Why do people use their key ring remote controls to lock their car doors after they leave the car? In most cars, this also sounds the car’s horn. :eek: :mad:
Don’t virtually all cars that have remote controlled door locks also have a button on the inside of the driver’s door that will lock all the doors — without sounding the horn? Why don’t drivers use that button after opening the door to get out, instead of the remote?
If you use the remote you are guaranteed not to have left your keys in the car. At least that’s why I did it.
I do it for the same reason **justrob ** gives–as I am rummaging through my purse I can mutter to myself “I know I had them [my keys] when I locked the car.”
Besides, it doesn’t really sound the horn, it just gives a little chirp. 
It’s stupid that it beeps the horn when you lock the car doors, but I always thought it was a cool feature for people trying to find their cars in a large parking lot. I guess the reason for the horn is so they know the doors successfully locked. It makes rational sense but it always rather startles me when I hear a horn beep behind me. It always takes a few beats to realize they are just locking their doors.
On our remote, you hit the button once, and the doors lock. The second time, the horn honks. My husband always (ALWAYS!!) hits it twice, which drives me crazy. Especially when it’s late and I’m tired/drunk/ill. I can’t really fault him for doing it though; we live in a shady neighborhood, and our automatic doors don’t always lock. This is almost a sure thing in the winter, when the mechanism freezes. By making sure the horn sounds, it guarantees that the doors are, in fact, locked.
As for everyone else who does it, they’re just out to annoy us. 
nope, the VW line only locks the drivers door with the remote.
My car won’t let you lock the doors manually (by pressing down the lock) if the door is opened. If you open the door from the inside, the door unlocks. That makes it nearly impossible to lock the keys in the car unless you slam the trunk closed with them in it.
To lock the car from the outside, you either have to insert the key into the lock or press the button on the keychain. However, mine only beeps if you hit it twice. I’ll do that if I forgot to lock the door (or had my hands full) and need to lock it from a distance. The range isn’t so good, so I’ll click it until it beeps then go back inside.
I thought pushing the button once locked the doors, and pushing it a second time sets the car alarm.
It does on my Dad’s SAAB. The nice touch is that the horn sounds only slightly, so you don’t have to annoy passers by to reassure yourself that you’ve secured the car.
Are you sure you don’t have that backwards? A remote that only locked one door would be a pretty useless device IMHO. However many cars have 2 step unlock where one push on the unlock button unlocks just the driver’s door, and a second push unlocks the balance.
I just like the little “beep!” It’s very viscerally satisfying.
That’s the way it works for my car. And it’s not a loud honk, just a little chirp.
I do it for two reasons, one, when the horn beeps, the alarm is armed. But the real reason…the first time I hit lock, it locks the doors, the second time I hit it, it honks the horn if AND ONLY IF all doors and the trunk are fully shut. If the horn doesn’t sound I know something is open.
After I got my car, I looked through the owners manual and was able to turn off the “beep horn when door locks feature”. I usually lock them with the button on the door but sometimes forget if I locked them after I get out, so I use the remote to be certain. Since I usually get home at 1AM, I didn’t really want to be honking the horn when I locked the car. The lights still blink when it locks so I know it worked.
dbuzman, thank you.
I don’t think I’ve heard a car use the horn itself for acknowledging remote central locking. In my experience, as well as from what I’ve seen in movies and television, they always play a chirp sound (usually a double chirp, accompanied with a flash of the lights (my parents’ Mercedes doesn’t make any noise, just flashes)) but not an actual honk. That just sounds fucking stupid.
Afraid I must disagree with you. We have a New Beetle and recently traded our Jetta. Both lock all doors via the remote. However, to unlock all doors, you need to hit the button twice. I think that’s a nice feature - if you’re alone, you don’t necessarily want all of your doors unlocked automatically.
My Scion works the same way - 1 push unlocks the driver’s door, 2nd opens all the doors and the hatch, each time with a non-horn beep. Locking is 1 push for all doors, and if one or more door is not latched, the beep is drawn out till you shut the offending door(s). What I don’t like about the Scion is that when I turn off the ignition, all of the doors unlock. It never occurred to me to check the manual to see if I could disable that feature - I’ll do that.
And, for the record, if I actually honk my horn, it’s probably an accident. Honestly, when I need the horn, I can’t always remember where the pressure point/horn button is.
You can turn the horn sound off. I bought my car used and it was already turned off. My husband keeps wanting me to turn it back on, but I refuse because I find it annoying. I watch for the lights to flash so that I know the car is locked. My husband likes the reassuring horn sound, so his truck still does it.
I do have a button that sounds the horn repeatedly until you push the button again. I’ve only ever pushed this button by accident.
Never had a car that chirped like the movies. I thought the chirp was from the days when you had to install your own car alarm. (Just like printers in movies sound very noisy and old-fashioned.) Maybe the horn is an American car thing. I have a Chevy, and my husband has a Dodge.
I have mild OCD, and I need to hear my car’s horn as assurance that the doors are locked.
you misunderstood, the ONL?Y way to lock the drivers side door other than with the valet key is by beeping the remote unless you are sitting inside and do it manually, or drive off and it autolocks.