Patent ID: 7038586
Filing Date: 2006-05-02
Classification: B60Q,G05G

Abstract:
1. A horn actuation mechanism for use in a vehicle for selectively actuating a horn, the vehicle including a steering wheel presenting a peripheral gripping region for controlled grasping of a rotational portion of the steering wheel rotatable about a steering wheel control axis by a hand of a driver facing the steering wheel, and in which a steering wheel plane lies crosswise the steering wheel control axis and approximates a plane bisecting the peripheral gripping region, the horn actuation mechanism comprising: a switch; and a hand-operational portion which communicates a hand motion implemented by the driver on a side of the steering wheel plane distant from the driver to effect an orientational change of the switch in response thereto, said horn being energized in response to said orientational change, said hand-operational portion being disposed in a position in which at least one finger opposed to a thumb of the hand grasping the peripheral gripping region of the wheel can simultaneously actuate the mechanism without removal of said hand from controlled contact with the wheel, said hand operational portion being mounted to a portion of the steering wheel which is rotatable, along with said rotational portion, approximately about said steering wheel control axis.