General I am fed up with not being seen !

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General I am fed up with not being seen !

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I have a tech house grey 500 and am absolutely fed up with not being seen, even with lights on. So I have brought an alternative horn. I don’t have a link to let you listen, but I think it is strident enough for folks to hear...therefore they will see me as well.
I will still be waiting for a warm day or two before I fit it ?
 

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I think its because the 500 is so small and probably going slowly...

Our first 500, white TwinAir, was written off when a Toyota Auris tried to turn right across a dual carriageway, we all walked away, the Toyota ended up on its side, we hit it at about 35 miles an hour.

We then had a Legends Blue Abarth, and another, then a Podium Blue one and Finally a red one.

People still pulled out...

I think you just have to be ready for people do do stupid things
 
I always fit air horns to my classic cars, because I like them to have that Maserati horn sound. Doesn’t hurt that they are a lot louder than conventional horns.

The advantage of fitting them to a classic is that they tend to have a lot more space under the bonnet. The Spider has triple TDF horns that fit easily in the nose behind the grill. The Stag had room for Dixie horns. In modern cars it’s not so easy.

Those look quite compact in comparison, but suspect it will be a squeeze. Please let us all know how you get on.
 
Some years ago, I had a daily driver, a wee van, the horn was a bit wimpy, so I installed a pair of very loud disc horns. I managed to fit them under the bonnet. Scared the crap out of some drivers who for one reason or another never saw me or just ignored my presence : They are lying in my garage after the wee van was written off...:(
 
Thanks. Mine should also then.

I haven't had too many problems with the 500 being seen. It happens of course, but not nearly so much as an even smaller car I used to drive - I was in the habit of keeping the driver's window rolled down so I could thump the side of encroaching white, windowless vans. That used to make 'em jump! Not much use against artic's but the trick was to stay out of their blind side.
 
I think its because the 500 is so small and probably going slowly...

You are driving it wrong. I tend to drive it slightly aggressively and, on a good day, give way to no one. However, the point of getting the louder horn, is to wake up the drivers of 4 x 4's who only glance and don't look properly. I was taught to look left, right and left again before crossing a road. Not just a quick glance and pull out. ;)
 
Most people when driving are not concentrating, with most actions being done in their sub-conscious.
Our brains are not designed for motoring, we have developed technologically far faster than our basic instincts have developed. When we look at moving objects, we are poor at judging speed. One continuous look is not that good. We have to look twice, then our brain can compute the distance trravelled against time, and understand how long before the object arrives. Size is also important.
An emerging driver will see a small car, and sub-consciously equate it with slow. A larger car, even travelling slower, will be waited for. Then as the size increases to a van or truck, slow becomes the expectation again. This is also why people pull out in front of motorcycles, as the brain categorises them with bicycles. In my experience, a motorcycle headlamp makes no difference, but removes the ability to use the headlamp flash as a signal/warning. A white fairing on a motorcycle keeps cars away. Their first view alerts them with the question, "is that a policeman?", and then of course, they 'see' it in their conscious thoughts. Had a small motorcycle with a white half-fairing, never asn issue with cars pulling out. Later transferred the fairing to a medium motorcycle, still good. Later bike, full, large black fairing, everyone out in front.

Sadly, with a small car, they'll pull out. Colour makes a difference too. Strangely, blue cars seem to be invisible, even medium sized ones.

When fitting the horn, the two wires at the standard horn connector can be taken to the switching coil of the relay. An eBay search should find a connector to make it neat, so no cutting/splicing. That's how I did the Panda, now with two Fiamms, one each side hanging behind the bumper under each headlamp. I think the 500 has less space.

Mount it away from any ECU. The electromagnetic field upsets the ECU. Fitted a pair of Fiamms on a Seicento, only space was under left wheelarch, behind liner. Sadly, close to the engine ECU. Press horn, eng management light comes on. No apparent issues, and went off at each restart, but risk too high, so disconnected.
 
Mount it away from any ECU. The electromagnetic field upsets the ECU. Fitted a pair of Fiamms on a Seicento, only space was under left wheelarch, behind liner. Sadly, close to the engine ECU. Press horn, eng management light comes on. No apparent issues, and went off at each restart, but risk too high, so disconnected.
Surely the metal casing would have prevented emf? Did you try a diode across the motor(and relay) terminals to chop reverse pulse? And a capacitor or two?
 
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