Quality of “thunk”
No one wants their car doors to make a "thwong" sound when they close. "Thunk" is the gold standard.
Chances are the sound of your car door closing is designed to sound precisely how it sounds.
Automotive companies know that before you test drive their car at a dealership, you open and close the door. Perhaps subconsciously, a solid and confident noise from the door reassures the user that this car is well made.
This idea isn't unique to vehicles. You can hear carefully designed sound differences between brands of keyboards, light switches, camera shutters and lighters.
A deliberate sound isn't simply aesthetic, it's tactile feedback. It communicates that you did something right and that this product can be trusted.
While sound isn't a primary design factor for most products, it subtly influences purchasing decisions.
By the way, if you don't like the noise from your car door, you can buy and install sound deadening material to make it sound premium for around $50.
I want to give recognition to an incredibly insightful Industrial Design website that inspired this post, Food for Creative Thinking. Brand and Innovation Designer Yasushi Kusume has written a concise, yet more in-depth exploration on this topic. I highly recommend you give it a read as well as his other published works.
