Alarm Question
 

I set my alarm using the key fob (I know you can do it with the key as well but that's not the point of this post.) The point of this post is that I can't tell that the car is truly armed. I can open the trunk with a key, I can pull on the door handles, I can rock the car from side to side (gently of course - I'm not trying to bend the quarter panels) and nothing I do to disturb the car makes any kind of an alarm go off? Is this normal? If so, does anybody know what it would take to set off the alarm? Short of crowbarring the doors open or punching out the trunk-lock, I can't imagine getting too much more invasive than repeatedly pulling on the door-handles of a locked, armed car and as I said, this produces no result at all...

i got the upgraded shock sensors for 5 dollars more a month and it honks when i arm so i know its on. Maybe you can go get a shocksensor or an aftermarket alarm system??

Here's what you do: Set the alarm with the window open. Reach in and unlock the door from the inside. That should set off the alarm. Or arm the alarm, reach into the open window and pop the trunk or hood. Again, the alarm should go off and the ignition should be disabled.

The idea is to prevent anyone opening the doors, trunk or hood without disarming the alarm by, e.g., breaking a window or using a slim jim.

Even without a shock sensor (and I'm not sure why a shock sensor is really necessary), the alarm will honk at you to confirm it's armed if you hit "Arm" on the key fob twice in a row.

BTW, I'm sure this is all covered in the ... (all join in now) ... owner's manual!

I was aware that the car would arm from the fob and that two clicks produces a confirming honk. I read that in the manual and somehow retained it, but I didn't recall that it took someone actually completing a breech (entry) to trigger the thing. That's probably good enough given that nobody ever listens to the darn things anyway. My wife's TA has a system that goes off if you raise a door-handle or if you open the gas delivery-compartment cover or the hatch-back. I figured this one should work the same way. I may try leaving the window down and popping the trunk and see if it sets it off.

Thanks for the feedback....

Give it a try. I intend to do the same, because I haven't actually tested out my theory yet. But that's how my Miata works and it was how our Mercedes worked, and my mother-in-law's Lexus works that way, too, so I'm pretty sure I'm right on this.

I'm not sure if the trunk will set off the alarm since I know that with the alarm set you can open the trunk with the fob and set the alarm off. The alarm is still armed for the doors though when you do this. In fact you can set the alarm with the trunk open and you will notice that the lights don't flash until the trunk is closed. Another thing I do is listen for the doors to lock when I hit the fob letting me know that the alarm is armed.

yeah, it's not very sensitive at all. It beeps once when armed but yanking on door handles or rocking the car doesn't do a thing. In order for the alarm to go off unfortunately you have to break a window or have inside driving activites going on. shifter....movement of the steeling wheel...etc. Still sucks because even if the car isn't ripped off, you're still going to come outside to find your car with a smashed in window or a punched out trunk lock. I may consider upgrading the sensor as my last car was stolen. (from a secured friggin' parking lot) Totally pissed me off. Good luck.