In India, honking is not used as a sign of aggression; it's just how you get through the country's massive, chaotic streams of traffic. Audi is now designing louder, longer-lasting horns specifically for the Indian market.
In an interview with the Indian financial paper Mint, Michael Perschke, brand director for Audi India, explained that horns in Indian Audis come from different suppliers than those in the rest of the world and use different settings. Audi tests them "with two continuous weeks only of honking." Perschke described the need for these sturdier horns.
You take a European horn and it will be gone in a week or two. With the amount of honking in Mumbai, we do on a daily basis what an average German does on an annual basis.
Canadian newspaper The Globe And Mail points out that India's increasing rate of hearing loss is certainly tied to traffic noise and a blatant disregard for the country's regulated decibel levels are nothing new.
athomehesatourist on January 13rd, 2020 at 18:08 UTC »
Omg, yes — I was just in India for 2 weeks. The amount of honking in city streets is disconcerting to us from the West. A cab driver said to me: “To drive in India, you need three things — good horn, good brakes, and good luck.”
ggouge on January 13rd, 2020 at 16:49 UTC »
I am a Canadian and growing up i had an Indian friend. When they moved here his dad got several warnings and a ticket for honking too much. Edit: grammar.
maleorderbride on January 13rd, 2020 at 16:40 UTC »
They also made them louder, so you could tell that it was definitely the Audi that was honking at you.
"Ah, it was the Audi, not one of the other twenty three gazillion horns that have resounded over the past fifteen seconds I've been driving on this godforsaken road."