I rarely use my horn. Twice I’ve tried to use it in an emergency and it didn’t work. I missed the actual spot on the poorly defined surface that worked the horn. Half a second made all the difference in the situation. Older cars had well defined horns that worked when you pushed them simply because they were well defined.
It’s one thing I don’t like about modern cars, the too-thick steering wheels. If they’re safer, then fair enough, but the harder thinner ones certainly gave a more positive grip, for me.
[ETA] and I’m with you, Magiver, on the horn thing. In my car you have to press it incredibly hard, once you have located the correct spot on the featureless surface.
Brodie or suicide knob. They can be illegal, depending on which state you live in unless you are disabled and need one [MS and arm amputation tend to be listed, anything that negatively impacts your ability to use both hands on the wheel.]
Ditto. J Cubed, here is an example of what we are talking about. Look closely, and you can see two horn icons molded into the plastic. On the upper left of the center piece is a horn pointing to the left, and on the upper right of the center piece is a horn pointing to the right. In an emergency, you have to find that icon and press it just right or the horn won’t blow.
On that picture, you can also see two larger buttons, extremely easy-to-find, and molded to one’s thumb, which I presume are part of the cruise-control system. Plus, each is a separate piece of plastic, so actually, you can press anywhere on that button and it will probably work. But the horns give you no clue about how far from the target you might be and still get a sound.
Now, I concede that most people use the cruise control much more often than the horn, but the horn is for emergencies, dammit! What good is it if it is hard to find and use?
(Hey that was cool. Five consecutive two-letter words, all starting with “i” and in an ABCBA pattern!)
That couldbe a problem even in the old days. I was driving my dad’s 58 Edsel when some idiot pulled out in front of me. By instinct I slammed my palm to the center of the wheel since that was the default horn location on most cars. In doing so I hit all the shifter buttons at once. And learned how to change a shifting motor. But that was later.
Going to have to talk to a Statie or a PA inspection agent about it. If nothing else, on a rod I would risk it. Last one I built had a few things not really allowed but PA can be understanding sometimes.
Since I moved from Chicago to the rural West (as in Marlboro Country, not as in DeKalb), I’ve given up on using my horn. Out here, it apparently means, “Hiya!” I quickly learned that when I honked to indicate someone was drifting into my lane or backing up into me, I got a friendly wave (all five fingers) and a honk back. So where the horn button is located is kind of moot for me.
I miss the catharsis.
CMC fnord!
How was the OP strapped in before seat belts existed? I’m confused and so is my SIL.
A young woman I work with has a legal ‘suicide knob’ on her truck. She has limited mobility on one side due to a childhood brain injury which gives her the same sort on symptoms as a person who has had a stroke. Partial paralysis on the right side. She also has the gas pedal relocated to the left side.
It is also a word palindrome. 
I hardly ever blow my horn, but in an emergency situation, I can never find the right button fast enough, and when I do find it, I don’t press it exactly the right way, so it doesn’t really work.
I know what you mean, a horn is much easier to find if it’s just there in the middle of the wheel for you to hit, rather than some silly button at the side or, like in my truck and several cars I have worked on (predominately French iirc), on the end of the indicator stalk. This strikes me as an imbecilic place to have it, as its quite sensitive, and is easy to press when switching the indicators from right to left, as in when leaving a roundabout after turning right.
For those unaware, England has a lot of roundabouts. I’m a (supposedly) professional driver and I get quite embarrassed at the amount of times the air horn goes off at nobody in particular, simply because I changed my signal without taking my hand from the wheel and caught that fecking button again!
I can see a rational thought process leading to moving the horn outwards, simply because in an emergency (the best time to use your horn) you want (or should) to keep both hands on the wheel, and maintain control. Having the horn buttons in reach of your thumbs should enable this, but when the design of the button makes it less than obvious how to operate it, the situation actually gets worse.
I am aware that the prevalence of airbags in modern cars makes centre mounting of the horn button tricky, but it’s certainly not unfeasible (is that a word? autocorrect tells me it’s infeasible, but I’m sure I’ve seen or heard that in several places). And those horn ring devices look a good solution, with or without airbags. I’ve never seen one of those on a car over here, having worked on hundreds.
I think horn rings were eliminated because they tended to cause hand injuries.
Back to the OP and finger shaped depressions: I didn’t realize new cars weren’t being made with them molded in. I’m currently driving my 1989 Nissan truck without power steering and would be lost without them for lack of traction.
Round abouts? The one near by upscale suburb has been building them everywhere recently. They even are building kind of a double one for 4 lane streets. Fear not, you can go to their website and watch a video of how to survive them. 3 years ago when I was at the a dog guide school for training, they covered what a hassle they are for a visually impaired pedestrian.
Spinner knobs? In the 50’s I always heard them called houpy knobs. I have seen necker knobs too. Mostly out of use by the time I was allowed behind the wheel. Left hand holding the knob with the elbow out the window. Right hand…
And back to horns. A lot to be said for seldom used controls to be intuitive. Perhaps when you need the horn, you eyes need to be elswhere than the steering wheel. I am not sure what happened to horn rings, cost, safety, styling?
So who is impolite? The one leaning on his horn, or the one on his cell phone forcing a whole line of cars to stop for a green light? Should round abouts be marked cell phone free zone?
Wasn’t the horn moved (and the steering wheel made bigger) because of the airbags? I know airbags are why the glovebox is in a much worse place, a lot lower where I can’t get to it if I’m riding in the passenger’s seat, as I’m 6’3, have long legs, and am not exactly skinny. My legs block it from opening, and, if they didn’t, I’d still have to reach between them to get anything.
I don’t know why the glove compartment on my Cavalier is so low. The air bag is clear up by the windshield, likely safer for kids and pets.
We always called them “necker knobs”.
As I said before, I believe they were eliminated because they tended to break people’s fingers and cause other kinds of injuries.
The absolutely worst steering wheels were those chain rings, only 8 inch diameter, that guys installed in muscle cars.
Speaking of steering wheels, I’ve read that the most effective safety device that could be added to the modern automobile would be a knife blade on the steering column, pointed at the driver’s heart.