RMweb Gold Trofimow Posted November 13, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 13, 2013 Yesterday after a visit to the doctor, I walked to the car park to go home, only to find that the central locking remote was dead. I must have spent 5 minutes standing next to the car, furtively taking the remote apart, cleaning the contacts and jiggling the battery, but there was not a glimmer of life. There was nothing for it but to open the door with the key - but this would mean the alarm would go off and that would attract lots of attention. Wouldn't it? It didn't. I jumped in and drove off with the alarm sounding and lights flashing the half mile or so to the shops where I stopped to get a replacement battery. They didn't have one. So it was a repeat performance in the car park there and drive all the way home with the alarm sounding and lights flashing. And throughout all this, nobody seemed to take any notice at all. Which brings me back to the question....what's the point of a car alarm? Alan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Colin_McLeod Posted November 13, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 13, 2013 "Honest Officer. It's my car but the remote needs a jump start" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted November 13, 2013 Share Posted November 13, 2013 To annoy your neighbours when it goes off in the middle of the night? (or day, if they're shift workers..) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Two_sugars Posted November 13, 2013 Share Posted November 13, 2013 To annoy the neighbours at daft o'clock when a cat breaks wind within 25 yards of it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium skipepsi Posted November 13, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 13, 2013 To scare the drunk staggering home who leans on my car to have pis* Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium MickD Posted November 13, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 13, 2013 Hi, Alan, I think people just get fed up with them going off randomly. Where I live there are a couple of cars that are forever sounding there alarms to the extent that it is just normal background. Its the same with house alarms,People have called the police out to a few but it just seems to be a case of Extra sensitive alarms and folk just give up on reporting them. MickD. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted November 13, 2013 Share Posted November 13, 2013 Don't the cars with over-sensitive alarms spontaneously burst into flames round your way? Clearly the OP needs an alarm linked to an immobiliser in order to be properly inconvenienced. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RedgateModels Posted November 13, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 13, 2013 You'll like this, got a phone call from SWMBO yesterday .... "help, I'm stuck in my car" Now, when she bought the car in June second hand, only one key was forthcoming, and it has a button to work the central locking and alarm/immobiliser A couple of months ago the fob went down, tried new batteries, no help. I told her to get onto Subaru and buy a new key, get it programmed etc. In the meantime I showed her the keypad in the car to arm/disarm the immobiliser that you have to do as the immobiliser clicks in after 30 seconds of ignition off ..... So she has been getting by using the keypad ......... until yesterday when it allowed her to arm and lock the car with her in it then wouldn't disarm! Not much I can do 15 miles away at work, so she called the AA. By the time the AA arrived the keypad had reset (maybe) and the code worked again A new key is on order for next week ....... That leaves the locking wheelnut socket that still needs ordering from Subaru ..... I thought ladies were supposed to be good at shopping? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenton Posted November 13, 2013 Share Posted November 13, 2013 Lucky it wasn't my car - when the alarm goes the whole car is disabled - I'm sure there is a way but it is a garage job to reinstate it. Then even worse it could be one of those South African jobs that is designed to immobilise the car thief ... much more effective. I think a tracking device is much more effective. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted November 13, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 13, 2013 You'll like this, got a phone call from SWMBO yesterday .... "help, I'm stuck in my car" Now, when she bought the car in June second hand, only one key was forthcoming, and it has a button to work the central locking and alarm/immobiliser A couple of months ago the fob went down, tried new batteries, no help. I told her to get onto Subaru and buy a new key, get it programmed etc. In the meantime I showed her the keypad in the car to arm/disarm the immobiliser that you have to do as the immobiliser clicks in after 30 seconds of ignition off ..... So she has been getting by using the keypad ......... until yesterday when it allowed her to arm and lock the car with her in it then wouldn't disarm! Not much I can do 15 miles away at work, so she called the AA. By the time the AA arrived the keypad had reset (maybe) and the code worked again A new key is on order for next week ....... That leaves the locking wheelnut socket that still needs ordering from Subaru ..... I thought ladies were supposed to be good at shopping? You missed a key word or two. 'Clothes' & 'Shoes' Perhaps others can add some more? When my key played up, I couldn't get to the locksmith quick enough. Do not pass Go & Do not collect $200. Perhaps the fact, it was 2 days before Christmas had something to do with the urgency? I wasn't in a betting mood! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RedgateModels Posted November 13, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 13, 2013 When I got my current Impreza again only one set of key/separate fob, I was at the local(!) dealership within days to get a spare set, cost 300 quid. Oh and I had the code changed too, as there could have been a set out there that could have taken my new car away all too easily! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium phil-b259 Posted November 13, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 13, 2013 Car alarms, and indeed house alarms are one of those things where as time went on and they became more numerous the less and less attention people pay to them. In the case of cars this has been assisted by the fact that car security (i.e. locks and immobilisers have become better over time too) all of which tends to mean activations are mostly false triggers. Equally its prof of the old childs story about "the boy who cried wolf" is true - if you want people to take notice then keep your warnings sparse. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
28XX Posted November 13, 2013 Share Posted November 13, 2013 Buy an old car for £300. If it breaks or gets nicked, buy another. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted November 13, 2013 Share Posted November 13, 2013 Reminds me of when I was working at Police HQ. In the 80s, boy racers were getting Ford XR3i Escorts. Our force had a policy of Ford cars for normal work (Panda and vans, also plain cars for CID work). Traffic patrol cars were Rover (wedge shape 3500, followed by 800s), along with a small number of 4wd Land Rover & Discovery. Now the traffic boys were saying their heavily laden Rovers were no match for chasing XR3i's, so eventually the Vehicle Manager succumbed, and bought 3x XR3i just for traffic use. Fully logo'd up, they were put out on patrol, 1 in each division. They didn't last long, too unreliable, they couldn't be kept on the road 24hrs a day. It turned out (and this was quoted by Ford!) that the higher spec tuning on them was achieved by selecting parts as close as possible to the spec best tolerance at manufacture! So give them hard work and they became unreliable. Anyway, this spelt the end of front line patrol work, so one of them, now de-logo'd and plain, was handed over to the newly formed unit at HQ that specialised in high(-ish) tech surveillance. It had been set up by a copper looking for another specialist role, now his Diving Team was disbanded. He kitted it out with anti-theft devices as a trap car and parked it up on estates where car crime was rife. Its armoury included secure door bolts, and also bolts that locked up the wheels, thus effectively disabling it when it was broken into, and trapping the thief inside. Now GB ( I won't name him, he was a good guy really and did lots of charity stunts) one day got in this car at HQ, to drive it 20 miles to division for a stakeout. Out onto the main road into town, just where the footpath from HQ joined the road, and....the XR3i unreliability cut in, trapping him inside. His mobile phone was on his desk.....he had to wait for a passing patrol car to come across his plight.........he never did live that down. Stewart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 30801 Posted November 13, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 13, 2013 I think a tracking device is much more effective.Chap at work had his Porsche nicked. They ripped it to pieces looking for the tracker.Car was a write off but at least the thieves didn't get to keep it which I suppose was a win. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
APOLLO Posted November 13, 2013 Share Posted November 13, 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFoUL_bIotw Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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