I'm going on a ferry later this week and realise I will need to disable the alarm. Anyone know how I do this?

There may be a physical switch for the internal alarm sensors at the base of the B-pillar.

Otherwise, locking the vehicle by pressing the 'lock' button on the fob twice in quick succession leaves the vehicle locked but with deadlocks and alarm deactivated.

Or on the central screen more often these days. Owners manuals are a common source of 'how to'.

Had to do this last summer. On the mk4 when you turn ignition off the main info screen gives you the option to turn off “interior monitoring” — that’s what needs to be turned off so that the vehicle doesn’t set off the alarm if the sea is a bit choppy. No need to turn anything else off. So it’s all in the main screen when you turn off the ignition.

Thanks Oxonpunter, very helpful !

Hi,

The easiest way to do this is mentioned in the official manual. If you stand by the drivers door and use the keyfob to lock/unlock the car as normal you will notice that the red led inside the car near the door mirror will flash. When the car is fully alarmed the red led will continue to blink on/off every couple of seconds or so. This signifies the car inside/outside is fully alarmed as you would normally want to leave it.

On a typical ferry trip (or on the back of a transporter!) the alarm will trigger as the car is rocked by waves etc.

To disable this stand by the drivers door and use the keyfob to lock the car as normal but, now press the lock button again, twice within two seconds of locking, you will notice the red led blink on/off a few times then go off and remain so. This visually tells you the alarm will not trigger by gentle rocking (try it) on the ferry crossing but that external things like door opening etc is still operational.

The twice within two seconds might need just a little practice to get the timings right. If the red led still blinks on/off try again.

On 22/04/2026 at 09:08, handyandy said:

Hi,

The easiest way to do this is mentioned in the official manual. If you stand by the drivers door and use the keyfob to lock/unlock the car as normal you will notice that the red led inside the car near the door mirror will flash. When the car is fully alarmed the red led will continue to blink on/off every couple of seconds or so. This signifies the car inside/outside is fully alarmed as you would normally want to leave it.

On a typical ferry trip (or on the back of a transporter!) the alarm will trigger as the car is rocked by waves etc.

To disable this stand by the drivers door and use the keyfob to lock the car as normal but, now press the lock button again, twice within two seconds of locking, you will notice the red led blink on/off a few times then go off and remain so. This visually tells you the alarm will not trigger by gentle rocking (try it) on the ferry crossing but that external things like door opening etc is still operational.

The twice within two seconds might need just a little practice to get the timings right. If the red led still blinks on/off try again.

I was about to ask the same question as we are shortly to do the Santaner crossing, I note the above in that the light goes off for a time when disabled, but about 10 min later it does flash but at a silghtly different frequency to normal?