Do car alarms work? Will they really protect your car from auto theft, or vandalism? A simple answer is yes and no. Yes because a properly installed security system should come with some features to help keep your car safe. Keep in mind..NO SYSTEM is 100%.
The features you should look for are:
1. A Flashing Status Led. This is the little red or blue light that flashes from the interior of your vehicle. Most installers install them in your dash, but some systems are including them in their window mount antenna...which is fine too. Why is this little light so important? It tells the "thief" you have an alarm, and to go break into someone else's car. It also acts as a status indicator for when your alarm has been triggered.
2. A dual zone impact sensor. This picks up impacts, and strikes to the vehicle. A dual zone sensor can determine between a light and heavy impact, and cuts down on false alarms. This is important to pick up someone breaking a window, or attempting to knock out your locks. Have a convertible? A motion sensor (picks up interior motion) would work best for you. NOTE: DO NOT tell the installer to turn your sensor up, and to make it as sensitive as possible. This only creates more false alarms...wind, loud motorcycles, etc. What good is an alarm that has false alarms all the time?
3. Starter Kill. This disables the starter when the alarm is activated, which will stop the thief from "hot wiring" the vehicle. Most newer cars have this already built into the key, but adding an additional kill makes it that much more difficult to steal.
4. A Paging Remote. This is a remote that will actually page you and let you know when your alarm is going off. These come in many styles including models with LCD Screens. 2-way paging systems come in handy with alarm systems with a remote start system built in since it will page you back when the vehicle is running.
5. The siren. I prefer for customers to hook up their vehicle's horn to their alarm system. A honking horn gets much more attention than a typical siren. Air-Horns are also an option that a lot of customers don't think of.
6. Trunk or Hatch Pin Switch. This will monitor your trunk or hatch so when it is opened the alarm will trigger. This is important if you have an audio system, or if you travel a lot.
7. Door Trigger. This monitors the doors of the vehicle. When a door is opened it will trigger the alarm to go off. If you have a faulty dome light you will need to get it serviced for the alarm to work properly.
8. Battery Backup. This will keep power to the alarm system even if the battery wires have been cut to the system. This is extremely important to owners of classic cars where no hood release is needed to open the hood. A hood pin switch (see trunk pin switch above) is also needed to protect classic cars.
9. Tilt Sensor. This is only needed for the owners of vehicles with custom wheels. This sensor will trigger the alarm if a thief is jacking the vehicle up to remove the wheels. Wheel Locks are still your number 1 defense.
10. Flashing Parking Lights. This brings more attention to your vehicle when the system is going off. This is standard on most systems.
The things a security system will not do:
1. Stop a rock from going through your window.
2. Stop someone from keying it.
3. Stop someone from stealing your iPod or GPS that YOU left out in the open, or any other smash and grab thefts.
4. Put a force field around the vehicle...you would be surprised what some people expect.
5. Stop someone with a tow truck from hauling it away.
Here at Autosport Plus we strive to offer the very best in vehicle security and remote start systems. We ONLY install systems made by Directed Electronics...or DEI, and in my OPINION they make the best systems on the market.
Hope this helps you in picking out the correct system for you and your car.
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