New Horn Installed: I Think They'll Hear Me Now!

Most of you are now even more tired hearing about my magnetized 2010 and the three times she's been hit than have become in dealing with it. (For the sad, sad stories, see these two threads: Again!! Second Prius to be Hit -- Back to the Same Repair Shop, I Guess and Again & Again!! Third Time to be Hit in Four Months -- Back to the Same Repair Shop . . Again!)

The body shop was unable to find the location of the magnets that seem to attract other cars toward the front end of my 2010, so I decided to give myself a fighting chance of defense if I happen to be in the car when it is hit (as finally happened this last time, even though I was stopped and not going anywhere).

I installed new car horns! No, not the ones Rae Vynn suggested,
but the tooting kind. No, really the blaring kind!

I've replaced the two little tinny horns from Toyota with a couple of Fiamm HIGHWAY BLASTERS. Actually, they aren't as obnoxious sounding as the name implies. Fiamm makes a decent horn, and the combination of the low and high tone horns is pretty nice. It is loud enough and different enough to get someone's attention, I believe.

The horns are sold separately in low and high tone. Here are pictures of the horns in their packages:



The one on the left is a low tone, and the one on the right is the high tone.

I picked them up at Advance Auto Parts for about $19 each. Because the front bumper was off for the repairs, and the horns were easy to reach, the body shop did the install gratis!

EDIT: I've created both wav and mp3 files giving the sound of the two horns combined. You'll need to download and save the files in order to hear the sound. Don't worry -- I've created them myself and run them through my own system, and the files are clean.

Let me know what you think about the sound!

Very nice - I was going to go this route - but am coming attached to the Asian "beep beep" sound... It's a little more unique than the Nissan I had, and it's growing on me (???????) *strange*

+1 on the cuteness of the "beep beep" - I liked it. But I'm with the OP on wanting more sound. I installed the Toyota premium horns supplied by Sigma Automotive. They sound great! Big, full, melodious, and LOUD! Of course, since I put them in, I haven't had cause to use the horn and I'm scared to use it just to get someone's attention (like when they're sleeping at a green light). But at least I know if I do choose to use it, I'll be heard

Upload them and I will download and then upload them for you.

Tom

Sound Added!!

Thanks to qbee42, I've been able to provide links to the mp3 and wav files I made of the sound of my new car horns.

Here they are: mp3 and wav. You'll need to save one of them first before you can listen. They are clean files -- I created them myself.

Give them a listen and then give me your review!

If that one doesn't work you may need one of these!!

How hard was it to replace the horns? Do the new ones plug in and mount in place without any modifications to the engine compartment?

Search the forums for "toyota premium horn sigma" (without the quotes) and you'll find several 2010-specific threads with lots of details on how to replace the horns.

The new horns came with their own mounts, but it was very simple to change the mounts -- once the bumper cover was removed. The tricky part is removing that cover!

The factory horns are + powered, and the replacements were the same. A quick ground on to the mounting screw was all that was needed to complete the job. No wiring changes were necessary, and I didn't need to cut the Toyota connector, either. Very easily done. It would be much trickier if the bumper cover remained in place. Remember: My car already was in the body shop, so it was just a matter of walking up with a wrench and screwdriver (and electrical tape).

You don't have to remove the bumper covers. Check out some of the postings.

I've posted this elsewhere, but I think it's worth posting here.

I think the Gen II and Gen III have the same OEM disk horns, and that the horns have adjustment screws on them.

I think that if you experiment with turning these adjustment screws you can alter the horns' pitch and volume. I did this to my Gen II horns and I think, but am not certain, that it worked. However, I do know for a fact that when I tested my adjusted Prius horns against my niece's Camry horns, the Prius horns were still higher pitched than the Camry's, but to my ear they sounded absolutely identical in volume. Whether this same decibel level was achieved by my turning the adjustment screws, I don't know.

Here's a pic of one of the OEM disk horns; the screw that I think is an adjustment screw and that I turned is the little screw on the right:

[IMGLINK]http://priuschat.com/forums/attachments/gen-ii-prius-modifications/10927d1218327865-would-horn-fit-009.jpg[/IMGLINK]

Understood. I've seen some postings, but the ones I've looked at concerned replacement of the Prius horns with other Toyota models. I believed those horns used the original mounting pieces on the Prius, so the installation would be simplified in those cases.

In any event, the installation with the bumper cover removed is a matter of just a couple of minutes. I would feel differently, of course, if I had to remove the bumper myself. The advantage I had was that the body shop already had the bumper off the car!