car alarm oddity

[glamour_dust]

Yesterday I was sitting in the front porch reading, and my car was parked nearby. The key was in the ignition as always but totally switched off. Suddenly, I heard the car alarm beep on, and the car doors lock. I was startled as the only way to activate the alarm is to manually press the alarm button attached to the keys, which were inside the car. I looked in through the car window - the alarm light was flashing and the doors locked. I was alone, no one near the car, and there is no other alarm activator. I had to get the spare key, open the car door which triggered the siren, retrieve the keys from the ignition and press the button to stop the siren. So who pressed the alarm button in the first place? How was it activated? :?

P.S. - I know that there is a feature which allows the alarm to come on automatically after a few minutes when the car is in park. However, I had this feature removed on installation, since I didn't want to accidentally leave my keys in the ignition and have the car automatically locked and alarm activated (Ironic eh?). I've always manually pressed the alarm button to activate it whenever I park the car away from home - it's second nature to me. The alarm has never come on for itself before.

 

[GNC]

Is your car called Herbie?

Maybe it was someone nearby locking their car and the signal made yours lock as well? Bit of a long shot, though. If it happens again you might want to get it checked out at the garage, could be an electrical fault.

 

[smoothvirus]

Do you live near a military base? Remotes for car alarms use a frequency band that is also used by the military from time to time. I know of a case in Virginia where all the automatic garage doors in a neighborhood were opening themselves because the Marines were experimenting with some transmitters in the same band.

 

[plusk]

1) I used to park my car regularly in a public car park near a tall building with lots of antannae. Cars in that car park were always locking or unlocking themselves.

2) It;s got to be a million to one chance but I have had the experience of my remote also opening another car parked a few yards away.

 

[glamour_dust]

No military base or antennae around me. I've waited to see if it would happen again but it hasn't. Quite odd. Nothing else has gone wrong. I'm left with the someone else's transmitter affecting my car theory. Otherwise I just don't know what happened.

 

[LaurenChurchill]

I'd like to back up to the most important feature of this story:

You leave your keys in your ignition? :eek!!!!:

 

[Peripart]

I'd like to back up to the most important feature of this story:

You leave your keys in your ignition? :eek!!!!:

Now that is weird. Where are you from, glamour dust? You've spelt "glamour" the British way, but if you are from the UK, I'm guessing it's somewhere rural. Round here, if you left your keys in the ignition, the next sound you'd hear would be you engine starting and the car driving off without you in it. Very Fortean!

 

[markbellis]

"glamour" the British way,

Glamor is only the US spelling, so, Canada, Caribbean, Australia, NZ, India, HK, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, etc. etc. - I prefer the -or spelling but since I'm in Canada I write -our.

I've had my Toyota unlock when another Toyota owner used the remote to open their car.

 

[glamour_dust]

I'm from the caribbean actually, a former British colony, so we use the British spelling. (I find the American spelling quite shocking at times, lol)

Yes I do leave my keys in the ignition. Quiet area, everyone knows everyone else, everyone does it. Mind you, car thefts have been on the rise, but in my little corner of the world - not yet. I've been doing it for years and still do.

My car is a Toyota. I suppose it's possible someone else's remote locked it. It's the only explanation I can think of. I still think it's weird.

P.S. One other strange thing I've noticed lately is the television changing channels for itself . It started with one tv, so I thought maybe some problem with that one only. I was surprised to see it happen tonight to another tv in a totally different room. Maybe just coincidence right? I don't do well with poltergeists :shock:

 

[GNC]

P.S. One other strange thing I've noticed lately is the television changing channels for itself . It started with one tv, so I thought maybe some problem with that one only. I was surprised to see it happen tonight to another tv in a totally different room. Maybe just coincidence right? I don't do well with poltergeists :shock:

Either that or there's a madman wielding a selection of remote control devices stalking your neighbourhood.

 

[markbellis]

...P.S. One other strange thing I've noticed lately is the television changing channels for itself . It started with one tv, so I thought maybe some problem with that one only. I was surprised to see it happen tonight to another tv in a totally different room....

The older TVs that used ultrasound with the remotes had that problem quite a bit - you could change the channel by jingling coins sometimes - modern TV remotes work on infrared light - there might be another infrared source in the room that's causing the TVs to change - cell phones, PDAs, electronic games - some wireless headphones work on infrared too.

 

[Peripart]

Glamor is only the US spelling, so, Canada, Caribbean, Australia, NZ, India, HK, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, etc. etc. - I prefer the -or spelling but since I'm in Canada I write -our.

I've had my Toyota unlock when another Toyota owner used the remote to open their car.

Fair enough - I guess I probably meant "non-US" when I wrote "British" - maybe I should have written "British Commonwealth", but to be honest, I hadn't thought it through!

I'm from the caribbean actually, a former British colony, so we use the British spelling. (I find the American spelling quite shocking at times, lol)

My car is a Toyota. I suppose it's possible someone else's remote locked it. It's the only explanation I can think of. I still think it's weird.

I'll tell you what's weird - we've all got Toyotas! Maybe it's my remote that's setting your cars off? It certainly doesn't work on my own car reliably. Certainly, electronics are very odd stuff. Have you noticed how you can increase the range of your remote fob by pressing it against your chin? Ridiculous but true (though I don't expect it'll really reach across the Atlantic)!

 

[jeff544]

It would have most likely been an electrical prob that caused the alarm prob with the car. I used to have a brand new Ford Mondeo that did things like this all the time. Very frequently I would return to the car to find it unlocked with all the windows open. The various garages I took it to never found out why it kept happening. the only way I managed to stop it was to stop gettin g Fords.

 

[akaWiintermoon]

I've had a couple of wierd car alarm incidents.
In 2005 I was out walking with a friend and as I went past a van, but in no way touched it, the alarm sounded until I passed. It didn't happen with my friend so we tried a few experiments. It only ever did it when I walked past.
The night before last I was out looking for my new cat, make sure she was OK. I walked past a car, about 2ft away from it so no touching what-so-ever, and yes, the alarm goes off and all the lights are flashing!
Are car alarms that sensitive these days?

 

[markbellis]

Some car alarms are set to monitor what's going on near the car... I suppose the idea is to deter people from accidentally bumping into the car. They can use radar, infrared, sound - it might have been that you were wearing something more reflective ( of radar, infrared or sound, depending on what it was using) than your friend.

 

[akaWiintermoon]

Thanks for the reply markbellis.
Both times I was wearing black, and I don't wear any jewellery. The night before last I did carry a big rubber coated torch so maybe it was that?

 

[markbellis]

Thanks for the reply markbellis.
Both times I was wearing black, and I don't wear any jewellery. The night before last I did carry a big rubber coated torch so maybe it was that?

Welcome! Hard to say, things that are dark in visible light can be bright in infrared, and a torch would bounce back radar because of the batteries.