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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)

#471

Post by string »

memetherapy wrote: post #431
sgt wrote: post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

General advice: do not give money to the homeless, just give them food. There are of course exceptions in life like with anything, but if your city has a homelessness problem then you and others will only gradually make it worse by giving money.

As someone who's been homeless (and didn't have a drink or drug problem thanks) please fuck off. A night in a shelter costs money. Clothes which regularly get stolen cost money. Going to the bathroom costs money. Having a shower costs money. Travel to find jobs costs money. Medication costs money. Toothpaste costs money.

Which direct access shelters in the UK cost money?

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

#472

Post by TeMPOraL »

snu wrote: post #368
gnicholas wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although it's not easily discoverable, this is generally a configurable setting. It might involve a combination of pressing the lock/unlock button in the car while holding a button on your fob. Look for instructions in the manual.

Thank you for posting this! Looked into it, and on my Nissan, holding the unlock and lock buttons together for 3 seconds turned off the beep! I had assumed that this was a 'feature' that could not be disabled, akin to 80s cars having the requirement to hold the handle up when shutting the door to keep it locked. I have a suspicion that this led to more cars being left unlocked and stolen than it saved people from loc…

This is no snipe at you personally, as I'm not yet all that good with it - but I'm surprised how nobody ever seems to read manuals for stuff, especially stuff they plan to use on a regular basis, and then live with problems that would never be an issue if they did read the instructions.

When I first realized this, I made a decision to always remember to RTFM, and I mean actually read it. Since then, it helped me in many ways. Some random examples:

- At one of my previous jobs, there was a proprietary source control / issue tracker / timesheeting system that the customer forced on us. Everyone absolutely hated it, considered it clunky and super confusing. One day by chance I realized there's an user manual in the Help menu, which I read end-to-end. And suddenly, I saw the system as easy to use, quite intuitive, and even somewhat likeable. Did wonders for my job satisfaction.

- My ability to use GDB went up an order of magnitude after I read the small book's worth of user manual it ships with. Ever since, I've learned to appreciate Info pages that come with GNU software, and prefer that to skimming man pages.

- When we bought our current car, my wife printed out the manual and I read that cover-to-cover too. Discovered a bunch of tiny little features we would've never thought to look for otherwise.

At this point, I consider the skill of reading a manual end-to-end to be my little superpower :). And I'm deeply disappointed when a product (be it physical or software) doesn't include a proper user's manual.

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

#473

Post by TeMPOraL »

denni9th wrote: post #415
onion2k wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.)

But are you really locking your car from 5 miles away? I doubt the radio in the key will be strong enough for that distance.

Hold my Pringles while I use the can they came in as a directional antenna.

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

#474

Post by pengaru »

defen wrote: post #440
pengaru wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can confirm. On one occasion a homeless person smashed passenger windows on ~8 cars parked on La Playa @ Judah in front of Java Beach. My mx-5 happened to be one of them. When I confronted him about it, he claimed some passers by called him a faggot and that's why he broke all the windows. No ashtray incentive needed when you've got Crazy to make up for it. On another occasion a homeless person reached into my mx-5 a…

Driving an MX-5 in San Francisco...I have to ask - manual transmission? Because if not, you're not really getting the full experience; but if so, those hills must be fun. I'm thinking of some of the streets in the Marina going up to Pac Heights with stop signs.

Mine was a track-prepped turbo NA with out of state plates, recovered gearhead here. FM2 "race" intercooled turbo w/standalone ecu and alcohol injection, ohlins dfv coilovers and tubular swaybars, R1Rs on 15x9 6ULs, 12" rotors w/wilwood 4-pot calipers, torsen lsd, the list goes on.

But driving a manual in SF proper wasn't really all that interesting compared to other CA gems like PCH, 9/skyline, 36.

Surprisingly that particular car never got fucked with. The mx-5s mentioned in my comment about petty crimes were mostly stock. Dumb luck I guess...

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

#475

Post by cheschire »

Lammy wrote: post #288
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…

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…

I just realized the other day that the major arteries inbound to DC from northern Virginia seem to correlate with social classes. Guess which ones have tolls?

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

#476

Post by yason »

bhandziuk wrote: post #220
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…

This drives me crazy about my Acura. I want it to honk so I know the car is locked or so I can find it in a parking lot. Instead it does a tiny muffled whimper that is functionally useless.

If the car honks or flashes its indicator lights doesn't mean the car is locked. If one door is slightly open the locks will generally unlock immediately, regardless of the sounds/lights. A more reliable way is to listen to the lock motors click once in unison but not twice. I often push the lock button and just try one door myself before leaving the car.

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

#477

Post by ryanmercer »

burnthrow wrote: post #411
ryanmercer wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> I mean, it gets down to about -17F here in the winter. Did you know that Minneapolis is considered the best bicycling city in the US?

Did you know that's largely because of all of the dedicated bicycle paths/lanes it has? That's a lot different than a rural farm town with no shoulders of note on the roads that only see snow cleared (and sees no salting of the majority of the roads) if someone in the neighborhood happens to have a plow on their truck and clears a path out to the highway for their own household.

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

#478

Post by m463 »

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€

I remember a case where a person was pulled over by the police for flashing his lights at oncoming traffic to warn of a speed trap.

I think his defense was that fining him for it interfered with his free speech.

I wonder if honking is a free speech issue :)

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

#479

Post by KineticLensman »

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.

Yes. The only time I've had a car broken into I had left a suit jacket on a hanger next to a rear window. Perhaps they thought the jacket might have had a wallet in it. They didn't find my emergency cache of 'petrol money' I keep in my car in case I forget or lose my wallet and need to fill up. This was a hotel car park in the UK town of Bedford.

If you do put stuff in the boot (trunk) you should do this before you park, otherwise it is a dead giveaway that you are hiding something valuable.

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

#480

Post by buran77 »

jojobas wrote: post #382
greggman3 wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

You're talking about an ethnically and culturally homogeneous society, which are in short supply these days.

Consider that crime might be higher in areas with a concentration of immigrants simply because those areas intrinsically offer good opportunities for both immigrants and criminals. Good jobs/pay for people (immigrants included) also means better stuff that criminals can steal.
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