Why we have horns:

The Department of Transportation considers horns critical for safety and warning purposes. Therefore, horns are required in every vehicle.

How they are used:

Over 80% of surveyed drivers use their horn as a form of communication rather than warning. In other words, horns are most often used in non-critical situations – like alerting a distracted driver that the light is green, or getting the attention of kids when picking them up from school.

What perceptions they give:

Current car horns are aggressive and monotone – the horn sound is the same, no matter what the driver is using it for. This means horns are ineffective in dangerous situations. They’re like the boy who cried wolf -- how can we tell the difference between a horn sound being used for a benign reason, and one that’s signaling real danger?

THE NEED FOR CHANGE

In a survey of over 100 participants, we asked them to describe their horn in a word. The top three words were: aggressive, monotone, and loud. Strangely, less than 5% described their horn as "critical" or "life-saving.”

Clearly, there’s a big gap between why we have horns and how they are actually used. An aggressive and monotone device makes it impossible for someone who hears it to determine when a situation is dire, or when a driver just wants to grab someone's attention – for example, to alert a distracted driver that the light has turned green. Your horn doesn't do a good job at warning because of the lack of versatility in its sound, and the increase in distraction and aggression. But consider:

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• Roughly 1.3 million people die each year on the road globally

• Over 6,500 pedestrians in the U.S. were killed in 2019 due to vehicle related crashes, which is a 30-year high and an increase of over 50% compared to 2009.

• Noise pollution is a growing problem, especially in larger cities and in countries like India and China