What is with my alarm?

[SuperGoz]

I have a 2017 Fabia which I bought literally a month a go.

The other night after a short drive from my 'rents to my place in the pouring rain, I got home, running to the front door did the double click lock on the remote and went in.  Shortly afterward, the alarm started going off.

Now here is the weird thing, neither of my remote keys would stop and disarm the alarm.  The car remained locked with the alarm going off.  

I had to get my key in the little hole under the door handle and pop off the key slot cover to unlock the door, get in and then put the key in the ignition and turn it on before the alarm then disarmed.

Is this normal?  My old Audi used to disarm from the remote.  Have I got a defect in the disarm system or is it configured to just be annoyingly awkward to disarm?

 

Do I need to go back to the dealership to get something reconfigured?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks 

[JoePeddos]

I would take it back to the dealers since the car is still under warranty. The alarm kept going off on my old Skoda which turned out to be a chaffed cable in the passenger door though the car was about 8 yrs old then. In a new car it could be a nipped cable causing the problem Joe

[SuperGoz]

Just got it booked in for Thursday.  The guy on the phone reckoned it might be the sensitivity of the motion sensors.

 

[CapstanPlug]

42 minutes ago, SuperGoz said:

Just got it booked in for Thursday.  The guy on the phone reckoned it might be the sensitivity of the motion sensors.

 

 

Well, it seems like there are 2 questions -

1. why did it go off in the first place ?  Possible (though unlikely) motion sensor over-sensitivity.  Did something move in the car, or was there a window slightly open - or was the rain really bucketing down? (I've had mine go off at an airshow when a Typhoon did a tight turn overhead. Assume the vibration set the motion sensors off. Which was a relief to know that it worked ! )

2. Why wouldn't it turn off on the remote ?  You could repeat by leaving window open and after 30 seconds or so, wave your hand in through window (unless alarm has already gone off from air movement.)

Hope you get a satisfactory answer.

[SuperGoz]

The rain was absolutely pouring down hard.  Vibration-wise, I shouldn't have thought so.

As for why it wouldn't turn off at the remote, that is a puzzler.  My neighbour (an Audi salesman) reckoned that was a oddity.  My wife's old A3 disarms the alarm with the remote.  Could just have been a 1 off but I would sooner get it to the dealers to check.  The guy on the phone reckons it will be in the car log if there is a fault that caused it.

Either way - it has not happened again (touch wood).

[RickW]

The only time mine goes off is on a car ferry due to vibration,but it does switch off with the remote key.

Edited 31 July, 2017 by RickW

[SuperGoz]

4 minutes ago, RickW said:

The only time mine goes off is on a car ferry due to vibration,but it does switch off with the remote key.

 

All the more reason for me to get the car in to the dealers.  Booked for Thursday.  They know me well already due to a small issue I had on the date of pick up so they do not want to upset me again

[RickW]

Hope all goes well for you,please let us know what happens

Edited 31 July, 2017 by RickW

[SuperGoz]

13 minutes ago, RickW said:

Hope all goes well for you,please let us know what happens

 

Will do - thanks all for your feedback.

[chieflordy]

Can't help with any insight re the reason the alarm went off.

However, I came back to my car in a supermarket car park last year to hear the alarm howling, fob wouldn't open car, so called SkodaAssistance who talked me through the procedure you used, flip end off handle and put key in to open. The way described it to me was that it was a normal feature. 

I have also had the alarm go off on the eurotunnel, however then I jumped back in straight away and all was well. Maybe there is a time delay where if you don't stop alarm after a couple of mins the key fobs don't work and you have to flip the handle to get access. That would be my best guess.

Edited 31 July, 2017 by chieflordy

[SuperGoz]

I do hope it is not considered as a 'normal' thing to happen.  Guess I will find out for certain on Thursday

[chieflordy]

Report back please, I'll be interested in what they say.

 

You could also give Skoda Assist a call tomorrow, always good to get another opinion, in the couple of times I have called them I have found them knowledgable, freephone number so nothing other than a couple of mins of your time to lose!

[SuperGoz]

9 hours ago, chieflordy said:

Report back please, I'll be interested in what they say.

 

You could also give Skoda Assist a call tomorrow, always good to get another opinion, in the couple of times I have called them I have found them knowledgable, freephone number so nothing other than a couple of mins of your time to lose!

 

I would call them but with the car going into the garage tomorrow, I'll see how it goes.

I'll keep you posted.

[pfaff]

If I dont turn off the cabin sensor when using the cabin heater wintertime, the alarm will blow. Guess it's based on an infrared sensor which will register temp changes which even may occur as the sun hits the car?

 

[SuperGoz]

1 minute ago, pfaff said:

If I dont turn off the cabin sensor when using the cabin heater wintertime, the alarm will blow. Guess it's based on an infrared sensor which will register temp changes which even may occur as the sun hits the car?

 

 

I don't think that sounds right at all.  I would get that seen to.  Sounds like it would need calibrating.  As for mine, this would not relate to my issue.

[pfaff]

On 2017-08-02 at 16:53, SuperGoz said:

 

I don't think that sounds right at all.  I would get that seen to.  Sounds like it would need calibrating.  As for mine, this would not relate to my issue.

Just a shot in the dark.

I strongly doubt the cabin sensor can be calibrated to suit the heat point of a cabin heater without completely loosing its function.

It is a PIR after all.

 

[SuperGoz]

The results are in...

 

They took the car in for the day, spent 4 hours checking the whole alarm system and hooked it up to their systems.  It had registered that the alarm had been set off and that the source was from the cabin sensors.  They checked the sensors, they were fine however from factory, they had been set at 'High sensitivity' as default.  So they have turned this down and retested the alarm.

5 out of 5 times of testing, they managed to set the alarm off and (key item) manage to disarm it using the keyfob.

 

All in all - nothing is of an issue as such.  So they picked me up, took me back to my car and away I went.  Plus they valet'd the car too - which was a nice touch (it needed it).

[RickW]

Great result,thanks for coming back to tell us.

[chieflordy]

Thanks for reporting back, sounds like they tested it thoroughly, Strange how the fob didn't work for you though (or me in a similar situation). I still wonder if there is a time delay, where if the car is not opened within x seconds of the alarm going off the fob entry is disabled.

 

Out of interest which dealer do you use (I don't think there is one in MK), the one in Northampton? 

[SuperGoz]

It is an interesting thought about the key fob timeout. 

The MK dealership is a Lancaster Skoda. Part of the Jardine Gardens group. In Kingston in MK