Keep your vehicle locked at all times, even while driving. All they need is to open the car door and grab all the valuables in plain sight before they run away with the loot.
This is pretty basic. When parked, never leave your keys in the car. Close all the windows and the sunroof. Never leave your car running and unattended. All it takes is a small window of opportunity for car thieves to take your car from you. Anyone with an original car title can sell your vehicle. Just keep a photocopy of your car documents inside the car.
Hide it in a secure, secret location. Better yet, leave the originals at home. Avoid known high crime areas even if the alternate route takes longer. This is just a numbers game. With more criminals around, there are more chances of you getting robbed.
Install a car alarm for your older car. Beef up your car alarm system if you have a modern car. Make additional security devices visible like a steering wheel lock. Thieves are always reluctant to try anything with vehicles who are protected and likely to have car alarms go off with the slightest touch. Thieves prefer to work in the dark. Be particularly cautious at night about where you park your car. Park it in a well-lit area if possible. Look around. Be aware of your surroundings, especially in garages, parking lots and gas stations.
Make sure you check your periphery before clicking on that key fob or putting the key in. Once inside, lock the doors. Car thieves want to get off cheap. Park on an incline facing uphill. Leave your car in park or in gear. Turn your wheels toward the curb. Find an obstruction. Put a wheel clamp. This makes it harder for thieves to tow your vehicle. Steering wheel locks often come with bright colors so people can immediately see that it is there.
Get one. A kill switch is a good anti-theft system that literally disables your car and makes it a very expensive paperweight. Ignition cut-off systems prevent your car from starting even if the person has your keys with him. They can be activated by flipping a switch or by remote through the key fob. A battery kill switch is a very discreet module that you can hide anywhere inside your car.
It basically acts as a conduit for the battery and the ignition. You can deactivate this at any time by flipping a physical switch.
These are present on modern cars. These automatically turn on when the key is removed from the ignition. This will activate after it detects a considerable distance between the car and the fob. A remote alarm can be a passive or active system installed in your car. What it basically does is send out a signal that can be tracked by the police.
Car alarms that go off for no good reason may be a nuisance, but they do serve a purpose. Only the most hardened and determined thieves would continue their dastardly plans regardless of blaring alarms and onlookers. A car alarm going off continuously can be very disturbing and should be fixed right away, as it may drain your car battery and disturb your neighbors. In its simplest form, a car alarm is nothing more than a simple computer, a sensor, a siren and a remote control for arming and disarming the alarm.
When the sensor detects an intrusion or other input above a given tolerance, the alarm computer sets off the siren, which makes loud noises to deter the thief from continuing his work. More advanced alarms include immobilizers that prevent the car from starting, paging systems to alert the vehicle owner the alarm has been activated, and even the ability to arm and disarm the alarm over the Internet.
The most basic alarms use a single voltage sensor to determine when a theft or break-in attempt is being made. This sensor monitors the static voltage of the car's electrical system and triggers the alarm when it senses a drop in voltage, such as when a door or trunk is opened and the interior lights go on.
Attempting to start the car or cut the power will also trip the voltage sensor. The most common form of sensor found in car alarm systems are shock or vibration sensors that detect when someone or something is attempting to move or gain access to the vehicle. Making a lot of noise brings attention to the car thief, and many intruders will flee the scene as soon as the alarm blares.
With some alarm systems, you can program a distinctive pattern of siren noises so you can distinguish the alarm on your car from other alarms.
A few alarm systems play a recorded message when somebody steps too close to your car. The main purpose of this is to let intruders know that you have an advanced alarm system before they try anything at all. Most likely, a veteran car thief will completely ignore these warnings, but to the opportunistic amateur thief, they can be a strong deterrent. In a sense, it gives the alarm system a commanding personality. On some unconscious level, it may seem like the car's not just a collection of individual parts, but an intelligent, armed machine.
A lot of alarm systems include a built-in radio receiver attached to the brain and a portable radio transmitter you can carry on your keychain. In the next section, we'll see what role these components play in a security setup. With this device, you can send instructions to the brain to control the alarm system remotely. This works in basically the same way as radio-controlled toys.
It uses radio-wave pulse modulation to send specific messages to see how this works, check out How Radio Controlled Toys Work. The primary purpose of the keychain transmitter is to give you a way to turn your alarm system on and off. After you've stepped out of your car and closed the door, you can arm the system with the touch of a button; when you return to the car, you can disarm it just as easily.
In most systems, the brain will flash the lights and tap the horn when you arm and disarm your car. This lets you, and anyone in the area, know the alarm system is working.
This innovation has made car alarms a lot easier to use. Before remote transmitters, alarm systems acted on a delay mechanism. As with a home security system , you activated the alarm when you parked your car, and you had 30 seconds or so to get out and lock the doors. When you unlocked your car, you had the same amount of time to shut off the alarm once you got in.
This system was highly problematic, as it gave thieves an opportunity to break into the car and disable the alarm before any siren sounded. Remote transmitters also let you open your power door locks , turn on your lights and set off the alarm before you get into your car.
Some systems give you even more control over the system's brain. These devices have a central computer and a built-in pager system. When an intruder disturbs your car, the central computer calls up your keychain pager and tells you which sensors were triggered.
In the most advanced systems, you can communicate with the brain, signaling it to shut down the engine. Since the transmitter controls your alarm system, the pattern of pulse modulation must act like a key. For a particular line of transmitter devices, there might be millions of different pulse codes. This makes the communication language for your alarm system unique, so other people can't gain access to your car using another transmitter. This system is fairly effective, but not foolproof.
If a determined criminal really wants to break into your car, he or she can use a code-grabber to make a copy of your "key. It receives the code and records it. If the thief intercepts your "disarm code," he or she can program another transmitter to exactly mimic your unique signal.
With this copied key, the thief can completely bypass the alarm system the next time you leave your car unattended. To address this problem, advanced alarm systems establish a new series of codes every time you activate the alarm. Using rolling code algorithms , the receiver encrypts the new disarm code and sends it to your transmitter. Since the transmitter only uses that disarm code once, any information intercepted by a code snatcher is worthless.
Since the early s, car alarm systems have evolved a great deal, and they've become a lot more common. In the next 10 years, we are sure to see a new crop of technological advances in car alarms. Onboard GPS receivers have opened up a wide range of security possibilities. If the receiver were connected to the alarm-system brain, it could tell you and the police where your car is at all times.
This way, even if somebody does bypass your alarm system, he or she won't have the car for long. Sign up for our Newsletter! Mobile Newsletter banner close.
Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. Mobile Newsletter chat avatar. Mobile Newsletter chat subscribe. Under the Hood. How Car Alarms Work. The Sidewinder car-alarm system includes a number of sensors and alarm signals.
Photo courtesy Directed Electronics. An array of sensors that can include switches, pressure sensors and motion detectors A siren , often able to create a variety of sounds so that you can pick a distinct sound for your car A radio receiver to allow wireless control from a key fob An auxiliary battery so that the alarm can operate even if the main battery gets disconnected A computer control unit that monitors everything and sounds the alarm -- the "brain" of the system.
Car-alarm Door Sensors " ". A valet switch is a manual shut-off that temporarily disables the alarm system so you can let the valet park your car, for example. The valet switch is hidden in an out-of-the-way spot in the car. The switch pictured here is mounted under the car's fuse access panel.
A central electrical contact in a cylinder housing Several smaller electrical contacts at the bottom of the housing A metal ball that can move freely in the housing. Car-alarm Window and Pressure Sensors " ". A typical crossover unit: Using a specific combination of inductors and capacitors, you can design a crossover unit that only conducts current that has the frequency of breaking glass.
A wide, movable cone An electromagnet , surrounded by a natural magnet , attached to the cone. Car-alarm Alerts " ". Car-alarm Transmitters " ". The keychain transmitter from the Sidewinder security system: The transmitter lets you lock the doors, arm and disarm the alarm and set off the siren from outside the car. Car alarms feature sensors that trigger the alarm when motion or impacts are detected.
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