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Cars in Europe don’t honk on open/close. It’s not illegal but there are some non honk areas and because of that manufactures don’t enable it.

johanvts 6y ago
It is illegal to honk in Denmark unless theres a dangerous situation ahead. Honk any other a time you can be fined about 130€
- encom 6y ago
  Another dane here: Despite this, the horn is used just as much as a fuck-you-horn as anywhere else. I doubt anyone has ever gotten a fine for it, except maybe if they had been really obnoxious with it next to a police officer.
- olyjohn 6y ago
  It’s actually illegal in Washington State as well. I’m sure that’s fairly common in a lot of states and countries. But of course it’s also not enforced here.
  - mulmen 6y ago
    I did not know this! I’ll have to dig through the owners manual and figure out how to turn that off. Do you have a link to the RCW?
  - jniedrauer 6y ago
    > It’s actually illegal in Washington State Woah, didn't know this. It's not like it really changes anything when someone lays on their horn while passing me on my bike. But at least I can feel some righteous indignation now.
    - calt 6y ago
      > righteous indignation That's just the default for me while cycling.
    - zenexer 6y ago
      If I recall correctly, either in my state or a state I visited, it’s technically a legal requirement to honk while overtaking a cyclist. Nobody ever does that, though, since it comes across as rude.
  - banana_giraffe 6y ago
    RCW 46.37.380 calls out alarms specifically as being allowed to use a horn, and makes no mention of how often you're allowed to use a horn outside of the highway. I'm curious which law covers it outside of that that makes it illegal to use. Granted, I'm sure you're right if it does exist. There are some cars with ludicrously loud exhausts around here that gleefully violate RCW 46.37.390 that are ignored by cops.
  - stephencanon 6y ago
    Heck, it’s a $350 fine in NYC.
    - nostromo 6y ago
      If actually enforced, this would immediately close NYC’s multi-billion dollar budget shortfall.
- t0mas88 6y ago
  Same in the Netherlands but costs between 90 and 370 euros depending on what you did.
- peteretep 6y ago
  How do you let people know you’re about to execute a particularly impressive road manoeuvre and they should pay attention?!? You just need to yell or? (I have probably driven 95% of the km I’ve driven in various SE Asian countries)
- m463 6y ago
  I remember a case where a person was pulled over by the police for flashing his lights at oncoming traffic to warn of a speed trap. I think his defense was that fining him for it interfered with his free speech. I wonder if honking is a free speech issue :)
  - throwaway0a5e 6y ago
    Pretty much all these laws main goal is to be a pretext for an otherwise illegal fishing stop. So pretty much all of them can be overturned if someone with deep enough pockets to prople the defense up the court system waits around long enough to find a case with a sympathetic fact pattern.
xiconfjs 6y ago
Mercedes-Benz has this feature for sure and it sucks. Usually it‘s only used by old people and dumbasses here in Germany.
globular-toast 6y ago
I remember when cars started to honk and beep when they were locked. It happened in the 90s. I'm not sure if they were aftermarket additions done by those people that must be heard. I haven't heard cars do it for years now. None of mine have. Nowadays the people that must be heard just have obnoxiously loud engines instead. Looking forward to that being outlawed. Also, what is with that stupid beeping that American cars make when the door is open? You need a beep to tell you the door is open? Seriously?
nielsole 6y ago
The first time I exited a car of a friend in the US, I literally jumped because the honking caught me off guard.
KineticLensman 6y ago
Something else that may vary is whether a car has a delay when you lock it. I hired a car in the US once (I'm from the UK) and there was a several second delay from the time of pressing the fob to the car actually locking. Because I sometimes check that the car is locked by immediately operating the physical door handle, I was initially convinced that the locking mechanism was broken.
nathan_f77 6y ago
Thanks for your comment! I just bought an old 2001 VW Beetle that was imported from Europe, and I thought there might be something wrong with it because it didn't make any sound when I used the remote. Nice to know that this is by design.

johanvts 6y ago

It is illegal to honk in Denmark unless theres a dangerous situation ahead. Honk any other a time you can be fined about 130€

encom 6y ago
Another dane here: Despite this, the horn is used just as much as a fuck-you-horn as anywhere else. I doubt anyone has ever gotten a fine for it, except maybe if they had been really obnoxious with it next to a police officer.
olyjohn 6y ago
It’s actually illegal in Washington State as well. I’m sure that’s fairly common in a lot of states and countries. But of course it’s also not enforced here.
- mulmen 6y ago
  I did not know this! I’ll have to dig through the owners manual and figure out how to turn that off. Do you have a link to the RCW?
- jniedrauer 6y ago
  > It’s actually illegal in Washington State Woah, didn't know this. It's not like it really changes anything when someone lays on their horn while passing me on my bike. But at least I can feel some righteous indignation now.
  - calt 6y ago
    > righteous indignation That's just the default for me while cycling.
  - zenexer 6y ago
    If I recall correctly, either in my state or a state I visited, it’s technically a legal requirement to honk while overtaking a cyclist. Nobody ever does that, though, since it comes across as rude.
- banana_giraffe 6y ago
  RCW 46.37.380 calls out alarms specifically as being allowed to use a horn, and makes no mention of how often you're allowed to use a horn outside of the highway. I'm curious which law covers it outside of that that makes it illegal to use. Granted, I'm sure you're right if it does exist. There are some cars with ludicrously loud exhausts around here that gleefully violate RCW 46.37.390 that are ignored by cops.
- stephencanon 6y ago
  Heck, it’s a $350 fine in NYC.
  - nostromo 6y ago
    If actually enforced, this would immediately close NYC’s multi-billion dollar budget shortfall.
t0mas88 6y ago
Same in the Netherlands but costs between 90 and 370 euros depending on what you did.
peteretep 6y ago
How do you let people know you’re about to execute a particularly impressive road manoeuvre and they should pay attention?!? You just need to yell or? (I have probably driven 95% of the km I’ve driven in various SE Asian countries)
m463 6y ago
I remember a case where a person was pulled over by the police for flashing his lights at oncoming traffic to warn of a speed trap. I think his defense was that fining him for it interfered with his free speech. I wonder if honking is a free speech issue :)
- throwaway0a5e 6y ago
  Pretty much all these laws main goal is to be a pretext for an otherwise illegal fishing stop. So pretty much all of them can be overturned if someone with deep enough pockets to prople the defense up the court system waits around long enough to find a case with a sympathetic fact pattern.

xiconfjs 6y ago

Mercedes-Benz has this feature for sure and it sucks. Usually it‘s only used by old people and dumbasses here in Germany.

globular-toast 6y ago

I remember when cars started to honk and beep when they were locked. It happened in the 90s. I'm not sure if they were aftermarket additions done by those people that must be heard. I haven't heard cars do it for years now. None of mine have. Nowadays the people that must be heard just have obnoxiously loud engines instead. Looking forward to that being outlawed. Also, what is with that stupid beeping that American cars make when the door is open? You need a beep to tell you the door is open? Seriously?

nielsole 6y ago

The first time I exited a car of a friend in the US, I literally jumped because the honking caught me off guard.

KineticLensman 6y ago

Something else that may vary is whether a car has a delay when you lock it. I hired a car in the US once (I'm from the UK) and there was a several second delay from the time of pressing the fob to the car actually locking. Because I sometimes check that the car is locked by immediately operating the physical door handle, I was initially convinced that the locking mechanism was broken.

nathan_f77 6y ago

Thanks for your comment! I just bought an old 2001 VW Beetle that was imported from Europe, and I thought there might be something wrong with it because it didn't make any sound when I used the remote. Nice to know that this is by design.