Normally, I enjoy helping to give you new information, interesting facts you can roll about in your mind and savor and enjoy. This time, though, all I really have for you are more questions, more confusion, and a bit of genuine bafflement. It has to do, like so many of the things I bring to your attention, with a minor detail, really a footnote in the automotive world, but one I nevertheless think is important. It has to do with where Ford moved their horn controls on most of their cars from around 1980-ish to 1984. Most of us instinctively expect horns to be, ideally, in the center of the steering wheel, where it can be smacked or pounded by an unskilled, panicked, or wrathful fist. That’s where The Almighty Himself decreed it should go.
Unfortunately, humans being imperfect as they are, sometimes that horn control gets moved. On many old cars, it’s activated by a chrome ring; on later cars, buttons on the steering wheel activate the horn. And, sometimes, if we stray far enough from the Lord’s healing light, that horn control can end up perched on the end of a silly stalk, sticking out of the side of the steering column, shared with more natural stalk-dwelling controls like turn indicators or headlight dimmers.
And that’s exactly what Ford did. Really, look at this stalk from an ’83 Mustang:
…or an ’82-’84 Escort:
They really did this. Ford moved the horn from the steering wheel center to the turn signal stalk, where you had to push it sideways to honk the horn.
This decision is incredible and baffling to me. Why did Ford choose this? Precisely 0.00% of Americans wanted this change, and if you don’t believe me, I’ll be the first to hop in the seat next to you in your time machine to go back to the ’80s and prove it. We can kill baby Hitler on the way back, it’ll be fine.
The only explanation I’ve ever heard for the change is that Ford wanted their cars to feel a bit more European, and, in that sense, it barely makes sense, because, yes, if you were going to find the stalk-horn anywhere, it’d be on European cars. The French especially seemed to like it; here’s a diagram of a Renault Dauphine’s controls, and it has a (two-tone, even) horn that is sounded by pushing the stalk towards the steering column:
I have owned a car with the stalk-horn setup, my old Reliant Scimitar. I loved that car, but I was never able to get used to that dumb horn-honking method. It never felt right! Of all the controls on a car, the one that inspires the most visceral and physical reactions has to be the horn. You go for the horn in moments of alarm or distress, when some idiot is about to sideswipe you changing lanes or some dummy on a scooter almost bolts out in front of you, and in these moments you just want to smack something and make a loud sound; hence why the center-of-steering-wheel horn setup remains the ideal.
The small fussiness of the turn signal stalk coupled with the strange action of pushing it sideways into the steering column makes this horn-honking method terrible. Sure, it’s fine for calm, controlled, friendly tootles, daintily done with fingertips, but that’s not when you need your horn the most.
I just don’t get this strange decision. And Ford didn’t just keep it to their affordable brands; even Lincoln was forced down this dark path:
… but Ford, at least for those couple of years, did seem to be really leaning into the horn stalk, since it ended up on so many models of their cars (think Panther-platforms, Mustangs and other Fox platforms, Escorts, Fairmonts, and more) and trucks.
By 1984 it was gone, as quickly and mysteriously as it appeared, I suspect screamed out of existence by frustrated owners brandishing snapped-off horn/signal stalks at their local Ford dealers.
I’d love to know the actual reasons why Ford made this decision, but so far I haven’t found anything. I reached out to Ford and see if there’s any further insight to be had, and, if there is, I’ll be sure to update everyone. Was it preparation for airbags in the wheel? Maybe, but there were many other solutions for that, and, besides, none of these cars actually had airbags in their steering wheels.
At this moment, the origin of the horn-stalk remains a mystery, but I’m hopeful for some spirited discussion in the comments that may help us understand this odd choice a bit better. Also, if anyone actually prefers a horn on the stalk, now’s the time to speak up, because I sure as hell would love to hear a defense of this madness.
I recall the 81 town car the family had back then had this. To this day I thought it was so you would flash the brights at the same time as honking the horn, as practically that is what happened. Given that blowing the horn you are generally a little bit excitable, every time I hit it I managed to not only push the stalk in but also pull it toward me resulting in blowing the horn and flashing the brights at the same time.
By 86 when we brought another to the fleet the horn was where the cruise control had been.
“I want a horn here, here, and here. You can never find your horn when you are mad. And they should all play ‘La Cucaracha’.” – Homer Simpson
All for only $82,000. In 1991 dollars.
An fitting addition to the contents since I am the owner of The Homer and I just pulled it out of mothballs yesterday and did indeed hit the La Cucaracha horn.
pics and audio of the horn or it didnt happen
https://youtu.be/qM5HMMXNCoc?si=HTRK7PRKXvbxUr6n&t=64
Thanks for the endorphin hit: I’ll go about my day grinning like even more of an idiot
thanks, that is amazing
Not to be *that guy*, but gonna be that guy anyway – the lead photo in this story is a little misleading. That image shows a 1985-1986 Mustang interior, but by that time the horn had been placed back in it’s rightful position. If you look carefully at that photo, you can see little graphic images (they are trumpets/bugles) on both sides of the center part of the steering wheel. Now I have to live with myself for being *that guy*.
This change was due to the identity crisis that the Big 3 and Smaller 1 began to experience in the mid-1970s. Before then there was some European inspiration (the Bentley-esque ’63 Riviera and the ’71-’76 GM B- and C-bodies, which were quite obviously modeled after the Queen Elizabeth 2), but nothing was explicitly stated until the “international-sized” 1976 Seville and the 1975 Ford Granada and Mercury Monarch, which automotive archaeologists have discovered were frequently confused with the Mercedes S-class by the average American, even when not in ESS (European Sport Sedan) trim. With the prestige market infatuated with European makers (mostly German and Swedish, although Jaguars were widely admired for their elegance while resting on conder blocks) and the Japanese rapidly gaining mainstream market share, Dearborn was rattled. While the planned “world car” Escort did not pan out as such, the “world horn” initiative was quite successful until Ford restricted the presence of “meeting-altering” substances to alcohol in the face of America’s “Just Say No” initiative in the fall of 1983.
Makes sense.
As a big ’80s Ford nerd, I’ve heard the same reasoning you have, but don’t have much to confirm it.
My ’85 LTD is thankfully from after this era, however years back I needed to replace the turn signal switch and found a used one from an earlier Fairmont, and it does have the horn button integrated too. So on my car I can use the steering wheel center OR stalk to activate the horn.
Squeezy rubber bulb for polite honking, foot button for the “get the blazes out of the way, this thing is doing 80mph and has ninety year old brakes” klaxon. Job done.
But you still have to tell the attendant to re-vulcanize these tires post-haste!!, right?
I am a great fan of LongstoneTyres, they somehow pre-vulcanse tyres these days.
We had a 1979 Mustang, and it had the horn in this location. Was just so stupid.
My mom bought a brand new 1979 Mercury Grand Marquis, and same. I’m convinced that half of her arthritis problems stem from old hand injuries from smacking the center of the Mercury’s steering wheel to no effect.
The Fairmont we had when I was a child had this stalk. The story I heard was it was due to the airbag regulations that Ford thought were pending, forbidding use of a steering wheel mounted horn.
What would a two-tone French horn sound like? I imagine a three-tone version would go “Oh ho-ho” <insert outrageous French accent here>
“Sacre bleu” for gentle beeps, we get a little less civilized and Quebecois with a “Tabernak!” for the more serious honks.
Some of the french ones had labels indicating Route or Ville. What self respecting French driver would ever use the quieter city mode?
I bet it was cheaper than a clock spring.
Indeed, but with only a horn in the wheel, a clock spring isn’t necessary.
Well clockspring are only a thing with airbags. Older cars just used a copper contact plate with spring loaded contacts, and said contact plate was required on cruise control equipped cars because they had the buttons on the steering wheel. But I guess Ford could have removed the contact plate on cars without cruise control to save a few bucks.
This decision was made by a group of bored stoned designers one lunch hour.
When Franz stupidly remarked Ford could be more Euro with this horn button.
Didn’t matter that Americans had been using wheel mounted horns since dirt was discovered.
I had a shit time dealing with this horn relocation program. Brain and muscle memory is a real thing. Imagine trying to avoid a dangerous situation and only steering with one hand, cause the other is busy pushing some stupid button. Pure genius…
I wonder how many accidents happened because of this design. Seriously.
Younger sister, (new driver) had a Fairmont with this so called feature. Even as a new driver, she never got used to this crap.
In 1980 my brother took delivery of a new Fairmont. Less than 100 feet from the dealer someone cut him off so he responded in kind by pounding the center of the wheel mercilessly in some vain attempt to get the horn to blow. He turned around and told the dealer the horn was broken. That’s when he found out the horn was now on the turn signal stalk. That’s all we heard from him in conversation for the next month, about that stupid horn location.
There was a Popular Science article on this, I think in their auto reviews series of articles. Scuttlebutt back at the precinct house was that Ford was preparing for the arrival of airbags and didn’t believe the horn button could remain inside the wheel. So they moved it to the stalk in anticipation of airbags. That’s pretty much how I remember it. There was no other source to back up the PopSci claim.
I vaguely remember this as well — Ford believed that impending airbag equipment requirements would make center horn buttons technically impossible.
Nevermind that Ford’s prior horn arrangement was a contact strip under a rubber or plastic bar that ran across the whole width of the steering wheel center. Which could easily be adapted to run across the lower spokes of an airbag-center wheel, so the buttons would be under your thumbs and not where the deploying airbag might smack your hand into your face. Just like GM did on cars in the 90s.
Now, to cut Ford some slack, the lower spokes of their steering wheels in the 80s were usually taken up by the buttons for their cruise control. Ford didn’t put cruise on the turn signal stalk, like nearly everyone else did. Thumb buttons or nothin’. So they probably just didn’t want to re-tool their cruise control setup, and moving the horn to the stalk was cheaper — just one momentary switch to add, not several switches. And it could be easily standardized on all their cars, cruise control present or not. A Ford stalk could be multifunction turn signals/high beam/horn on everything.
Oh, and this is also Ford of the same era where Ford designers or engineers — I’m pretty sure it was in Popular Science, too — said that minimizing torque steer in front-wheel-drive cars would never be possible for engines larger than small four-cylinder powerplants. V-6 and V-8 front-drive designs would be “impossible.” (GM, of course, answered with “Hold my beer…” through the second half of the 80s and into the 90s/early 2000s.) So Ford had some interesting, self-limiting thinking patterns going on.
That’s great trivia. I also remember someone pontificating it was safer because drivers could honk the horn without removing their hands from the steering wheel rim.
(never mind no one would think to do so in an emergency)
I wonder is the notion of Europeans politely tooting their horn vs Yanks aggressively honking theirs a direct correlation of horn switch placement.
Had this in a 1991 Peugeot 405. Weirdly, the horn wasn’t activated by the very button shaped round button on the end of the stalk being depressed, but by the whole stalk going into the steering column and depressing something deep in there
That’s the was these work if I recall, the whole stalk moves inward.
That is how I remember it working on our 1979 Mustang. The entire stalk moved in towards the center of the steering column.
It was, and it was just as dumb as it sounds.
Eliminating spinning wire connections in the steering wheel was probably a cost reduction.
Except cruise control was an option with the buttons actually on the wheel and that required the same contacts behind the steering wheel.
i think it’s because most of the cars in Europe at the time had the horn on the stalk. Some of them even had different stalks for the lights/horn and turn signals on different stacks on the same side of the column
My 1988 Jaguar XJ6 also has a stalk-mounted horn. Fortunately the aftermarket Momo steering wheel makes it blindingly obvious that there is no horn in the center, so it’s easier to remember if I ever one day have reason to honk the horn other than to prove it still works.
Which is interesting, because the pre-XJ40 cars were “normal” horn locations. So in Jaguar’s case, that very well may have a been an issue of airbags.
In my “we for like men” MGB, the horn is on the stalk.
The primary advantage of the stalk setup is that as you’re honking the horn, you can turn on your brights and/or your turn signal, thus giving optimal visual and aural attention to the situation. All the panic at your fingertips.
If all that commotion still doesn’t work, it’s likely the stalk has now broken off in your hand and you can use it to stab the offending individual in the eye.
I always thought they were prepping for driver’s-side airbags. Early on, there were a lot of different solutions to the ‘how to honk the horn through the airbag hub’ challenge, and maybe this was a trial balloon.
I also wonder if this isn’t why GM started putting so many buttons on the wheel hub (Pontiac 6000, etc.) at the time. It would be great practice for engineering and assembling steering columns with clock springs in them, and testing the durability of those springs not on a safety device, but on secondary controls that had a primary backup right on the dash.
My parents had a Fairmont with the stalk-horn. I agree it was dumb. I can only speculate as to why Ford did this, but that means I can speculate, and this being the comments section, I will: It was about money.
The Fairmont was such a cost-engineered piece of crap they must have designed every penny out of it that they could. And although the hub-mounted horn switch was obviously well-established tech at that point, I can imagine the assembly is marginally finickier than what they went with, resulting in higher labor costs. As it was, I well remember that the decorative cap in the hub was just held in place by a couple of springy clips (like a hubcap), and would easily pop off.
Agreed. Adding another switch to the clockspring must cost a penny more than adding another function to a multifunction stalk.
Bought a Fairmont in 78. From the get-go, that horn relocation was thought of as a strange and unnecessary design decision, unfriendly to drivers.
My mom drove an ’81 Ford LTD Crown Victoria with the horn stalk. If you hit it hard enough, it would stick and the horn would blare until you got it unstuck. Fun times.
Related, how about the frequent oddness of hazard light switch placement on same era domestics?
For decades, the Big 3 insisted on putting them in out of the way, non-obvious places, often barely (if at all) labeled as such. I remember the first time sitting in a European car and being amazed with the obvious-what-it-is red triangle button RIGHT THERE.
My Mom’s ’80s Chevy Celebrity, by contrast, had the switch on the underside of the steering column.
My Econoline had it on top of the steering column, which is at least theoretically visible (albeit less so when you’re seated properly), but I much prefer how it’s implemented on my Prius as a nice big button on the top-middle-ish of the dash.
My UK 1988 Ford Escort had that. And my father’s Ford Sierra. Not good for hitting it in a hurry in an e.g. emergency braking situation.
Exactly. “Gee, I sure hope nothing would cause the steering wheel to turn quickly while I reach through it to push this button that should make me less likely to be hit…”
Like any video game that makes you go through a crushing machine assembly line to get to the button that disables the crushing machine.
My 2000s era Fords both have this setup, still. AND they’re tiny, same-color-as-the-column buttons no less, though with tiny red triangles on them at least.
Steering column was pretty normal placement for hazards on domestic cars for a long time. My 71 Chev had it on the bottom, my 95 Chev has it on top, my 77 Cherokee has it on the side, etc.
I distinctly remember my dad leaving 8 year old me in his ’85 Buick Park Avenue while he was shopping, me turning on the hazards using the weird GM switch under the column, then not being able to figure out how to turn them off. When my dad returned to the car I was crying and I totally recall him laughing when he found out why I was crying and easily turned off the lights.
You’ve jarred my memory – they had this spring-loaded collar around the button that you’d pull down to pop the button out/back to off!
Yep. My fingers still have that memory.
Isn’t that a Lincoln, rather than an Olds?
Agree. Lincoln.
Yes! I screwed up, but fixed it; was looking at something else, got distracted– anyway, fixed now.
All is forgiven. After all, it wasn’t a taillight 🙂
Someone sold Henry II some magic beans and when he planted them, up grew horn stalks. No giant or treasure, though Fee Fi, Fo, Ford.
My college girlfriend and now ex-wife had an 82 escort wagon automatic. I think the horn was on that stalk. I just know that car was terrible in every way.
81 escort hatch 4-spd. terrible doesn’t begin to cover it. TBF the original owner did literally no maintenance through the 60K miles until i got it (not even oil, tires or brakes).
I also briefly went out with a college classmate with an auto wagon (not sure if it was an 82, but probably not the same woman) and hers seemed nicer than mine, except that we had to blast the cabin heat at red lights in July and August to delay the engine overheating until we got up to speed.