Why do they still make car alarms? (2015)
popularmechanics.com
Why do they still make car alarms? (2015)
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Re: Why do they still make car alarms? (2015)
#2I'd rather see a tracking system attached to several parts of the vehicle. This would allow law enforcement to track the vehicle, and/or the parts if the vehicle is broken down and sold.
In the United States we have "LoJack" but it's not a standard feature rather a dealer upsell.
Re: Why do they still make car alarms? (2015)
#3If you have your car at the mall or are in a big city parking garge, sure it doesn't do much.
If you live in the rest of the United States, which is spread out and some quite rural, a car alarm can quickly notify you someone is messing with your car.
My town has a population a little over 300 people, we have one resident that is... not well... that rides his bicycle around even int he dead of winter and pounds on peoples doors screaming that the government is coming (he did this Saturday to a woman who finally called the county sheriff), a few weeks ago he pulled a battery out of a forklift at a local business's dock and proceeded to smash it on security camera, rides up to people that are out and about screaming nonsense at them, etc. Then factor in "kids being kids", the people that were spotlight poaching deer from the highway - shooting in the direction of houses - a month or so ago, etc and car alarms are just one of those handful of things that actually do come in handy in some places.
Even in high school in the early 2000s I had someone break into my car in the driveway at night in a cookie-cutter edition and go through my car. With an alarm we'd have known they were doing it.
Several years later I had someone crawl under my truck, cut the fuel line, and after taking all the gas they could get using a piece of tape to try and hold it back in place (I actually had this in my Facebook memories yesterday), a car alarm may have alerted me to that.
Then my mother's boyfriend passed away around the same time. Someone flat out stole his decades old beater out of the driveway at night, again an alarm would have alerted them to it. Unfortunately for the thief the brakes barely worked and they didn't get very far before plowing into another car and taking off on foot.
Car alarms definitely serve a purpose, and I don't need Popular Mechanics to justify them or not.
Re: Why do they still make car alarms? (2015)
#4I really wish there was a way to disable the panic button on my key fob. It has a hair trigger and only requires one click to activate. I regularly trigger it by bending over with my keys in my pocket.
Re: Why do they still make car alarms? (2015)
#5If you have your car at the mall or are in a big city parking garge, sure it doesn't do much. If you live in the rest of the United States, which is spread out and some quite rural, a car alarm can quickly notify you someone is messing with your car. My town has a population a little over 300 people, we have one resident that is... not well... that rides his bicycle around even int he dead of winter and pounds on peo…
> If you live in the rest of the United States, which is spread out and some quite rural, a car alarm can quickly notify you someone is messing with your car.
That really depends if you're close enough to the car, or in a building that makes it easy to hear noises coming from a parking lot. If I go to a mall or a big box store, I'm not going to hear my car alarm going off and other people are going to largely ignore it (since they've experienced so many false alarms in the past).
Car alarm systems should be silent and sent an alert to your phone so that you know someone is doing something to your vehicle and can check on it in a timely fashion.
Re: Why do they still make car alarms? (2015)
#6I really wish there was a way to disable the panic button on my key fob. It has a hair trigger and only requires one click to activate. I regularly trigger it by bending over with my keys in my pocket.
My last key fob had the panic button on the back which was flat, and promptly had a coin taped over it.
New fob unfortunately doesn't allow that, but it's recessed a bit more and is less likely to be hit.
Useless feature is like to disable as well.
Re: Why do they still make car alarms? (2015)
#7If you have your car at the mall or are in a big city parking garge, sure it doesn't do much. If you live in the rest of the United States, which is spread out and some quite rural, a car alarm can quickly notify you someone is messing with your car. My town has a population a little over 300 people, we have one resident that is... not well... that rides his bicycle around even int he dead of winter and pounds on peo…
> If you live in the rest of the United States, which is spread out and some quite rural, a car alarm can quickly notify you someone is messing with your car. That really depends if you're close enough to the car, or in a building that makes it easy to hear noises coming from a parking lot. If I go to a mall or a big box store, I'm not going to hear my car alarm going off and other people are going to largely ignore…
Isn’t it implied that the noise not only get the attention of the owner if nearby, but also passers by which in theory might deter the criminal?
Re: Why do they still make car alarms? (2015)
#8I really wish there was a way to disable the panic button on my key fob. It has a hair trigger and only requires one click to activate. I regularly trigger it by bending over with my keys in my pocket.
You can always desolder it from the board...most fobs open up pretty easily.
Re: Why do they still make car alarms? (2015)
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If you live in the rest of the United States, which is spread out and some quite rural, a car alarm can quickly notify you someone is messing with your car. That really depends if you're close enough to the car, or in a building that makes it easy to hear noises coming from a parking lot. If I go to a mall or a big box store, I'm not going to hear my car alarm going off and other people are going to largely ignore…
Isn’t it implied that the noise not only get the attention of the owner if nearby, but also passers by which in theory might deter the criminal?
In my experience, passers by don't care. I've heard many car alarms continuously going off and everyone else just going about their business.
Re: Why do they still make car alarms? (2015)
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If you live in the rest of the United States, which is spread out and some quite rural, a car alarm can quickly notify you someone is messing with your car. That really depends if you're close enough to the car, or in a building that makes it easy to hear noises coming from a parking lot. If I go to a mall or a big box store, I'm not going to hear my car alarm going off and other people are going to largely ignore…
Isn’t it implied that the noise not only get the attention of the owner if nearby, but also passers by which in theory might deter the criminal?
Passersby won’t deter the criminal. In places like the USA or Latin America where criminals are believed to possess guns, passersby wouldn’t want to risk getting shot for the sake of some stranger’s vehicle.
Even in Europe, if passersby in the big cities saw e.g. a bike thief taking an angle grinder to a bike lock, they are unlikely to intervene. It would just be asking for trouble.