I've done some searching about the horn on these cars, and I've found a lot of people who have problems with their's, but I was wondering about the actual sound it's supposed to make. I went for state inspection and one of the reasons for failing, among several others, was the horn. The guy said it wasn't working right, not loud enough or something.

In the last 3 years i've had the car, the horn has sounded the same and it's never failed inspection. This was also at VIP and the guy was kind of a tool, but I was wondering if the horn is supposed to sound like a flock of geese or if mine just isn't working right.

It's never been very loud, except for people inside the car, and it definitely doesn't sound like a regular car horn. I understand the horn is just behind the front bumper, but is it possible there is something physically stuck in there causing the sound to be weird? I wouldn't think its an electrical problem because it holds the note and the button always works. The sound is just totally different from every car I've ever had. Am I the only one?

 

Volvo does have a unique sounding set of horns. They are located under the front spoiler on the driver's side. There are 2 of them and because they are exposed to all kinds of road/dirt/snow conditions they will eventually fail. You should have a high and low tone and yes they can sound like geese. I would check to make sure both are working . I would also ask the inspection station what the law states about horns. Is there a db level or is it just do they work or not. If it is a db level I would ask them what it is and what yours measured at. I would never accept a response like they are not loud enough. Find out and go from there.

 

Ok, that's pretty much what I was thinking. There were a bunch of other reasons for failure (rear brake pads/calipers/rotors, front control arms, some other minor things), which I've fixed over the past weekends. They were actually the first major maintenances I performed myself, which was pretty neat/rewarding. It will be going to another place for inspection, but I'm pretty confident I'm set now.

 

Kept my horns in the BMW family. I got dual horns from and e32. Very loud and easy to hook up.