Car Alarm Goes Off for No Apparent Reason

I have a car alarm that goes off for seemingly no reason. We have had trouble off and on with the key fobs. Sometimes they work to unlock or lock the truck, and other times, they do not. Now we have had the alarm go off for no reason. My husband wants to leave the truck unlocked because he is afraid it will go off, but I don't like leaving it unlocked. It does not matter if we set the alarm or just lock the doors. Has anyone else had this problem? Could a low battery in the key fobs be causing it?

Joanne from PA

Answers:

Car Alarm Goes Off for No Apparent Reason

Sometimes all it takes for some car alarms to go off is a loud noise. I used to have a Firebird with a loud motor and it would always set off car alarms when I drove through parking lots. Maybe you could adjust the sensitivity of your alarm.
(03/16/2008)

Car Alarm Goes Off for No Apparent Reason

Maybe you need to replace the battery in the key fob or my husband says there could be an electrical problem. (03/16/2008)

Car Alarm Goes Off for No Apparent Reason

There is a sensitivity adjustment; look in the manual or take it to where you bought the car/truck and have them adjust it.

Inside the key fob there is a 12 voly battery, when they get weak that can cause intermittent functioning. It is a pain, but they are easy to replace. Just pop the back off and there it is. (03/17/2008)

By Ted

Car Alarm Goes Off for No Apparent Reason

Mine did that, and I figured it out that when I unlock the car, I have to turn the key and hold it until all the doors unlock. Then, there's no alarm problem at all. It's difficult for me to be patient enough to wait for the doors to unlock. I hate waiting, but, it's better than leaving the doors unlocked. You can't do that any more. Good luck! (03/17/2008)

By Tammy

Car Alarm Goes Off for No Apparent Reason

Call the service department that sells this model and explain the problem. They may have a suggestion for you over the phone. I worked at a car dealership for a long time and sometimes we ran into things like this that can be a common problem that take a simple fix. Or, take your vehicle to the dealer and take both key fobs along. Have the dealer replace the batteries in both fobs at the same time (I know you just replaced them) and synchronize them together. The dealer should be able to perform a diagnostic check of the computer module that actually operates the alarm itself depending on the year/make/model car you have.

The dealer should check the setting on your dome light as well as, to see if your doors and trunks are latching properly and if the door jamb switch is working. There may be a service bulletin that pertains to this problem, meaning this could be a common problem with this vehicle and the dealer will know right away what it will take to fix this problem and it might save you a lot of time/money/aggravation. (03/18/2008)

By Jenny

Car Alarm Goes Off for No Apparent Reason

Oh wow, can I relate to your problem! We rented a car to go to Salt Lake City for Thanksgiving 2 years ago. While staying at the motel, the car alarm went off, I jumped up, looked outside to see if the car was getting stolen. Nope. I turned off the alarm and went back to bed, snooze snooze. Then, BEEP BEEP BEEP. The car alarm went off again! This happened every 2 hours. I had to lay awake all night and when the alarm would sound off, I had to go outside and shut the alarm off.

I called the 800 # inside the glovebox and the lady talked me through the steps on how to 'disable' the alarm. It didn't work! Needless to say we took that car in and exchanged it for a different model altogether. As we were driving away in the Chrysler 300 we could hear the other rental car alarm beep!
Hope you find what the problem is. (03/19/2008)

By Laurie