Horn problem

Hi Folks,
My horn of my 2001 Hyundai Sonata recently started sounding at random times without my pressing it.
Needless to say, my neighbors are not thrilled when that happens.
Disconnected the battery to make sure it didnt do it.
Any suggestions on how I can debug what the problem is?
Thanks,
VV

Does this have an alarm on it? How old is the battery? Are the battery connections clean?

Well?

Does this occur if the vehicle is just sitting there?

Or does the steering wheel have to be turned?

Tester

I had this happen on a 1971 Ford Maverick. The horn started honking in short.blasts at 4:00 a.m. in the morning. I traced it down to a defective horn switch… My brother had the same thing happen on his 1977 Cadillac. He came out one morning and found the battery was dead. He recharged the battery and the car started. All seemed fine for a week or so until he tried the horn which wouldn’t work. Both horns had burned out. The switch had shorted and first the horns,went and then the relay. He had to replace the horn switch, the relay,and then the,horns.

Most likely from among the horn switch, clock-spring, or horn relay. If you could get it to happen at the shop, they’d be able to eliminate the horn relay by doing a simple voltage measurement. Figuring out whether it is the horn switch or the clockspring isn’t quite as easy. I think most of us would simply replace the horn switch and hope for the best.

I had the same problem with a 1991 Pontiac sunbird rental. When parked outside overnight, the outside temperature went down and the vinyl horn cover on the steering wheel bowed inward, pressing the horn switch. As a temporary fix, I wedged a tounge depressor between the horn cover and the steering wheel. I told the rental company afterwards.