How to turn off your car alarm
Fixing your car alarm is all well and good, but what if just turning off the alarm doesn’t work with your key fob? Well, you’re not totally out of luck. Below we cover four possible solutions.
The first two are the easiest, but they don’t always work. The last two will turn off your car alarm every time.
1) Start your car
If your car alarm is working properly, it should stop as soon as you start your car. This is because your car’s ignition system is equipped with an anti-theft system. If the car detects that you are the right person trying to start the car, there is no reason for the alarm to keep going off.
However, this doesn’t always work in some older cars, and if there is a problem with the ECU, the alarm may continue to go off even while driving.
2) Locking and Unlocking the Car
In some cases, this is all you need to reset the alarm system and stop the alarm. Many car alarms will stop going off if you lock and unlock the car. Again, this is not foolproof, especially if there is a problem with the ECU. But it may reset the system and give you some peace and quiet.
3) Remove the fuse
If the first two repairs don’t stop the alarm, this is probably the best solution. Car alarm systems run on fuses to protect the circuits, and pulling the fuse means there’s no power to the alarm. No power means the alarm won’t go off.
Even better, since you’re only unplugging the alarm circuit, everything else in your car should work fine. The only difference is that with the alarm system powered off, your vehicle will no longer be equipped with a vehicle alarm.
It’s up to you to decide if it’s worth investing the money to repair the alarm and get a little more protection for your car and the belongings in it.
4) Disconnect the battery
If you can’t find the right fuse or you need to power down your vehicle quickly, you can also safely turn off the alarm by disconnecting the battery. Disconnecting the battery will cut power from all circuits in the vehicle, ensuring that the alarm stops.
The only downside is that you won’t be able to move your vehicle either. No car battery means there’s no power left anywhere, and that can be a pretty big problem if you need to use your car while also trying to fix your car alarm problem.
How Car Alarms Work
To make troubleshooting easier, it’s a good idea to first understand the basics about how these alarm systems actually work. There are several generations of car alarms, but they all have some or all of these features.
The alarm will be deactivated if you unlock the car with the key fob. However, if someone manages to unlock the car without the key fob, the alarm may be activated. This is also why an alarm sounds when you lock your car from the outside and someone inside unlocks it and gets out of the car.
The other sensor that alarm systems use to sound the alarm is the shock sensor. Not all cars have shock sensors, but if your car has one, it can help prevent some car thefts. The shock sensor works by detecting an impact to your car.
This can happen if someone gets into your car or if someone breaks a window. This is important because with traditional car alarm systems, you can break a window and take anything you want. The alarm won’t go off unless you open the door!
The shock sensor provides additional protection. The alarm can also go off when someone is trying to unlock your car. It’s great to have the alarm go off before someone tries to break in.
