UNDERSTANDING IF YOU HAVE AN OEM ALARM

An OEM alarm may be installed into your vehicle at the assembly plant as your vehicle is being built.  Generally it will sound the horn if the boot, door or bonnet is opened while the vehicle is locked.  Some vehicles have additional ultrasonic sensors which will trigger the alert if movement is detected in the vehicle cab even without opening one of the doors.

We usually think that if we are buying a new vehicle it will have an alarm but many new vehicles do not.  To find out, carry out the simple test below:

1. While sitting inside the vehicle, press the lock button on the remote key

2. Wait 30s for the vehicle to arm and stabilise (often when the vehicle is locked a red light on the dash will come on solid for approx 25s then flash once every second when armed).

3. Wave your arms around, if the horn starts to sound this means you have ultrasonic sensors and an alarm fitted, simply press the unlock button on the remote to silence the alert and the test if finished, if you hear nothing then move on to step 4.

4. Open the door from the inside, if your vehicle has an alarm the horn should sound.  Press the unlock button on the remote to stop the alert sounding.

If nothing sounds then you have no vehicle protection and nothing to stop a thief from smashing your window, opening the door from the inside and stealing from your vehicle at their leisure.  It might pay to look into fitting an anti-theft device such as an alarm or our telematics box as a deterrent.