horn. Click past the jump for a short car horn quiz and some b-roll of horn engineers at work.
Continue reading Do I make you horny? Ford says, “not so much” if you live in the U.S.
Do I make you horny? Ford says, “not so much” if you live in the U.S. originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 21 May 2011 14:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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