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Fixing the Civic’s Deficiency (With Photos & Audio)

I had one complaint about our 2006 Honda Civic—an excellent car that has served us well since we bought it a year ago January. It came with a terrible horn. I mean, it was bad. I described it recently as sounding like a ‘rabbit being stepped on’, which is a slight exaggeration but gets the point across. Given that I live in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area and have to grapple with the gauntlet of this area’s rush hours, I wanted my car to have a horn that sounds at least slightly imposing. So I fixed it!

As part of my newfound interest in maintaining and repairing my vehicles myself, I figured that replacing the Civic’s horn would be a good weekend project. So I made another run to the auto parts store, picked up some ramps and chocks, bought a $20 low-tone horn (the ‘Freeway Blaster’ ;-)) and got to work. Mind you, this is not as easy a job as it sounds—on 8th generation Civics, replacing the horn requires the removal of the front bumper panel and grille assembly.


Photos (taken by Melissa):

A little bit of prep-work

A little bit of prep-work.

All ramped up

All ramped up.

Disconnecting the bumper panel

Disconnecting the bumper panel.
(It was held on by two Phillips screws and eight plastic clip things).

Removing the grille cover

Removing the grille cover.
(It was held on by four plastic clip things).

Disconnecting the grille

Disconnecting the grille.
(It was held on by two hex screws and permanently attached to the bumper panel)

The exposed front-end

The exposed front-end.
(The horn is to the right, below the bumper)

Bumper panel & grille assembly on the grass

The bumper panel & grille assembly on the grass.

Removing the terrible original horn

Removing the terrible original horn.

More removing the terrible original horn

More removing the terrible original horn.

Replacement horn, installed

The low-tone ‘Freeway Blaster’ replacement horn, installed!

Bumper and grille reinstalled

Bumper panel and grille assembly re-installed.

All done and off the ramps

All done and off the ramps.

Mission accomplished

Mission accomplished!


Before and After Audio:

Before MP3 | After MP3

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.