WTF? Car Alarm in Car Without Car Alarm Went OFF today! Help...

[Libertas1776]

I dunno if anyone can help or at least has heard of this happening before. My damn car, a 2005 Hyundai Elantra, decided today, that when I opened my door after a loooong grueling day at work, it was gonna activate the car alarm. Now here's the catch...it has no alarm! (I know I know, they pre-install those things nowadays) but we've had this car since 2006. Didn't pay extra for the alarm so no alarm we were told, and of course, no little button transmitter key fob thing....because, ya know...you're never gonna need one!! And of course, since the alarm was triggered, the whole vehicle was immobilized. So it's sitting stuck in my work parking lot right now (hope no one breaks in...though they wouldn't get far, i guess) and i don't know what to do. In the damn near 10 years of owning the car it has never done this...nor did i ever believe it could happen. Could it be something like a corroded battery? Or a faulty connection? Any thoughts?

[MissB]

1. Are you sure it is your car?

[Libertas1776]

2. haha

yes, that was my first thought too. but the multiple dents and scratches on the doors, battle scars from so many workplace and supermarket parking lots, assured me it was my car.

[talkingmime]

14. That was MY thought. I spent two hours looking for my van at Hershey Park once.

I never realized JUST how many tan minivans there are in the world until then. It doesn't matter what make or model, all tan vans look the same and there were at least 100,000 of them (well, minor exageration). I finally found it but I must have walked three miles on hot asphalt to locate it. Perhaps God just hated me that day and transformed all of the cars into tan minivans just to fuck up my life. I know it isn't true, but it seemed like every other vehicle looked exactly like my van.

Curiously, I managed to unlock and open the side door on three other vans in the process. There are only so many codes available for those little fob thingies.

[OriginalGeek]

3. I'd open the hood and pull of the battery cable

to kill the alarm and hopefully reset the car.



if it works that helps now but I have no idea what to do long-term about why it went off in the first place.

[Libertas1776]

4. yeah

i'm gonna try and do that in the morning when i have the proper tools. and yeah, it would be interesting to find out the cause. I even tried googling the problem in real time and couldn't find any scenario remotely close to what happened to me

[Renew Deal]

5. Try opening the trunk using the key

That worked for another car with a similar situation. Also, use the key to lock, unlock doors.

[Libertas1776]

7. Thanks

I did try that but it didnt seem to work. I closed and locked the doors and then re-opened them with the key, but it just triggered the alarm again. I don't have a fob to unlock the doors either. Just the ignition key, use it for everything. I use to be envious of everyone with newer cars who just click a button and their doors unlock, their car turns on, their alarm disengages! but i figured my car wasn't that souped up so I didn't have to worry about those things. Guess I was wrong lol ugh

[Brigid]

6. Maybe a Hyundai dealer can help?

Maybe they can get you one of those keychain thingies?

[Libertas1776]

8. Maybe

thats an idea. Though I doubt they'll do it out of the kindness of their dear little hearts, the bastards. I think that's what I am afraid of most. The cost to fix it. I hope it's a simple thing, like just disengaging it. Although I was told it was in the first place, grrr. Hopefully it just needs a new battery....that or it's taken on a life of it's own and I have to re-name in Christine.

[tandot]

9. Something similar happened to my husband

He had no clue there was an alarm in his car. Actually, before he bought the car, they apparently disconnected the horn but left the alarm system in. So, his lights where flashing, his car wasn't starting, but no honking horn.

After half an hour, the alarms reset, his car started, and he took it to some stereo place. They ribbed all of the alarm stuff out.

He told me the story a month ago and I immediately remembered it when I read your post.

[Libertas1776]

10. thanks for sharing

it's relieving to hear that it happened to some one else too. Hopefully I'll luck out and it too will reset. I just wanna take it somewhere and let em reach in and tear the guts out of that alarm/security system...that i never knew I had.

[denbot]

11. Disconnect and reconnect the battery until it resets.

I did not know I had an alarm in my van until I changed batteries and set it off.

[lastlib]

12. If you can get under the hood, you can pull the fuse for the alarm, disabling it.

the owner's manual should tell you which fuse it is (failing that, you may have to look it up on the internetz)

There could be a fault in the wiring somewhere--a crossed circuit, maybe--that set it off. Even a dealers' mechanics may have trouble isolating it unless it happens while they're working on it; wiring problems in autos can be tricky, especially if they're intermittent.

[madmom]

15. This happened to my daughter, she had to use the key to lock and unlock

driver's side door. Hope that helps.