Amen to that!

I once actually sent my city councilperson a proposed law which would allow anyone awakened by someone's car alarm at night to disable it themselves, with a pick-axe, crowbar, or sledge hammer, without liability. Maybe I should try again.

I call them "moron alarms" because the people who install them are invariably under the delusion that whoever happens to be near the car (1) can, (2) should, and (3) will look out the window, see if the car is being broken into, and if so, report the crime. They also invariably consider it a feature, not a bug, that they annoy the whole neighborhood repeatedly for nothing.

If I ever install a car alarm, it will be a radio device which notifies me, by pager, and no one else. Then maybe I can surprise a bad guy in the act. But bad guys ignore the moron alarms because they know perfectly well that the rest of us do, too.

I like your thinking on that, jdgalt!

Jesus, I hate that! I've always fantasized about creating some sort of viral Internet movement in which everyone would be encouraged to call 911 every single time they heard a car alarm. After all, the car must be getting stolen, the alarm is going off. If such a movement were to take root, police forces would be quickly overwhelmed and every state in the union would make car alarms illegal.

Seriously, has anyone in the History of mankind ever called the police because they heard a car alarm going off? Maybe we should.

It is surprising that car alarms have not really evolved technologically speaking. I do think some system have notification abilities like messaging.
Yet you would think after 10 or 20 years since these devices have become more popular that the sensors and abilities would improve. It see just bumping it too hard or standing too close is still the default. Systems should now be able to "know" if a car is being stolen or broken into.

Looking at the wiki page on Car alarms it comments that many alarms that go off are because the setting are set to low/sensitive. People should consider warning neighbors and people that have alarms to adjust them before they annoy people. Or people will adjust with a hammer.

Yes siree, when I hear a car alarm go off my first thought is to run over and confront any thug in order to protect your car. (Possible use of sarcasm here.)

Both of my vehicles have alarms from the factory - one was an option the other one was not. (note: I bought both used) Neither of them are high tech ones - you have to break something or open something or shake the vehicle REALLY hard. The one seems to occasionally get set off by a signal - I mean my fob has panic button the sets off the alarm and its has gone off when I have been way to far to have accidentally press the fob to set it off.

I think they might have some effect...when I hear one go off I turn to look and give them the stink-eye so if it was a thief now they would have been seen. Of course the person just continued on or just acted sheepish I won'd take further note. Maybe if they were hacking through the steering wheel I would.

I only know of one person whose car was prevented from being stolen by a car alarm.

The kicker is that it was a silent, text-alert only alarm that was sent to his cell phone.

We, about 10 of us, were hanging out at happy hour after work one day when he said "Hey my alarm is going off!"

So, we all went running out to the parking lot (this was in a suburban strip mall) to see what was going on. And, yea, there was a would-be thief in his car. We all stood around the car just staring down the would-be thief. He was a young kid and looked rather frightened by all of us just standing there waiting for the cops to show.

I think a two hundred dollar fine for a false alarm, split with whomever calls it in would do the job, quickly.

Gee, MarkD, let us immediately go around town setting off alarms to make money on the fines.

Exactly Radwaste! Either people are breaking into your car and you arrest them for grand larceny or your alarm is going off falsely and you fine the owner. Either way you will not have car alarms going off after a bit.

At our big Civil War reenactment in Fresno, I watched a yuppie mom unload her kids from their SUV. As she turned to walk away, she pointed her key remote at the vehicle to lock the doors and... and CHIRP! set the alarm. I told her "Your alarm will be going off all during the battles." She asked "What am I supposed to do?" Her daughter (smart kid!) said "Just lock the doors, mom."
We always joke about the alarms going off during the skirmishes, and every time a cannon gets fired they start up again. Nobody bothers to check. I left a note on a cop car's windshield about this, even-- his alarm was continually going off, and not even the cop bothered to check on it.

On one of my vehicles - arming the alarm and locking it are the same thing. Either by fob or key. Actually I don't know what happens if you lock the door on the inside and then close it. Just thought that.

Almost as bad as a car alarm going off is the type that chirps or honks the horn when you set it. I was glad that the first car I bought with a car alarm (a Daewoo) didn't do that. The sound of the doors locking was very loud and the park lights also flashed. It normally isn't a problem, but I used to live in an apartment next to the parking lot and the chirps would always wake me up in the middle of the night.

It amuses me that car alarms annoy people but dogs that bark for hours on end don't. A car alarm is regular and can be ignored relatively easily. A dog's barking is irregular and always keeps you off balance. And of course the dog's owner doesn't see the barking as a problem either.