Car alarms...Are they obnoxious?
 

So there we were at Glacier Pt.Yosemite and someones car alarm goes off.I got to thinking about how many times we`ve all heard these things and has it ever been because of a break in? Not in my experience.

Once in my entire life, I've seen an alarm go off as a result of a break-in. The reason that I knew this was that the car was speeding down my street, with the alarm blaring! So obviously the darn thing didn't even deter the thieves. Nobody tried to stop them, either.

Back in the 70s, when car alarms were new, many (maybe all) of them did not have an automatic shutoff, and if the alarm was set off it would just go on and on until the car's battery wore down. I lived in a crowded urban neighborhood and sure enough one night we were treated to an alarm for hours and hours. The next morning I looked out my fourth-floor window to witness the following scene: The owner of the car approaching it, totally dismayed because ALL HIS WINDOWS and windshield were totally smashed, and all the metal was dented. Somebody had apparently attacked the noisy car with a baseball bat. And then a couple of neighbors coming along, and everybody gesturing madly, apparently explaining their points of view about your right to protect your car ending where my eardrums begin!

Personally, I've never been tempted to have one.

i agree that alarms are obnoxious. but nowadays, many people don't have a choice. my '01 VW comes stock with an alarm that has embarrassingly gone off on me.

I too have been so tempted to attack a car that's sounding the alarm for no apparent reason ... I'll give it a reason.

I feel the owners should be cited for "reporting a false incident" (or similar) as it's not much different than pulling a fire alarm. The damn things CAN be disabled.

If you call police the owner will be cited! I know this from our apartment manager - he warned us when we moved in.

I hate them. And I believe reports have been done that prove they really don't deter theft/vandalism as much as people think. The only reason I have one is because I get a break on my insurance. After it went off on me a couple of times, I stopped using the darn thing. At least I never have to hear an alarm go off and wonder, "Gee - is that my car?"

Have you ever heard one that starts out: &quot;<b>STAND BACK</b>, you are standing too close to this vehicle&quot; etc. Give me a break car, I'm just walking past you in the parking lot!! Boy if that doesn't make you want to smack it nothing will!!

Olive Oyl, I want one of those alarms for ME...All those times when you are walking in a store and someone is walking on your heels, or when you are strolling down the sidewalk and someone walks too close and knocks you ...
the alarm would go off :D

My car just won't go if anyone breaks into it and tries to drive it away. The radio won't work in any other car.

Car alarms are very obnoxious! In 1985 as a teenager in London with my parents we were trying to enjoy Easter Mass in Westminister Abby however the incessant honking of a car alarm totally ruined the experience!

Ha ha OO. Those talking alarms just make everyone laugh or make them annoyed. Scarlett how about having one for the person invading your space in the grocery checkout line?

I love it :D
I would be great hit in the market I go to ~ LOL