Upgrading the Rivian R1T's Horns

Matt was laughed at recently for his truck’s wimpy sounding horn… so this past week we set out to fix that. For a little backstory, Matt used to be deep in the Subaru aftermarket, and for many WRX/STI owners, their car was not complete unless they had a pair of Hella Supertone Horns mounted right behind the front grille. It was a VERY popular addition for many folks, and of course Matt had a new set turn up after the move. While our initial plan was to put them on the new Raptor, after identifying the Rivian R1T actually needed them badly (and seeing similar discussions on R1T forums), our decision to dig into the front of the electric truck was obvious.

Getting laughed at by your friends sucks… but it doesn’t suck as much as getting into a car crash. Especially one that could’ve been avoided by just using your horn. But what if your horn's balls haven't dropped yet? I know what you're thinking, that's a little crass and maybe I'm going too far with this - but the stock R1T horn was comically unenthusiastic and whiney. Picture a beat-up Altima blasting music, unable to hear the surrounding world, driving erratically. This scenario is all too common nowadays for you not to have a loud horn. Jokes aside, it all comes down to safety. Our mantra is ‘Secure Your Gear’ for a reason… the fewer things you have shifting around your vehicle, the safer you and people around you are if the unexpected happens. So when we see an opportunity to produce something in our general scope with safety at the core of its purpose, we take it!

I think it goes without saying, if we just wanted a stupidly loud horn for fun and so our friends didn't laugh at us, we’d probably be the guys installing a train horn or something else similarly illegal. But we’re trying to be reasonable and take the high road by creating this solution for Rivian owners looking to stay out of harm’s way and improve their road-presence. We've had a great time designing products for the R1T in the past, and are hoping this bracket will make a few trucks out there safer. 

While we didn’t end up finishing the mounting bracket prototype in this episode, we made great headway on the 'research side' of R&D for this product, and got a rudimentary wiring harness working properly. We'll be fabricating our solution very soon and will of course be sharing any progress with you!

Watch the full Building BuiltRight episode below: