It’s my deeply-ingrained habit to put the keys in the ignition, then fasten seatbelt, then turn key, because I hatez teh chimes. My husband does not do this. I have a little mental argument with myself every time he doesn’t do it. The side that so far has always won the argument says, “Just because you’re OCD about the damn chimes doesn’t mean he has to be. What next, telling him off because he puts the toilet paper in with free end over instead of under? You do not want to be that kind of wife. Self, chill.”
I don’t know if it’s the case in all states, but in this one driving with your windshield wipers on and your lights off is something you can be fined for. From the first page of google hits, it’s also the case in SC and CA at the very least too.
I asked people on yahoo answers this weekend what the alarming and unfamilar chime in my car was, and it turns out that if a. the door is open b. the lights are on and c. you turn the car on, it chimes. Which makes sense because I was about to get out of the car to check that both headlights were on. I’d only heard the sound one other time, so I’m kind of surprised that I’ve only fulfilled a-c twice in two and a half years.
Nitpick: that would have been a 300ZX.
Headlight warning and door opening.
The Gulf states nearly all have identical traffic laws and vehicle requirements, so you get the chime everywhere there. It’s usually at 120 km/h (77 mph).
My manufactured-by-Ford vehicle chimes anything anything at all goes wrong. Not a continuous, never-ending chiming, of course, but just an alert chime to get me to look at the information center. So, low washer fluid, burnt-out tail light, door ajar, trunk lid open, low fuel, are all broadcast. I see sensors on my coolant tank, so I assume that that would be reported, as well as any number of other conditions.
In some cars in Mexico, chimes start going off over 100 k/h or so. The little Chevy is one, and I think I’ve been in a VW that did the same. Nothing I’ve every personally rented or driven, do, though (Suburbans, Edges, CTS’s, Safari’s, come to think of it, all US market cars).
What I don’t get is why my German car does BOTH:
a) Turn off the headlights if the ingition is off
b) Buzz very very loudly and continuously if you open the doors with the headlight switch in the “On” position and the key out of the ignition
The only logic I can see here is that you don’t assume your headlights are broken if you turn them on and go to check without turning the car on. But still 
That is odd. One of favorite small tricks is how the Japanese and Korean manufacturers handle the “headlights left on” issue- if you take out the key, they switch off. If you want them back on (to illuminate your midnight basketball game or whatever), you switch them off and on.
But then how does a timer work? You have to manually turn them back on, but then they’re on for good… or don’t Asian cars have timed headlight auto-turner-offers?
My '64 LeSabre has a little knob on the speedometer you use to dial in a speed and it makes a godawful buzzing if you drive over it. You can’t set it any higher than 90, though, but I hear if you had a Riviera or an Electra you could set it to 120!
‘Required in Europe’ is not the same as ‘required in some European countries’. Seat belt alarms? Not in any car I’ve driven in Britain, although I remember the novelty of one in a friend’s parents’ Volvo many years ago. Headlights off without the ignition? Depends on the make & model, but many keep them on (sometimes dimmed, as in my Ford), with an alarm. Again, Scandinavian cars are a law unto themselves with headlights. I’ve not encountered a key-in-ignition alarm outside of America.
The daylight driving lights go on and off with the ignition, but my car (05 Chevy Cavalier) chimes if you open the driver’s door with the ignition off and the regular headlights or the marker lights on. It also chimes for key in ignition if the ignition is turned off and the driver’s door is open.
My father’s 300ZX has the sexy female voice alert.
I live in Australia and drive a Holden Commodore. While Holden is a subsiduary of GM there’s very little derived from the parent company beyond maybe some engine bits, although I do believe they occassionally ship Monaros over to the US and badge it as a Pontiac.
Thanks Rick.
Oh and to clarify a couple of points from before, I just realised my car’s headlights switch off once the key is removed from the ignition regardless of whether doors are locked.
You may find that it’s configurable, my car’s trip computer allows you to set a limit for the warning if you like and set it at whatever speed you like. I used it quite a lot (e.g. at 120km/h) when I was doing long, fast, boring trips between Brisbane and the Gold Coast because of the wide highway and long straight stretches it was easy to slip into speeding.
Most current Holden models are based on (GM) Opel or Daewoo platforms, and some of the engines (including the 5.7 liter) are sourced directly from GM in the US and Isuzu (another GM subsidiary).
The Monaro is sold in the US as the Pontiac GTO, and in the UK as the Vauxhall V-something.
Well what I meant was that it wasn’t derived from the US GM brands/models. I realise the Astra and Vectra are just re-badged Opels.
As for the new Commodore it was designed and built in Australia for the princely sum of $1billion dollars so I’d say that counts as original.
Well what I meant was that the current Commodore wasn’t derived from the US GM brands/models beyond sharing some engine parts. I realise the Astra and Vectra are just re-badged Opels. As for the newest Commodore it was designed and built in Australia for the princely sum of $1billion dollars so I’d say that counts as original and not derivative.
/edit time limit 