Abstract: An alert apparatus for use with a vehicle is provided having a horn capable of producing a sound and a first sensor adapted to determine a speed of the vehicle. A controller is coupled to the first sensor and the horn and adapted to activate the horn such that characteristics of the sound are determined based on the speed. A horn switch may also be coupled to the controller to activate the horn upon application of a force by an operator. A method of operating a vehicle horn is also provided. According to the method, an output is obtained from a sensor representative of a speed of a vehicle. The output is processed by the use of a controller to determine a desired horn characteristic, and the vehicle horn is activated to produce the desired horn characteristic.