The Ineos Grenadier is intriguing. It’s a new, old-school off-road SUV — almost too literally the closest thing you can buy to a new old Land Rover Defender. And it features an innovation — one that has nothing to do with its off-road chops — that every car should be fitted with: the toot horn.
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The Grenadier is the brainchild of British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe and caters to his particular interests. The available trim levels — Trialmaster and Fieldmaster — reference Ratcliffe-owned Belstaff jackets. Ratcliffe is also invested in professional cycling. The Grenadier comes fitted with a toot button on the steering wheel, which allows drivers to warn cyclists of their presence subtly without alarming them with the full-blast horn.
Toot horns are undoubtedly useful for drivers to share the road safely with cyclists. But it’s also a feature with potential utility outside the cycling context.
The full-bore horn (something the Grenadier itself also possesses) has its usefulness. For as much R&D and technology car manufacturers throw at safety, one of the best accident-preventers is still another human driver making a loud noise to stop another driver from causing a collision. But deploying the horn is inherently aggressive — to the point it makes calling out another driver’s faux pas often more of a faux pas than the initial indiscretion.
For instance, I was recently driving behind a Lincoln SUV in my neighborhood on a Saturday morning. The driver began applying makeup at the stop light and missed the light turning green. The delay stretched beyond momentary — to the point we would nearly miss the light. I didn’t want to be aggro. But I didn’t want my son to be late for his rec league soccer game either.
I tried to deliver the horn equivalent of a polite shoulder tap. But the horn in my press car had only one level: foghorn. Instead of a polite wave of apology, I received a one-finger salute. The Grenadier’s toot horn would have let me send the required message without escalation. This is far from a rare need for drivers.
Perhaps the great driving scourge is people — drivers, pedestrians and even the odd cyclist — staring at their cell phones. Let he who hath not tapped the iPhone’s “I’m not driving” button cast the first stone. It’s ubiquitous, causing delays at nearly every intersection. It’s a potentially grave safety issue. And it mostly goes unacknowledged; no one wants to be that driver honking at every stop light.
Toot horns in every car would help spare some awkwardness and maybe even save some lives. Are you listening, auto industry?
