xradman

I had a WTF moment yesterday. I got into my car and was looking through some letters. I had not started my car yet. There is this car that was backing out of a parking space nearly hitting my car. I jammed on the horn, and guess what, NOTHING!!! What was Audi thinking? This is a serious safety issue. There are three things in the car that should work no matter the state of ignition switch. They are the door handles, the brakes, and the horn!!!

I knew the garage door opener don't work with the ignition off (what a pain that is), but to find that horn don't either? Which ever engineer that designed that system needs to be fired! What was he/she thinking?

s5blitzer

Great points.

Audis or VWs 4Life

The horn has never worked in any audi I have owned when the car was shut off. Not in my 1983 5000, my S4's or my one A8. Nothing. Its odd but its how its been for 30 years.

xradman

Can anyone give a reasonable explanation as to why they designed it that way? It's not as if the horn is draining the battery when it's not being used. I can't believe that I'm the only one who finds this completely perplexing.

BigBoy11

Has to be a design flaw. My Porsche and Lexus horns both honk when the ignition is off. Our new A8L is due in this next week so I will be checking but based on what has been posted here so far, I doubt it is any different. Well, that is what NHSTA is for and I KNOW Audi is familiar with that bunch of beauracrats!

A6S4

Well before Audi hit our shores, the VW Beetle was the same way -- and all Audis I have owned have been the same way: When the ignition is not on, there is no horn. However, rest assured that your radio works with the ignition being on!

Next time, turn the radio on really loud!

ECS Tuning-Audi

The rare occasion that you would need to use the horn while the car was off and ignition was not on seams slim enough to not have it as a feature. It's also one less thing the battery needs to power while the car is at rest.

Simply if you plan on sitting in your car for an extended period of with the engine off at least leave the ignition on just in case. Can't hurt, and it solves the problem.

Jason

blsching

Over several decades of car ownership, I can recall occasions when I wished for a switch to turn off the horn, especially it is now the whole center cap of the steering wheel making it easy to set it off inadvertently, e.g., while cleaning it in the garage.

Elle 3548

Becoming the proud owner of a 2013 TT (Xmas gift from partner) I wish there'd been a warning sticker in a prominent place advising that the horn is inoperable when the ignition is off. I'd had the car 3 weeks and having just parked it I took
out the ignition key when I saw a car about to reverse into the side of my car. Without hesitation I slammed my hand on the horn to warn the other driver but got nothing - what I did get, was over a £ 1,100 worth of damage. My partner couldn't believe I didn't warn the other driver by blasting the horn. I explained I'd tried but got nothing, of course he thought I must have been pressing the wrong area. It would have been worst if someone had been on the back seat.

Why would anyone design a horn that didn't work at all times. What if I'd been in danger or was ill and needed to get someone's urgent attention. Hopefully Audi will take note of my situation and others on this forum and redesign this obvious flaw to an otherwise lovely car.

Jack88

I would bet they designed it that way because of people complaining about horns going off and scaring them when they were getting in and out of the car because they inadvertently depressing the switch. GM tried to solve this over 20 years ago with smaller separate buttons for the horn, but this led to yet other complaints. Audi has it designed that way most likely intentionally. It's possible that the horn operates through signals sent to and from one of the control modules rather than a direct electrical connection, in which case it couldn't work with the ignition off. You'll notice airbags didn't go off either. That is also on purpose, for safety reasons.

In short, Audi has designed that into it on purpose, and likely considered your exact scenario when deciding whether or not to allow the horn to function with the ignition off.