Comment by trogdor | Hacker News Reader

Comment by trogdor | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

I can’t believe that Tesla still ships cars without a center-press horn button.

I own a Model S Plaid, and the horn button’s location on the yoke can generally only be reached by the driver’s right hand. Even more dangerous, its position in space changes dramatically any time you are in the middle of a turn. The horn button is not easy to press in an emergency.

Same story with the turn signals.

If you are in the middle of a turn and you have rotated the yoke 180-degrees, your turn signal buttons are now upside-down, and on the other side of the yoke. I have owned my car for a year and a half, and there are still times when I have to look at the yoke mid-turn to figure out which turn signal button is which.

So stupid.

100000% this. It's mind boggling that they managed to ship a car without the center horn, and it's even more mind-boggling that the NHTSA let and is still letting them.

I got used to the turn signals and the wipers because I use them a lot. But I still haven't gotten used to the horn and the lights because these functionalities are used very infrequently, so there is no muscle memory for them at all. I've had this car for over a year now.

my current car (tk barina) has two horn buttons just to the left and right of where you expect a centre horn to be and it drives me insane. i dont typically feel the need to use the horn but whenever i do i have to make the conscious decision to press my thumb in on one of those specific spots because theyre also small enough that using the heel of your palm to do it feels wrong

Given that you are most likely to use the horn to prevent an collision, and that during collisions the airbag deploys.. I would say that the center of the wheel is just about the worst place to put the horn button. Slapping yourself in the face somehow seems worse than the airbag deploying properly.

As someone who has had an airbag go off 'in my hand' (resulting in, among other things, a hyperflex of my wrist... trust me, the 'slap in your face' is the least of your concerns. The airbag will be doing that too.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com