Does anyone else think it an unnecessary environmental noise pollutant for cars to “honk” every time the owner presses the remote door lock gadget?
Do any of you folks in Car Talk land have neighbors who wake you up in the morning with this “honking” business when they unlock their cars in the morning?
Or is it just me?
I don’t see it as a particularly important problem. I’ve never once been awakened by the chirp of a car being locked or unlocked.
I would find it annoying. I think it is programmable though. Maybe they just like the audible confirmation that the door is locked. Maybe it’s all about them and the rest of us are just in their way.
On some newer cars this feature can be turned off with a factory scan tool.
It’s not just you, I live on the side of the street where parking is allowed and there’s not that much space between the curb and the front of my house so it’s not that unusual to hear the neighbors unlocking their cars (usually just a chirp) The ones that insist on idling for 5-10 minutes or more are what I get annoyed at. Some cars to honk at you if you’ve already locked the car and hit the lock button on the key fob. I think i’ve noticed that on dad’s Honda CRV. I believe it can be adjusted on most cars but the manual would need to be consulted.
It is annoying and unnecessary.
The first thing I did on my car is to disable the feature.
Let me add how inconsiderate the whole thing is. I am talking about a situation when there is a head in parking next to a sidewalk. Inconsiderate drivers close their doors and honk the horn while you are right in front of their bumper. The horns are designed to call attention and to achieve this they are creating over a 100 dB of noise. Exposure to this noise can and will cause hearing problems.
Somewhat related to a story I knew a guy who was checking the oil in his car on his driveway while his daughter thought it would be fun to scare dad. She honked the horn only once but that was enough to cause permanent tinnitus (ringing of the ear) and hearing damage. Before anybody jumps on me, yes it is an extreme example but it is an example what could happen.
I have it disabled on my car. Flashing the lights is enough confirmation. (you can turn that off too if you want) Often I just use the switch on the door to lock the car, which still sets the alarm but gives no confirmation other than the doors locking. I find the “honk” feature annoying, especially on some vehicles that give an overly loud honk when a tiny chirp would do. I prefer to be a bit stealthier and not announce to the world: “Hey y’all, I just locked my car!!” In certain situations it might even attract unwanted attention, such as when a vulnerable person exits their car in a bad neighborhood where criminals are looking for an easy mark.
Come models use a chirp while others cheap out and use the horn. My daughter seems to like the horn feature. She has it activated on her new car. Maybe she isn’t familiar with remote programming. I did suggest more than once that she read the manual, and I suppose that she did.
Mine honks only with a second button push to lock, never to open.
Oh joy, rapture! There are others in the world who find unnecessary honking noise pollution, especially when all you usually have to do is plop down the electric locks and shut the door.
Something I don’t understand is GM’s decision on some of their models to require one button push to lock the doors, then a 2nd push to set the alarm. (with honking horn of course) Does a situation come up where you want to lock the doors but feel the alarm is an overkill? And using the lock button in the cabin to lock the doors doesn’t apparently set the alarm. Silly.
I can program mine out too but I like the confirmation chirp on the second push of the remote to insure it is locked when I’m walking away. Never chirps on unlock though and not sure what that accomplishes. Of course my wife doesn’t like it so her car is silent. Never thought of it being an environmental issue though. Truck pipes and screechy brake are more irritating to me.
Why would you need it to chirp when unlocking the doors? You’re going towards the car and can tell pretty easily if they didn’t unlock when you try to get in.
In my humble opinion the only times I think I should have to hear a car horn is when an audible warning is needed for safety, or remind a driver the light has changed, stuff like that. Not b/c the remote door lock button was pressed.
It comes in useful finding the car in the airport parking lot…
I tried leaving the lights on for that one time, didn’t work … lol
Sounds like something that should be handled locally such as “No jake braking or remote horn honks”. Anything is possible.
“Why would you need it to chirp when unlocking the doors? You’re going towards the car and can tell pretty easily if they didn’t unlock when you try to get in.”
Typical guy comment. Some folks, typically women, fear attack in a parking lot. Having audible confirmation that the door is unlocked for them when the arrive at the car means they don’t have to fumble with remote or key when they get to the door. I would prefer a chirp rather than honk, but there is a good reason for it.
@jtsanders: I still stick by my opinion that the extra noise in such a situation actually would attract unwanted attention. Most of the time you are not triggering the unlock on your car until you are fairly close to it anyway. I can clearly hear the locks unlock and see the button pop up. (I know some cars don’t have a visible button) My car’s locks are very quiet–just a quiet “thwupp” noise–most are louder–and I can still hear mine very clearly from a ways away. (and I have some hearing loss) It’s hard to not hear the “whir” or “thunk” when your car unlocks without any additional noise. My gf’s SUV sounds like an industrial vault locking down when you trigger the locks: “WHIRR-K’CHUNK!” You also have the visual confirmation of the parking and tail lights briefly flashing twice–what else do you really need?
^Perhaps you could have the car transmit a “doors unlocked” notification to the handheld remote, that would cause it to vibrate? You’d know, but nobody else would.
Seriously, though, the things people worry about! It wasn’t all that long ago that we were subsistence farmers and hunters; that “a man’s work” involved getting shot at (or working in a factory, foundry or mine with similar mortality risk). Now…we fume about 100 DB at 0.5 second duration!
And, heck yes, it’s a class divide in this country. The working class still storms beachheads; still works with potentially lethal power equipment; still handles chemicals that give the moneyed class apoplexy at PPB concentrations. It’s getting harder and harder for me to hear bourgeois gripes and remain civil.
Sorry, this one’s a skosh too #firstworldproblems for me…