continuing alarm problems - an idea, will it work ?

[jcblincs]

ok so had the alarm unit replaced in the contiuing sage of trying to work out why it keeps going off. Had a month with no alarm then last night I was loading some stuff in the boot of the car and my neighbour came across to say "thought you had got it fixed - went off again last night didnt it" !! this was news to me as i didnt hear it. this is odd as its parked close to the bedroom and i have heard it on all the previous ocassions.

He assured me it was my car as he looked out of the window and saw my indicators flashing.

The car is at the dealer now so they can plug in a look if the alarm really did go off as it shoudl show in the log.

got me thinking - seems a trivial reason to have to reject a car yet we cant live with it as its not right having the alarm going off. so....what if i simply remove the fuse from the alarm. I hate them anyway as people ignore them .will the ECU have a wobbler all the time if the fuse is out. Indeed is there a dedicated alarm fuse ? will pulling the fuse set the alarm off ?

any ideas welcomed as rejecting the car is going to be so messy and time consumin and then i will have to wait again for a new one to be built !!! AAAAAARRRGGGHHH

[shark_90]

The alarm runs from the Central Convenience module so unfortunately it's not as simple as pulling the fuse. It may be possible to change the coding I'm not sure.

But I would suspect that would have pretty large insurance implications as the car won't be Thatcham Cat 1 any more.

[jcblincs]

i know - i guess I am just being silly in my state of desparation !! the dealer has already investigated disabling the alarm until they can solve it and were told its not possible. I am sure it is possible just that skoda UK dont want to be responsible for turning an alarm off !!

[Burnsey]

This is so difficult for you but really if they can't fix it then they need to come clean and give you a replacement.

[Bagpuss]

I agree with Burnsey on this one. It's time you started talking about a replacement vehicle.

I think you've given them more than enough chance to resolve the problem, and still no joy. You've been way more patient than I would have been.

Bagpuss.

[jcblincs]

conversations with supplying dealer will be started asap

i was going to have a towbar fitted tomorrow !!! cancelled it !!

[RADIOTWO]

ok so had the alarm unit replaced in the contiuing sage of trying to work out why it keeps going off. Had a month with no alarm then last night I was loading some stuff in the boot of the car and my neighbour came across to say "thought you had got it fixed - went off again last night didnt it" !! this was news to me as i didnt hear it. this is odd as its parked close to the bedroom and i have heard it on all the previous ocassions.

He assured me it was my car as he looked out of the window and saw my indicators flashing.

The car is at the dealer now so they can plug in a look if the alarm really did go off as it shoudl show in the log.

got me thinking - seems a trivial reason to have to reject a car yet we cant live with it as its not right having the alarm going off. so....what if i simply remove the fuse from the alarm. I hate them anyway as people ignore them .will the ECU have a wobbler all the time if the fuse is out. Indeed is there a dedicated alarm fuse ? will pulling the fuse set the alarm off ?

any ideas welcomed as rejecting the car is going to be so messy and time consumin and then i will have to wait again for a new one to be built !!! AAAAAARRRGGGHHH

Hi Jon

I am not going to get into should you reject the car or not, but what have you done to investgate what is causing the alarm to go off ?

does it only go off at home or is there a randam alarm??

If it only goes off at one location, it might be some RF that is getting into the alarm and setting it off

Radiotwo

[jcblincs]

thanks Radio two. Dont want to repeat myself as there is a very long thread somewhere on here all about this. bottom line is alarm keeps going off. skoda cant fix it . i dont want it !!

whether its RF or not it seems odd that no other car I own + have owned +none of the neighbours have thsi problem so as far as I am concerned its the skoda at fault.

appreciate your input and dont mean to sound short - had a terrible day and have started rejection proceeedings with the dealer !! cheers

[WaveyDavid]

thanks Radio two. Dont want to repeat myself as there is a very long thread somewhere on here all about this. bottom line is alarm keeps going off. skoda cant fix it . i dont want it !!

whether its RF or not it seems odd that no other car I own + have owned +none of the neighbours have thsi problem so as far as I am concerned its the skoda at fault.

appreciate your input and dont mean to sound short - had a terrible day and have started rejection proceeedings with the dealer !! cheers

Sorry to go a bit OT here but how long after taking receipt of the car can you reject it?

[RADIOTWO]

thanks Radio two. Dont want to repeat myself as there is a very long thread somewhere on here all about this. bottom line is alarm keeps going off. skoda cant fix it . i dont want it !!

whether its RF or not it seems odd that no other car I own + have owned +none of the neighbours have thsi problem so as far as I am concerned its the skoda at fault.

appreciate your input and dont mean to sound short - had a terrible day and have started rejection proceeedings with the dealer !! cheers

Hi Again Jon

THats fine but just to make you smile !

Not a Skoda, but I had a problem with a alarm once, the alarm had to be "set" and I parked the car in a garage at the side of the house, and every time we switched on the microwave it set off the alarm, did not go off any where else, I reported it to the dealer and they could not find a fault, the service Manager came up to the house, with the same model car, and as he parked it on the drive, and armed it we set the microwave on and it set his car off, so the took both cars into the garage and replaced both alarms, and never had the problem since !

Radiotwo

[Richf]

As i seem to recall your car alarm didnt go off when the car had been parked at the airport long stay

If the problem is down to local environmental factors i dont see how the manufacturer can be held responsible e.g the known issues with disarming immobilisers in certain areas

[Burnsey]

It's not the only problems he's had with the car. other electrical gremlins have also arisen as you'll see from his other posts. I'd have lost confidence in it before now, and given it back. Whilst it may cost a little to put you into a brand new car today, they may have a demo in your spec (and to be honest I'd accept a diesel demo) and just do a straight swap

[jcblincs]

It's not the only problems he's had with the car. other electrical gremlins have also arisen as you'll see from his other posts. I'd have lost confidence in it before now, and given it back. Whilst it may cost a little to put you into a brand new car today, they may have a demo in your spec (and to be honest I'd accept a diesel demo) and just do a straight swap

no way !!! we took 6 months to choose a car and 3 months wait for it to be built so we are not going to accept any less spec. Why should we ? its not our fault the car is not of satisfactory quality and we are not prepared to accept any lesser car. We certainly dont want a diesel. If the superb only came in diesel then we would have walked away and gone for another car as we really didnt like it. We dont do many miles and like the refinement of a petrol - we simply dont like the diesel. I dont think they will find a 1.8T DSG with flappy paddles, upgraded sound + all the other extras anywhere. it would have to be the same colour with the same interior as we chose that because we like it. if it were any different then we would be constantly reminded that we had to compromise and we will simply end up resenting the car !!

[Burnsey]

My mistake. Not being a new car buyer hadn't realised you had tailored it so much to make it unique to your requirements. Although come to think of it I can remember 6 months back when you were in the petrol v diesel debate.

Be prepared for the "Well sir, you've had the use of the car for 5 months now and so we need to charge you the depreciation for that time before we can provide you with a replacement vehicle"

Best of luck with it all though

[jcblincs]

My mistake. Not being a new car buyer hadn't realised you had tailored it so much to make it unique to your requirements. Although come to think of it I can remember 6 months back when you were in the petrol v diesel debate.

Be prepared for the "Well sir, you've had the use of the car for 5 months now and so we need to charge you the depreciation for that time before we can provide you with a replacement vehicle"

Best of luck with it all though

yes - i entered into the debate of petrol vs derv simply to put forward my view on how the petrol is better than the diesel !

I am prepared for the depreciation debate - i know I am not going to like it but am fairly circumspect about it. I dont expect skoda to give me something for free and I guess I will console myself with the fact that i will have an 09 car that is 6-8 months newer and this will be reflected in a higer trade in value at the end ! (assuming I stick with the superb and dont go back to Audi where i got much better customer service - although this is down to the individuals at my local dealership bending over backwards vs skoda UK who have been pretty terrible with me !!

[RADIOTWO]

yes - i entered into the debate of petrol vs derv simply to put forward my view on how the petrol is better than the diesel !

I am prepared for the depreciation debate - i know I am not going to like it but am fairly circumspect about it. I dont expect skoda to give me something for free and I guess I will console myself with the fact that i will have an 09 car that is 6-8 months newer and this will be reflected in a higer trade in value at the end ! (assuming I stick with the superb and dont go back to Audi where i got much better customer service - although this is down to the individuals at my local dealership bending over backwards vs skoda UK who have been pretty terrible with me !!

Hi Its me again Jon

Don't let them take you to the cleaners on the deprecition debate, I had a Merc van and there was a problem with it and it was 14 Months old and I got a full refund (minus the tax I had just bought) and they paid for the priviate plate to be put on transfer.

So if its wrong you want your money back(or replacement)

Radiotwo

[jcblincs]

thanks for the tip. i am awaiting a phonecall from the dealer tomorrow. he had a meeting with a skoda person today and he in turn went back to head office to look at what they can do. I hope to have some news tomorrow.

apparently the Dealer principal said it was not unreasonable for an alarm to go off 5/6 times in 3 months !!! i soon told the dealership I would be happy to let the DP have my car in his drive and see how he likes his family and neighbours being woken up in the early hours !! I have never had a car alarm false alarm on me and no-one else on my street has problems so I am not going to let them try that argument !!!.

i think the comment was out of context as he was not fully aware of all the other issues at that stage but it still surprised me !!

i am hopeful of a sensible solution. I wish we could fix the problem as we want to keep the car but cant do so if we have lost faith in it - a like for like replacement woudl be the best option all round

[mdk1]

Have a read of this,

Very strange indeed... - Detailing World

What phone do you have?

[jcblincs]

i have a nokia 6230i. the thing is the alarm will go for weeks being OK then suddenly go off. phone is sometimes near keys and sometimes not. it always goes off at night - never in the daytime. its very odd but it must be down to a fault surely ? (bear in mind I have had other electrical issues which I am convinced must be related)

[jcblincs]

As i seem to recall your car alarm didnt go off when the car had been parked at the airport long stay

If the problem is down to local environmental factors i dont see how the manufacturer can be held responsible e.g the known issues with disarming immobilisers in certain areas

the problem is I have now worked out there is no positive way of ascertaining if the alarm has gone off unless you actually hear it or plug it into a VAG-COM. I played about with my car today deliberately setting the alarm off (sitting inside the car and setting the alarm and then moving about to trigger the sensors). once the alarm sounded and then stopped there was no indication it had gone off - no messages on the screen, no noise/beep, no flashing lights...nothing. you woudl think they coudl set the red LED on the drivers door to come on static to let you know the alarm had been triggered

So - the alarm might have gone off 57 times in the airport car park for all I know !!

[jcblincs]

Have a read of this,

Very strange indeed... - Detailing World

What phone do you have?

tried to set the alarm off by putting phone next to key fob and ringing it and playing about with it...nothing !! dont think it can be related to this factor.

[Supurbia]

Hmmm, two more thoughts Jon, you had an upgrade stereo? I believe this is part of the alarm circuit also, could a faulty radio unit maybe cause it, or have they replaced any deactivation switchs in the car for turning it off while someone is in the car and it's locked.

Or, if you've loaded up the Kate Nash CD onto the HD in the radio unit, maybe the car is screaming for help

[Richf]

My car alarm went off for no reason on Friday , i also have upgraded sound but i've only had the car a few weeks, hope its a one off

[xmy]

I had problems with my Mazda's alarm going off on hot days. In the end I just disconnected the alarm horn - job done. Fortunately the car horn still works. I suspect in a modern car this wouldn't be an option.

Edited 17 May, 2009 by xmy

[jcblincs]

yes have upgraded stereo

not sure how they are linked as they are on seperate fuses ?