As the proud owner of a boring and generic (but highly reliable!) 2002 Honda Civic, I don’t think I’ll ever really understand the whole “Pimp My Ride” phenomenon. I’m sure there’s a deep-rooted desire for individuality in all of us, and perhaps it is this increasingly homogenized culture of ours that feeds the need for personalization. Personally, I prefer to express myself in ways other than through my hubcaps, but I guess that’s just me.
Now here’s something, however, that might be the most disastrous car customization gimmick yet. A company called Horntones is coming out with a dash-mounted USB drive that taps into your car’s horn to play basically any audio file you want. Yes, this is exactly what the world needs — customizable car horns. As if it wasn’t bad enough that all the cell phones in the world are blaring the latest single from 50 Cent (or, ahem, the Borat theme, as the case may be), but now we have to hear all this crap out on the road too? Isn’t this like… illegal or something? I thought car horns were for safety rather than showing off (although I suppose the General Lee would tell us otherwise).
In the grand scheme of things, will this really change the experience of driving? Probably not. People already pump plenty of annoying music from their pimped out sound systems, and now we’re just going to get a few extra Homer Simpson D’ohs and other dumb sound bytes added to the cacophony of self-expression. Still, am I the only one who thinks this is taking things a little too far?
Link: Horntones (via Listening Post)
i have a friend with a microphone in her car and when she yells in it, everyone outside the car can hear her. think about how great it’d be to actually be able to yell at people for all their stupid moves. i’d much rather have that on my car than a horntone.
It depends on how it’s used. As Mater would say, “I’d give my left lug nut” to have a carriage bell sound in my modern aw-toe-moe-beel.