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Thread ID: 112208	2010-08-27 22:43:00	What Use Is A Car Alarm?	Roscoe (6288)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1132294	2010-08-27 22:43:00	Most people have one, but why? Does it make them feel safer? Does it stop people pinching stuff or stealing the car? Not if what I have seen means anything. I worked in a small suburban shopping centre a while ago. Car alarms went off all day every day and no-one even looked around to see which car it was. I noticed one alarm sounding on the far side of the supermarket carpark and saw that someone was removing the car stereo, obviously not worried that the alarm was blaring. These happenings made it fairly plain that a car alarm was not a deterrent as most people took no notice of the alarms. Why should they? It happened all the time. It seems to me that a car alarm that alerts all and sundry is useless. Surely the person that needs to know is the owner of the car. But it does not alert the owner, it simply annoys the hell out of everyone nearby. It seems to me that the type of alarm that makes sense is one that alerts the owner. Perhaps it might send a signal to a receiver on the key ring. That would make more sense. Is there a car alarm that alerts the owner? Or are car alarms just an expensive noise makers?	Roscoe (6288)
1132295	2010-08-27 23:26:00	Did you stop the guy breaking into the car?	prefect (6291)
1132296	2010-08-27 23:27:00	You've got a good point there. I know someone, who had a skyline, with an alarm. A few mths ago, it was stolen outside the flat here (overnight). And they would have disabled it, and towed it out / or walked it out (they didnt run it to drive it out) The alarm didnt go off. We have / had a feeling it had something to do with someone on Trademe (who was going to buy it thru Trademe). They came over 2-3 days before it was stolen. Just seems funny it was stolen, after someone came here to look at it. Before then, it was fine	Speedy Gonzales (78)
1132297	2010-08-27 23:27:00	Car alarms go off all the time when nobody is breaking into the car, so people expect it to be a false positive every time the alarm goes off. My friend had her car broken into right outside her bedroom window - an alarm probably would have helped scare off the thieves there.	Greven (91)
1132298	2010-08-27 23:43:00	An alarm plus an engine mobilizer is the answer. My wifes Kia had one, it had a flat battery, rung AA as car was in warranty they said no one in the world including the person who designed it can start the car. Stereo no good to crook either it had 12 digit power off code. Had to start it by pushing the gas pedal down with a code on a flashing led. I you get the pushes wrong the alarm sounds and locks the car out for 30 minutes. Thank **** got it right first time.	prefect (6291)
1132299	2010-08-27 23:52:00	A number of cars have been broken into while parked in the street I live in, and it’s only ever the ones with no alarms. The ones with alarms have never been touched. Some insurance companies insist the car has an alarm with engine immobiliser otherwise they won't insure them. So yep, I think they are useful.	gcarmich (10068)
1132300	2010-08-28 00:06:00	And yes, you can get alarms that have pagers built into the remotes, so that when it goes off, the owner is alerted, but they only work within a certain range of the car of course. About 200m. You can probably also get systems that can send txts and such, but if you're too far away from the car, you probably can't do anything about it anyway as you have no way of telling if it's a false alarm. Engine immobilisers are the most useful part of alarms if you ask me. At least they stop someone stealing the whole car, unless they tow it of course.	ryanjames.powell (13554)
1132301	2010-08-28 00:16:00	They certainly stop more night-time thefts than daytime. So many people with poorly setup alarms just desensitize people to alarms. I had my MX5 get broken into in broad daylight at work about 4-5 years ago when I was at EDS. Long story short, the immobilizer was all that kept them from making off with the car. They got about $2K worth of sound equipment from it, but at least the car was still there ... they popped the bonnet and ripped out the siren, first thing, but the triple immobilizer stopped them from making off with the car itself.	Chilling_Silence (9)
1132302	2010-08-28 00:19:00	Did you stop the guy breaking into the car? They were on the other side of a large supermarket carpark . They were in and out very quickly . An alarm plus an engine mobilizer is the answer . An immobiliser does make sense . Better than making loud noises . A number of cars have been broken into while parked in the street I live in, and it’s only ever the ones with no alarms . The ones with alarms have never been touched . That is most probably because they have a flashing LED that alerts potential burglars to the fact it has an alarm . Personally, I think it is a very expensive flashing LED . I bought a flashing LED for $5 and installed it on the dash in 10 minutes . Looks just like a car alarm without the annoying noise . Stickers on the windows complete the illusion . Easy, quick, inexpensive and nowhere near as annoying!	Roscoe (6288)
1132303	2010-08-28 00:21:00	If you are a crook with more than a few brain cells and the alarm of the car you are breaking into goes off you cannot afford to take the chance that no-one will notice and no action will be taken therefore you walk away or sustain a heightened chance of being apprehended. Having something which makes a noise when it is being interfered with is obviously better even if most of the time nobody pays any attention because the thief cannot afford to take the chance that they won't.	zqwerty (97)
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