Tesla Model S and Model X owners who have been waiting for their yoke steering wheel to have an airbag horn might not have to wait much longer, as evidence that the feature may finally be coming soon has been spotted in the source code of the latest software update.
One of the big changes Tesla made to the Model S and Model X when it launched the refresh design in 2021 was to the steering wheel, ditching the traditional round wheel and instead going with a yoke. Along with the yoke, Tesla also removed the gear and turn signal stalks, moving most of those functions to touch buttons on the steering wheel. But despite the yoke still featuring an airbag in the center just like all other steering wheels, Tesla even moved the horn function to a touch button.
That change quickly led to feedback that trying to find the horn button was difficult, especially when the majority of the time when you use it you need to do so quickly, and the habit and muscle memory of slamming your hand on the center of the yoke was hard to break.
While they did offer the option of putting your hand over all of the buttons on the right side of the yoke to activate the horn, Tesla eventually agreed to add bag a center horn. In early 2022 CEO Elon Musk revealed that all Model S/X cars built since November 2021 had a “push center horn,” and were simply waiting on a software update to activate it.
Here we are two years later and that software update still hasn’t arrived, but it may finally be just around the corner. Noted Tesla hacker @greentheonly, while reviewing the source code of the 2023.44.30.8 software update discovered mention of a “mechanical horn” for the Model S and Model X.
As with some of green’s previous discoveries, the features can sometimes take a few weeks to a few months before they are activated and appear in the vehicle, but hopefully this one arrives sooner rather than later.
2023.44.30.8 brings us this knowledge about upcoming hardware:
— green (@greentheonly) January 5, 2024
Mexico-UNECE homologated Model Y
Model Y will get Stealth Grey color
Models Y, S and X efficiency package 2024
Model S and X also get a new steering wheel and yokes with "mechanical horn"
