Why do truck drivers in movies honk their horns by pulling on a rope above their heads? Do trucks not have the button to activate the horn inside the steering wheel like normal cars?
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Professional truck driver here. We have the ‘city’ horn in the center of the steering wheel. The big air horn is called the ‘country’ horn.
YES, if you ask me to honk the big horn, I’ll honk the big horn. Mind you, it’s an air horn at 115 or so PSI. It gets attention when you do it.
As for why it’s that way? The horns USED to be mounted on the roof. Due to modern aerodynamics, it’s been removed from the majority of big rigs. These days they are mounted somewhere between the rear of the sleeper.
I love this question. Please teach any kids you are in contact with to signal a truck driver to honk by putting their hand in the air and pulling on an imaginary rope over their heads.
That is our air horn. It is louder.
We have a city horn too. That one is on our steering wheel.
Yes, we love it! Please keep up asking us to blow it. It makes our day!!
The air system for brakes in a truck is piped with some pretty serious metal. The pull actually opens a big valve that allows the air system to drain through the horn. Today’s tech could make that valve actuate electronically but back in the day it was way easier/cheaper/ more reliable to just set it up to do it by hand.
Truck driver here.
The air horn is above your head and actuated by a pull cord which actually pulls in the valve. Some trucks have them actuated by buttons but most that I’ve seen have the pull cord.
You’re actually opening and closing the valve with the pull cord.
You also have what is referred to as a city horn which is in the steering wheel. That is more like a car horn.
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