There are two kinds of people in this world, those who wear a fake Rolex and their wife has a fake Louie bag and those who have the real thing. I always have to have the real thing. I've never accepted cheap substitutes and never will. My cars have always had OEM parts and always will.
Horn Upgrade
Did a few searches but did not find anything on this subject so I thought I would start a thread to see if anyone has upgraded the OEM chipmunk fart horns. The OEM horns have a odd one pin waterproof connector and the only plug and play solution I found is the aftermarket "sport" horn kit sold by College Hills Honda, they have the correct connectors built in and are only $15 on their website, but I wanted something louder. They also sell a wiring adapter kit that allows use of aftermarket horns with the more common spade connectors. The real limitation is in the stock wiring is that it is very thin gauge and the 10 amp horn circuit capacity. Most twin horn kits draw more than the stock circuit can handle and require a relay and higher amperage fused circuit from the battery. You can access the drivers side (left) horn from above but the passenger side (right) horn is mounted low and may require removal of the inner wheel well. I decided to use the wiring adapter lead that plugs into the OEM connector to trigger a relay for new 20 amp horn circuit using 12 gauge wire and 20A fuse holder directly to the battery. I used the accessible left side horn wire for the relay trigger and installed a Stebel Nautilus compact air horn at the left horn location. The right side horn was not touched because it was too hard to get to, and on my LX it is the horn that "chirps" when I double press my keyfob lock button. The results? Well, distracted half awake commuters will no longer ignore the polite "meep" from the stock horns as they drift into my lane, this thing will get anyone's attention, even with windows up and radio on! The pic below shows the main components but not the 12 gauge connecting wire.
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Hey everyone, since this appears to be the main thread everyone references when it comes to Horn Upgrades, here's some info I wish I had.
Picked up the Fiamm 74100 El Grande horns from Canadian Tire for $37 CAD. On Amazon (https://amzn.to/3Jj5WRv) they are $36 CAD.
They are rated at 9 amps combined according to their Spec Sheet (https://www.fiammcomponents.com/media/369582/74112-am80s-luxe.pdf). One reviewer on Amazon claimed they draw 10 amps combined. Regardless, this falls within the HRVs horn fuse rating of 10 amps. Was able to replace both horns fairly easily within an hour without removing the front bumper.
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(2021 Honda HR-V fuse box diagram - StartMyCar)
The driver side (left) horn is the low tone horn and is fairly easy to access behind the headlight, in front of the battery, from above. This will require a 12mm wrench to remove the OEM low horn. Replacing it with the Fiamm El Grande low horn is simply a plug-and-play swap.
The passenger side (right) horn is the high tone horn. Keep in mind for older generation HRV's this is the 'chirp' horn used when locking the vehicle. For my 2021 HRV it has a dedicated gentle beep for the key fob 'chirp'.
Removing these 6 undercarriage plastic clips allows for the felt material to be pulled out and bent back (along the white line pictured) for easy access to the horn.
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Here is the mounting bracket and wiring connector after OEM horn removed.
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And here is the passenger high Fiamm horn installed. (The connectors were later insulated.)
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Here is a video comparing the OEM horns with the Fiamm El Grande 74100 aftermarket horns.
Since the OEM horns claim to be 110 dB, and the aftermarket horns claim to be 128 dB (at 4 inches), there is a 18 dB increase. Since a 3 dB increased is 100%, the aftermarket horns are 6x times louder than OEM.
Picked up the Fiamm 74100 El Grande horns from Canadian Tire for $37 CAD. On Amazon (https://amzn.to/3Jj5WRv) they are $36 CAD.
They are rated at 9 amps combined according to their Spec Sheet (https://www.fiammcomponents.com/media/369582/74112-am80s-luxe.pdf). One reviewer on Amazon claimed they draw 10 amps combined. Regardless, this falls within the HRVs horn fuse rating of 10 amps. Was able to replace both horns fairly easily within an hour without removing the front bumper.
(2021 Honda HR-V fuse box diagram - StartMyCar)
The driver side (left) horn is the low tone horn and is fairly easy to access behind the headlight, in front of the battery, from above. This will require a 12mm wrench to remove the OEM low horn. Replacing it with the Fiamm El Grande low horn is simply a plug-and-play swap.
The passenger side (right) horn is the high tone horn. Keep in mind for older generation HRV's this is the 'chirp' horn used when locking the vehicle. For my 2021 HRV it has a dedicated gentle beep for the key fob 'chirp'.
Removing these 6 undercarriage plastic clips allows for the felt material to be pulled out and bent back (along the white line pictured) for easy access to the horn.
Here is the mounting bracket and wiring connector after OEM horn removed.
And here is the passenger high Fiamm horn installed. (The connectors were later insulated.)
Here is a video comparing the OEM horns with the Fiamm El Grande 74100 aftermarket horns.
Since the OEM horns claim to be 110 dB, and the aftermarket horns claim to be 128 dB (at 4 inches), there is a 18 dB increase. Since a 3 dB increased is 100%, the aftermarket horns are 6x times louder than OEM.
OK, so 3dB = 100% increase... 300-110=190db increase = 63x louder... OH, I think I gotta order this! LOL
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