I have heard many cars go BOOP BOOP! when unlocked.

One thing i dont like about alarms which was not mentioned yet is how sloppy most of them are installed

This applies not jsut to "noisy" alarms that are banned now (existing ones are allowed to stay till 2017, new ones cannot be installed since 2011), but also to the stupid keypad immobilizer type - that remains legal and that insurance companies require



It is like this :

Insurance rep : "We now require a car alarm. Go to our certified depot [address] to get it installed"

Some dope there installs the alarm to unsuspecting owner :

 - Cuts original wires of the car harness, strips isolation mid-wire on others

 - Fuse on the alarm system is missing completely, wrong value, or installed on the wrong wire (some low current signal wire instead of the main + from the battery)

 - Splices in the alarm by twisting wires together, usually half a twist no more, no soldering/wirenuts/whatsoever. Soemtimes they get really creative like pushing apart the strands of the car wire to 2 groups and inserting the alarm wire strands inbetween, then folding them over

 - Sloppy electrical tape work. Half the connection is still bare after the taping, the other half will eventually get bare as the cheap $0.00 electrical tape starts unwinding itself from the connection

After a couple months the tape is off the connections / they are melted from heating of the bad splices, something shorts and the car is on fire in the parking at night, or filling with smoke while driving in the mid of the highway

Other cases the connection just breaks and the car intermittently won't start or will drop dead on the highway

Looks like the insurance companies prefer to deal with 10x car fire cases & "car died on the road and another car hit into its back" cases than 1x car theft cases....



A while back me and a friend did some repairs/tune ups/upgrades on his clunker (mid 90s Daihatsu). Among other stuff we stripped out completely the alarm

It took us two about one second to identify the alarm wiring, then half hour to neatly splice back with proper crimp ends and terminal blocks all the car's original wiring. It would take exactly that one second for a car thief to twist the wires together and drive off....

Sol, I laughed out loud picturing doing that in a large parking lot! Someone and I once joked you could hijack a rental car by mugging the attendant, grabbing a random key fob, and walking up and down the aisles pushing the button until a car lit up and honked...got a getaway car!\
(Not that I'd condone thins)
I might add though the very thought of car alarms being triggered or using those key fob things makes me laugh; I've seen too many funny things happen that involved car alarms going off!

And we locked ourselves out of a rental car with one of those key fob things yesterday, and the "Key" doesn't fit the driver's door.

I hate when you're sleeping in bed at night and you're comfy. Then an alarm goes off and stays on until 20 minutes later. By then, you're wide awake.

...and there's nothing you can do about it either!

Just put ear plugs in, or if you're devious, take the battery out!

I actually did a funny thing on Saturday...... I elbowed a GMC Sirerra truck in the Six Flags parking lot and it set the alarm off. It was an aftermarket honk alarm.

I've never heard of alarms that sensitive. I can climb on my dads truck and bounce around on the roof and the alarm doesn't bat an eye so to speak.

My mom got locked out of her car due to one of those stupid keyless entry things about a decade ago and my car had a flaky car alarm defecate in its undergarments and drain the battery a few years ago.  The solution in both cases was excision of the offending instrumentation.

There will always be not very sensitive and sensitive car alarms. Thunder always sets off alarms in my neighborhood and the revving of sports car engines and motorcycles sets them off too.  Slapping and jumping on cars will set them off because the alarm thinks you're breaking in.

Nothing sets off alarms in my neighborhood except for little kids unlocking their door to get out instead of using the driver side master lock.

Yep the thunder followed by a couple car alarms is a common sight (sound ?) here

We always have severe t storms here where I live and not even the pounding rain, strong winds, or hail will activate an alarm.

You have tougher alarms then....

Here every good thunder storm has a moment like : *FLASH* *darkness* (it hit a power line) *BOOMMoooommmmommmmm* *rattling glass in window* *car alarms*