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Why do they still make car alarms? (2015)

popularmechanics.com

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Re: Why do they still make car alarms? (2015)

#331

Post by kenhwang »

l72 wrote: post #87

Now if we could just disable the feature that causes the horn to honk when locking the vehicle with the key fob... As someone who lives on a residential street, but with a hospital at the far end, we have tons of patients, families, doctors, and nurses that park on our street to avoid paying for the garage. I get to listen to horns honking at all hours. A few cars (Acura comes to mind), do a bit better, in that they…

> A few cars (Acura comes to mind), do a bit better, in that they have a very soft, more pleasant beep instead of honking the horn

Pretty much all the European cars and luxury cars only use the horn on repeated lock button press and have a chirp for first/routine lock/unlock.

It's really the economy cars that primarily use the horn (presumably for the cost savings of not having a separate lock confirmation chirper)

Re: Why do they still make car alarms? (2015)

#332

Post by peteretep »

johanvts wrote: post #184
the_mitsuhiko wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cars in Europe don’t honk on open/close. It’s not illegal but there are some non honk areas and because of that manufactures don’t enable it.

It is illegal to honk in Denmark unless theres a dangerous situation ahead. Honk any other a time you can be fined about 130€

How do you let people know you’re about to execute a particularly impressive road manoeuvre and they should pay attention?!? You just need to yell or?

(I have probably driven 95% of the km I’ve driven in various SE Asian countries)

Re: Why do they still make car alarms? (2015)

#333

Post by ryanmercer »

burnthrow wrote: post #46
ryanmercer wrote: post #3

If 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…

> rides his bicycle around even int he dead of winter That maniac!

I mean, it gets down to about -17F here in the winter. And we're pretty rural. Town is all of 0.38 square miles and he'll ride his bike for miles and miles down US 40 through farm country on the shoulder.

While screaming about the government coming for everyone and shouting random profanities.

And damaging people's property.

Definitely not normal behavior.

Re: Why do they still make car alarms? (2015)

#334

Post by earthboundkid »

ineedasername wrote: post #292
Lammy wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is only my American perspective and wouldn't pertain to all wealthy countries, but I don't think it would be fair to categorize the US as having a free market. We have a market that has been increasingly weaponized to continue the old traditions of Jim Crow and segregation. Lots of people will ask "WTF happened in 1971?" ( https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/ ), but I find it impossible to do that without considering…

You can however go back in our history to times with lesser and lesser regulation of markets-- 100 years ago, 150... And you'll still see similar problems.

There have always been crazy people and the indolent, but there was a qualitative change in the number of urban homeless in the 1980s. It didn’t used to be like this.

Re: Why do they still make car alarms? (2015)

#335

Post by onion2k »

jiofih wrote: post #316
hoten wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it is a confirmation. If you're far enough away (perhaps you forgot to lock right away), you won't hear the lock mechanism and wont know if you are too far away for the signal to reach. So you wait for a honk.

Light flashes twice, the mirrors fold. Visible at any distance.

The curvature of the Earth will stop you seeing the car from about 5 miles (assuming you're 6 feet tall and the lights are 2 feet above the ground.)

Re: Why do they still make car alarms? (2015)

#336

Post by kenhwang »

greggman3 wrote: post #294
anonymousiam wrote: post #112

If the author had a Ring doorbell (and looked at their crime reports), or participated on NextDoor, they would know that theft from parked cars is the number one problem in most neighborhoods. An alarm is still a good deterrent for people who do not park their cars in a garage.

> theft from parked cars is the number one problem in most neighborhoods You forgot to add "in the USA" (or some other country). Where I live (Japan), AFAIK, theft from cars is practically non-existent. Leaving things in your car visible is not an issue. I don't think I've ever seen a pile of glass from a car window busted the entire time I've spent here (14 yrs) where as in SF, several times, I'd walk by Dolores Par…

I've lived all over California and it pretty much never happens outside of SF. Smashed car windows and poop on sidewalks are kinda still uniquely SF things, not general California things.

Other places with rampant car theft tends to have more elegant methods of getting into cars that doesn't involve the noise of smashing a window. Like a slim jim.

Re: Why do they still make car alarms? (2015)

#337

Post by asdff »

thelean12 wrote: post #118
anonymousiam wrote: post #112

If the author had a Ring doorbell (and looked at their crime reports), or participated on NextDoor, they would know that theft from parked cars is the number one problem in most neighborhoods. An alarm is still a good deterrent for people who do not park their cars in a garage.

The best and only important deterrent is to not have anything to steal, especially in plain view. If everyone did this then theft from parked cars would drop to zero, and break-ins to near zero. Smash and grabbers don't care about alarms. They'll be gone in a few seconds anyway.

I subscribe to that philosophy, too. Still, it didn't stop someone from breaking into my car anyway and throwing all the crap in my glovebox around the car and leaving trash everywhere. The police didn't even want to file a report.

Re: Why do they still make car alarms? (2015)

#338

Post by leafmeal »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #310
ineedasername wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It amazes me that, in wealthy countries, there are significant homelessness problems due to economic displacement. I consider it an existence-proof of the idea that a free market cannot solve all problems. I think homelessness due to other causes-- mental health for example-- are more complex but similarly demonstrate fundamental flaws in the framework of society. Only once was I able to give a homeless person a meal…

As others have said the USA is far from a free market. Instead the wealthy use the state to manipulate markets for their benefit, and the rest of us suffer as a result. I've come to see "free markets" as the economic fabric on top of which we can build structures to support one another. For example we could form large healthcare collectives in a free market, as an alternative to state controlled health care (or insur…

> As others have said the USA is far from a free market. Instead the wealthy use the state to manipulate markets for their benefit, and the rest of us suffer as a result.

Some might still call that a free market.

Re: Why do they still make car alarms? (2015)

#339

Post by asdff »

whyenot wrote: post #237

I was getting my car serviced at a local Toyota dealership today. While I was waiting for my car, there were two Priuses that came in with stolen/hacked off catalytic converters. A Prius with a really loud "straight pipe" exhaust is awful weird. In any case, auto theft isn't about stealing the whole car, sometimes it's just hacking off the valuable bits without even breaking in. It's not a new problem. Before catalyt…

I don't think car alarms are even a deterrent anymore. They go off so much. I mean I don't run to the windows when I hear one go off. Do you? Certainly the angle grinder taking off the catalytic converter makes a huge racket. The truth is these sounds are normalized in an urban environment.

Re: Why do they still make car alarms? (2015)

#340

Post by asdff »

brewdad wrote: post #260
thewebcount wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This happens to houses in my area all the time. Either the owner is on vacation, or has moved out, but it hasn't sold or the new owner hasn't moved in, and some alarm or other starts going off. Sometimes it's the annoying smoke alarm "replace the battery beep" once per minute. Sometimes it's something more annoying. I usually call the police or fire department and let them know. That's the only way I've found to make…

How poorly built are the houses near you if you can hear the "replace the battery" beep from a home that is closed up while an owner is on vacation?

Where do you live? Among granite castles? Smoke alarms are loud. Sometimes I can hear one go off three houses down. American houses are not very sound proof.
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