The car honking has always been the norm as cars had horns that could be used for this purpose and didn’t need additional speakers to make a beep. The (quieter) beeping is a lot newer.
Here’s a complaint from 15 years ago.
What a wonderful way to let random passers-by know whether or not you’ve locked your car!
Mine makes a beep. I like the remote open/lock feature because I never lock my keys in the car anymore.
I don’t think it’s possible to lock my keys in the car anymore. At last not with any Nissan car I’ve owned prior to this Toyota.
I think of those half-honks cars make when they are locked as “car farts.”
We have a new neighbor who does that. I want to be friendly, so I haven’t pointed out that she locks her car door, and can hear it click.
Then she pushes the fob a second time… because… she likes the horn?
Because the lock click doesn’t set the alarm. The second click sets the alarm, or so the dealer said.
It’s worth noting the lack of a honk notifies you that a door (or hatchback) is ajar, which is a good thing.
It’s not though. It’s completely arse backwards and a terrible user interface. The right way is to honk to indicate something is wrong, the other way round is an absolutely psychotic design decision. I am genuinely bemused that someone (or a committee of people) could sit down and say “yes, this is how we want this to work”
With a lot of cars you could Google how to change the horn alert to a beep alert, or vice versa. Idk if that’s still the case.
That’s backwards.
The alarm sounding to let you know that everything is closed, locked and armed is a sort of fail safe. Not only does it audibly confirm that the doors are locked and the alarm is armed, it also lets you know that the thing that will alert you to a break in, the horn, is working.
If it only honks to alert you of a problem, what do you think it’ll do when your key fob battery is dead or you’re too far away? You’ll hit the lock button a few times and walk away assuming everything is fine.
What if your horn isn’t working properly? What if you’re not paying attention and hitting the unlock or trunk button instead of lock? You’d never know it.
Some type of response is the right way to confirm everything is working properly.
That’s surprising that your Camry doesn’t allow the locking/unlocking sounds to be programmed. We had a 2004 which allowed a horn beep, a light flash, or nothing, I.e. no sound. (Albeit this was the Azura, the model down from the Grande. American model designations may differ.) FWIW, when parking in a shopping centre/mall, we have gotten into the habit of photographing the level (B4 or whatever) on our camera phone.
Our 2022 RAV4 makes it obvious when it’s locked because the front mirrors fold back – a handy visual check.
It might! I haven’t checked. Yesterday was the first time I heard that it was possible. I will be checking very soon.
I like the honk and it’s been the default for as long as I remember. I hate this gentle beep which I. An head half the time in a noisy environment and does nothing to help me find my car Much more useful to me.
On my Subaru, I was able to disable the lock/unlock noise indicator through a series of steps. Same for the “no seatbelt” chime. You have to redo them if you disconnect the battery, but it is so worth getting rid of both. I’ve posted why I get rid of the “no seatbelt” beeping in other threads, but it’s for driving on private property while moving slowly. We aren’t using it while driving down the freeway.
My friend currently has a rental Nissan Versa and I can confirm it beeps when you press Lock once. Very annoying.
My car also does an annoying thing, it’s keyless entry but if I get out of the car and shut the door with the engine running it beeps twice to remind me the car is running. Yes I know the car is running, there are situations where you’d like to get out of your car for a moment with it running.
And sometimes your forget. Seems the default is a good way to go.
My Cherokee Trailhawk seems to want to chime AFTER I’ve set the parking brake, put in park, and turned the engine off, for no discernible reason. Just starts chiming and chiming. I end up starting and turning it off again.
Do you open the door before you turn off the key? Mine beeps if you do that. “Your door is open!” When you turn off the key it keeps going until you shut the door.
nope. It is when i start to open it, though. But the car is already off.
Maybe it doesn’t register right away?