Why did the buzzer stop working?

Car horns are safety features. In addition, they must be present on all vehicles and be in good condition. This will allow you to give a signal to other road users in time, inform about the approach, avoid collisions and other dangerous situations.

But at some point it happens that the sound signal located on the steering wheel suddenly stopped working. Diagnostics should be done as soon as possible, since it is dangerous to continue operating a car with an inoperative sound signal.

How it works

Before looking for reasons and finding ways out of this situation, it would not be superfluous to understand the principle of operation and the device of the signal.

Structurally, the horn includes a fairly extensive list of elements, including:

• anchor;
• main;
• Centre;
• tungsten contacts;
• frames;
• capacitor;
• relay;
• activation button;
• resonant disk;
• membrane;
• contact relays, etc.

When the driver presses a special button, current flows through the winding, thereby magnetizing the core and attracting the armature. Together with the anchor, the rod bending the membrane moves.

Thanks to a special nut, a group of contacts opens and the electrical circuit breaks. In addition, a number of horn elements return to their original position. In parallel, it closes the contacts again and current flows into the winding. Opening occurs at the moment the driver presses a button.

For the driver himself, everything is much easier. Just press the button and the machine will emit a strong characteristic signal.

Similar systems are used that have different signals, but an identical principle of operation:

• on the Niva;
• in the Gazelle;
• VAZ 2110 cars;
• VAZ-2107;
• VAZ-2114;
• Renault Logan;
• Renault Sandero;
• Lada Priora;
• Daewoo Lanos;
• Lada Kalina;
• Chevrolet Lacetti;
• Skoda Fabia and others

If the audible alarm suddenly stops working or shows obvious signs of malfunction, immediate action must be taken.

The motorist needs to know what are the signs of problems and the main reasons why the horn does not make warning sounds.

Symptoms of problems

How can you generally determine that the speaker is not working or has some kind of malfunction? It's actually very simple.

There are 2 main signs of car horn problems:

• The signal doesn't work at all. When the button is pressed, the driver, like other road users, does not hear anything at all. This is a clear sign that the system has failed;
• The signal appears intermittently. There is also a slightly different situation when the beep does not work with every press. I mean, pressed once, everything works, and when you try to beep again, the beep stops, no reaction to pressing. Then the situation repeats.

There is nothing complicated and unusual in determining the nature of faults. But now you need to understand why this happens and where to look for the reasons.

Common causes of malfunctions

It remains only to talk about why such situations arise and what the motorist himself needs to do in order to restore the horn's performance.

Since the car signal consists of a fairly large number of components, the reasons must be looked for in them. To do this, it is good to understand the device, design and principle of operation of the warning system.

• The fuse has blown. A banal but common problem. The fuse is located in a special block. Look for information in the user manual. Sometimes just replacing the fuse is enough;
• Burnt relay. Since the siren is powered through a fuse and relay, the latter must also be checked on the mounting block and replaced if necessary;
• Klaxon breakdown. If everything is in order with the relay and fuse, the reason may be in the device itself. To check, you can take the element and apply power directly through the battery. When the horn is working, a signal appears;
• Short circuit. It is worth starting the search from the security nest. And then move along the chain;
• Worn flywheel contact ring. If necessary, it will need to be replaced;
• The clamp contacts on the column are worn out. A characteristic feature of domestic cars;
• The contacts are oxidized. Check the contact group for rust or oxidation;
• Horn winding burnt out. The problem is solved by replacement;
• Violation of electrical contact;
• The tie on the steering wheel is torn, where the airbag is.

In the vast majority of cases, and if desired, most of the possible problems we can solve on our own.

But for this you need to be able to handle a tester or multimeter. These are really necessary tools to help determine the source of the problem, check the condition of the electrical circuit, turn on the sound signal and other points.

How to easily restore the skin on the steering wheel of a car with your own hands

In the worst case, you will have to do a complete replacement or even install a new horn or a new steering wheel. But this happens very rarely.

In most cases, motorists are faced with banal oxidation and poor contact due to oxidation. The problem is fixed by removing the contacts and reconnecting them.

If for some reason you cannot find the problem yourself or do not dare to fix the situation yourself, contact experienced specialists. They will quickly diagnose, find the source of the problem and fix the problem. But already directly for your money.