RAY MAGLIOZZI

Dear Car Talk: I was going into a small market in the neighborhood recently, and a giant GMC pickup parked right in front of the shop. As I walked by, the owner used the remote key fob to lock the door and a massive horn blew right in my ear.

My Hondas have a courteous little beep to indicate that the door is locked if I push the lock button twice. Why can’t a $100,000 pickup have a considerate chime to indicate locking? How macho does it have to be? — Jeffrey

Good thing you weren’t walking out of the market with a hot coffee when that horn went off, Jeffrey.

The truth is that most vehicles now, including $100,000 pickup trucks, do have different user-selected options for locking feedback. Pretty much everything is adjustable and customizable now that we have computer screens in our cars, and separate switches aren’t required for every option.

On most cars I test drive, if you drill down into the vehicle settings, there are three or four options for what you want the car to do when you lock it remotely. You can choose no feedback. You can have the lights flash. You can have an audible signal — usually a horn tap or a beep. Or you choose to have the lights and the audible feedback.

The civilized thing to choose is the lights. Without disturbing anyone else, it provides a clear signal to you that the car is locked, and you can safely leave it parked and go get your toupee refitted.

I think some folks use the horn feedback option because they don’t know they can change it. Or they just get used to it. Or maybe they like to walk away and resent having to look back to see their parking lights flash. I don’t know.

So, getting people to change their selection is really a matter of convincing car owners to be more courteous and thoughtful toward people who aren’t driving — which has been a losing proposition since around the time Karl Benz invented the modern automobile.

Horns have traditionally correlated their decibel output to the mass of the vehicle. So just be glad you didn’t pass a tugboat parking in front of the market, Jeffrey.

Got a question about cars? Write to Ray in care of King Features, 300 W. 57th St., 41st Floor, New York, NY 10019, or email by visiting the Car Talk website at www.cartalk.com.