The Silence the Horns project
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| Silence the Horns is a nationwide citizen-led project addressing use of horn sounds with remote car locking and other acoustic signals, such as "remote start" and "car finding" for use in a parking lot, and "easy fill tire alert" systems. Our goals are aligned with automotive sustainability and environmental missions. |
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| In 2011, General Motors introduced the MyChevrolet app in an ad where a woman honks her car's horn from the airport, miles from where it is parked. In 2020, General Motors continues to advertise remote (miles away) honking in one of its newest Buick ads (at 0:07). |
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| From 2014 through 2019, the Silence the Horns project challenged automakers to consider the impacts of preventable noise in vehicle design. We challenged SAE International to consider preventable horn noise in its standard setting, and NADA to educate new car buyers about quieter lock signaling at dealerships. In 2015, we met with a member of Congress who referred us to members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce; we couldn't establish communication. We sent a report to a NHTSA executive who said he did not think the "off label" use of horn signals was a safety issue; he referred us to SAE, the standards developing organization. We wrote SAE leadership, received no response, and followed up to our initial letter, but could not establish communication. We created a letter-writing campaign targeting Consumer Reports; the magazine and website published articles 1 2 but stopped short of assigning blame. We met with a policy analyst at Consumer Reports in Washington, DC, but the organization declined to investigate the technology. |
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| Access to reasonable quiet benefits sleep, reduces stress, and has restorative qualities. All vehicles can and should be designed to function without using horn sounds for purposes of convenience. Horn sounds have meaning, and have unintended effects on people, especially impacting attention and sleep. |
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