Tesla CEO Elon Musk has revealed on Twitter yesterday that the design refresh Tesla Model S and Model X vehicles made since November 2021 now have the horn built into the center push of the Yoke steering.
When the new Tesla Model S and Model S Plaid were launched last year, Tesla stayed with the decision to keep the yoke steering wheel that was originally introduced with the next-gen Tesla Roadster prototype.
This yoke steering going into production for the first time in the automotive industry had some surprises for Tesla customers. For example, it had no turn signal or gear selector stalks installed. All of these controls were either shifted to buttons or the center touchscreen.
The control for the horn was also shifted from the large centerpiece of the steering wheel to a tiny button on the right-hand side of the yoke steering (see image below). This was a total diversion from the traditional place for the horn that we are used to pushing with the entire palm of our hand — using it with just a thumb was a problem for every new Model S, Model X, and their Plaid version owner.
While the horn was placed on a tiny button above the right scroll wheel of the yoke steering, the center push-piece did nothing. This is what the Tesla enthusiast and investor Ross Gerber complained to on Twitter to Elon Musk.
“All cars made since November also have push center for horn – just waiting on firmware update. If you mash right side of yoke with your palm, horn will trigger,” Musk replied.
Tesla produced 13,109 Model S and Model X vehicles in Q4 2021. But the Model S/X made in the first month of Q4 (Oct 2021) did not have this modification to the yoke steering. So, it’s not clear how many of these 13,109 Model S/X cars have the new center-push-piece as the horn.
And since Tesla is preparing an over-the-air (OTA) software update to enable the new center push horn, owners of the new S/X manufactured on or after November 2021 still did not know about this feature.
Now Elon Musk has unveiled this information, so we can expect that one of the upcoming OTA updates will be activating the center horn for the new Model S/X and Plaid made since Nov 2021.
The design refresh Model S/X (both AWD and Plaid) cars with the yoke steering that were made before Nov 2021 can still mash the right side of the steering wheel (above the right scroll ball) to use the horn.
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