Car Horn

[djah]

Is it normal for the horn not to operate when there is no key in the ignition?
I was sitting in my car on Tuesday in the car park waiting for my kids to come out of school. This woman started to reverse her car, I started to get nervous as I dont have the car very long and I am a bit overprotective. When she started to encroach into my space I went to honk the horn. However, to my horror, it wouldn't work. So I rammed the key into the ignition and stood on the horn to let her know that I was there.
Is there any way to have it operational all the time?

[kenney]

The horn is connected by way of the ignition switch,which is normal

[Quatrelle]

The horn is connected by way of the ignition switch,which is normal

Kenney - works without the ignition being on on my Laguna (yes, I know it's French:o), and if my memory serves me, it has on all the other cars I've owned.

Never tried it on the Passat.

[martin1810]

In theory you can make the horn work all the time by changing the wiring in the fuse box, so that the horn fuse runs from a constant live busbar. Don't know if you can do it in practice.

[Stuart W]

Kenney - works without the ignition being on on my Laguna (yes, I know it's French:o), and if my memory serves me, it has on all the other cars I've owned.

Indeed, that's how it worked on my old Mondeo, and the Passat's has always been an irritation, just like the ignition-dependant 12v sockets.

It's also impossible to give a really small toot with the Passat's horn (to attract the attention of a passing pedestrian, say) as compared the the Mondeo, thus it might seem that slight bit more aggressive to whoever you're tooting at.

[Quatrelle]

It's ridiculous how hard you have to press the bloody thing to get it to work.:zx11:

I've thought about thumping it with the side of my clenched fist, but have visions of the airbag deploying :o