There's someone who does this every day outside my apartment at around 7:15. It is infuriating. 4-5 loud, inconsistently-spaced honks "just to be sure" when I'm sure their car locks silently on the first request. Most modern cars only beep if you lock them twice.
A neighbor used to come home from work late at night and lock their doors three or four times, and every time it would wake me up. I wish there was a silent door lock and it would just flash the headlights.
My car lets me configure it to work that way. It's one of my favorite features. I haven't heard it honk on lock in years.
Most cars have this if you look in the user manual. Even old cars with no graphical radio have konami-code-like sequences of button presses you can input to turn them off.
Maybe no surprise to learn that, for a person who thinks it acceptable for the horn to sound for no real reason, this would be considered far too much effort?
Cars in Europe lock silently.
I’m in Australia and I have never seen a car that doesn’t lock this way, you hear a slight mechanical latching sound and the lights flash.
New cars are starting to replace this with a less intense "beep beep". I was agreeably surprised when I locked my 2020 car and it didn't honk at me.
I turn off the audible alert on lock. Flashing the lights is plenty, why be obnoxious and add noise to the soundscape? I can hear the locks click, anyway.
Is that limited to the US? In Europe I don't see cars do that; usually the lights blink but it doesn't make large sound.