car alarm going off randomly? Please help

[paysensmom]

Anybody had this happen? My van's alarm went of two times in the middle of the night last night and THREE times today. My neighbors are NOT going to be happy campers. Anyone ever have this happen?

 

[bumbershoot]

Is it actually random? Or is there someone prowling around?

My parents had this happen with a car of theirs, only it was one time for hours. It was awful. Checked the battery, checked everything...I can't even remember what they did to stop it.

Weirdest part about it all was...they didn't know they had an alarm. They had had the car for several years (bought it used) and didn't have an alarm fob or anything. No light in the car to indicate an alarm, nothing. And one very very cold night after driving towards a vacation destination, suddenly they found out they had an alarm!

So I can empathize (I was there with my parents)... And at least you knew you had an alarm in the car!

 

[bdcp]

See about replacing the battery in the fob. Our alarms have gone off when the key was in DH's pocket because the alarm button was pressed accidentally. Now, our car alarms aren't the ones that go off when you try the handle or touch the car. They only go off if someone actually forces the door open or reaches in and unlocks it manually after it's been locked and then the door shut. The alarm won't go off if you use the fob to unlock it and then reach in. DH has a convertible and if the top is down and someone tries to open the door by unlocking it by reaching in and pressing the button, the alarm goes off then. Older car alarms went off by just touching the car or a thunderstorm could set them off. Newer ones don't do that.

 

[Sarahlovy]

I had an older car with an alarm that would go off in heavy wind- it really was not that sensitive in general, but the wind did it several times.

 

[dfchelbay]

We have an alarm on our RV and this started happening to us once. It turned out that the keyless remote needed a new battery. If you use a little remote to unlock and lock the car, try replacing the battery in it. Once we replaced the battery, the alarm stopped going off for no reason. We bought the new battery at Walmart.

 

[endy]

Mine went off randomly one time. Turned out one of the interior lights was in the on position rather than to shut off with the doors.
Took me a while to figure that out.

 

[PHXscuba]

Also check if it has a "perimeter" type alarm. Our neighbor's Jeep alarm kept going off one afternoon recently (I was outside with my kids) and she finally figured out she parked too close to their basketball hoop and it kept tripping the sensor somehow.

PHXscuba

 

[3boymthr]

If you have a motion alarm, it could be an animal or wind gust.

 

[3boymthr]

Just another random thought but are your sure someone's not trying to break into your car? I had my car broken into in my driveway once.

 

[sameyeyam]

Perhaps you have someone nearby with the same brand of car and they are playing with you. What most people don't realize is that many similar brands of cars have panic alarms that are nearly identical.

For instance, if you ever want to get a good laugh...drive to a Home Depot store and hit the panic alarm on your newer model Ford/Chevy or Dodge Truck key fob. All of the sudden you will get 2 or 3 like-model trucks in the parking lot with car alarms going off. My understanding is each manufacturer has only a handful (maybe 5-10) codes for the panic alarms.

If I were them, I would walk around my parking lot or neighborhood with the key fob and start pressing the panic alarm button (out of the range of their own car) and see if anybody else's alarm goes off...that might be the possible culprit.

It's actually funny to do to somebody you know, but obviously not so funny to do in the middle of the night or multiple times.

 

[The Running Ann]

We had a similar sounding problem a few months ago with our car. It went off two or three times on a Friday night, about 20-30 minutes apart. It did the next same thing over the next two days. It was a very long weekend (I am sure for our neighbors as well). The dealership felt that it was a faulty horn. We haven't had a problem with it since. Good luck.

 

[dodukes]

For me it was the door ajar switch. that is the sensor in the door that tells the car that all the doors are locked and there fore turns off teh inside light and makes sure your alarm can work. on my car i have two alarms, the orignila alarm, perimeter, and an extra alarm, well i was havin gproblem with the passnger door aja switch and taht would trip uo both alarms (i disconnected the one extra) but until i fixed it it kept tripping up the perimeter alarm.

 

[SoonerSarah]

We had a similar issue with our Honda Odessey more than a year ago. I can't remember what it was that went on with the car, but we called the dealer and they told us some very specific and odd things to do and it stopped. No issues since then.

 

[Sammybeau's Mom]

I have a Toyota 4Runner and my car did this...usually in the middle of the night. Nothing like being in a deep sleep and being awakened by honk!honk!honk!.... I think they said it was a bad solenoid. Just a thought.

 

[Redheaded Sunshine]

Mine went off randomly one time. Turned out one of the interior lights was in the on position rather than to shut off with the doors.
Took me a while to figure that out.

Mine did the same thing. Took me forever to figure it out b/c every time I opened the door, of course, all the lights came on. And scared the bejesus out of me too, b/c every time I got enough nerve to peek in my garage, I thought the light was on b/c someone had opened the car door.

 

[monkey0816]

My husband's suggestions (since I have no useful input in this area-LOL!) are: could it be the wind? and to check the car's battery.