Car Alarm Activation

[Barry14UK]

Hi Folks,

Yesterday evening my car alarm activated.  I switched it off and reset.  The same thing happened this morning.  On both occasions this coincided  with a particularly sudden  and heavy gust of wind when my car was parked on my drive (too much stuff in garage to get it in there).  This has not happened before yet the car would have been subjected to high winds that are quite typical in Devon at this time of the year.  Before I was able to reach the remote the alarm stopped and I unset and reset it.  Had I not touched it would the sounder activated again after an interval?

Has anybody else had this problem and/or know can the alarm be made less sensitive?  I don't want to leave the alarm unset for very long  or to upset neighbours with false alarms.

Appreciate any answers on this.

[royoftherovers]

16 minutes ago, Barry14UK said:

Hi Folks,

Yesterday evening my car alarm activated.  I switched it off and reset.  The same thing happened this morning.  On both occasions this coincided  with a particularly sudden  and heavy gust of wind when my car was parked on my drive (too much stuff in garage to get it in there).  This has not happened before yet the car would have been subjected to high winds that are quite typical in Devon at this time of the year.  Before I was able to reach the remote the alarm stopped and I unset and reset it.  Had I not touched it would the sounder activated again after an interval?

Has anybody else had this problem and/or know can the alarm be made less sensitive?  I don't want to leave the alarm unset for very long  or to upset neighbours with false alarms.

Appreciate any answers on this.

If it cannot be re-set Barry, try parking the car the other way round so as to deflect the pattern of the wind.

[Malc]

1 hour ago, Barry14UK said:

Has anybody else had this problem

in the Ls400 ............  forum it used to be something metallic in the front centre console holder that would trigger it off

might you have similar ?

Malc

[Barry14UK]

On 12/15/2019 at 1:48 PM, royoftherovers said:

If it cannot be re-set Barry, try parking the car the other way round so as to deflect the pattern of the wind.

Thanks John,

Not possible to park other way as this would obstruct brick side walled path off drive leading to front door of property.  Already had to polish out two marks left by (possibly postman's sack or another's) as it is.

[Barry14UK]

On 12/15/2019 at 2:36 PM, Malc said:

in the Ls400 ............  forum it used to be something metallic in the front centre console holder that would trigger it off

might you have similar ?

Malc

Thanks for thought Malc,

Nothing inside car that wasn't secure except an umbrella, which I have now secured.

I can only think that the sudden gust of wind accompanied by almost a wall of rain projected at the car may have triggered one of the several types of sensor I believe to be fitted to this model. (I don't wish to suggest where these might be for security reasons, although I may call in at Lexus Exeter Branch when I down that way early next month to discuss further).  I might subject the car in alarmed mode to a blast of water from different angles by my Karcher pressure hose to see if this will activate the alarm..

[Malc]

the alarm sensor in the Ls400 can in fact be volume manually turned down ( and off )  too .......  maybe yours can too when and if you find one !

Malc

[Thackeray]

The alarm on my IS went off two or three times in the summer with no obvious cause. I took to turning it off overnight in case it disturbed the neighbours. I assumed (maybe wrongly!) that the immobiliser is still active.

I never found a definite cause but I had noticed in the hot weather that there was a fly in the car. I can only think that it was this that set off the movement sensor when it flew around trying to get out. After a few days when I began to forget to turn off the alarm it seemed the problem had disappeared. If it was a fly (or a spider or something else) I imagine it must have died or possibly even escaped. The alarm hasn't been a problem since.

The manual for the IS says the intrusion sensor can be triggered by a high-pressure car wash or by hail or lightning storm so I would guess the weather set off the alarm.

Maybe a window wasn't completely closed so that it looked closed but there was enough of a gap for high wind to get through.

 

[Bob99]

As well as insects etc, now it's got cooler if the 12v Battery dips a little I've had that cause an odd alarm operation. Charging the Battery has stopped any further alarms.

[genkakuzai]

I was wondering something regarding the alarm, and it's barely worthy of it's own thread... does anyone know how exactly the interior part of the alarm works? Because I know I have a button to turn that part off (if you have a kid / dog in the car and still wanna have the general alarm on). But I accidentally turned it on while my oldest was sitting there, and unlocked it, but forgot that it'll auto lock again if I don't open the door within 30 s or something. But he didn't trigger it in any way the few minutes I was gone. Just wondering if it was just luck, or if it doesn't trigger that way.

[Barry14UK]

Maybe just my bad luck!  A long time ago whilst living in Surrey, I had the alarm on my Opal Monza activate at night but the cause was readily identified as the light coming on under the hatch.  From memory, I think there was a switch on one of the hatch struts that moved position, so easily sorted.  There was another couple of times when I had unexplained activations on my 5 series BMW, also at my previous Surrey address rather than down here in Devon. I enlisted  the help of BMW but nothing could be found and it was suggested that a spider may have been responsible but I never saw one and it only happened on one further occasion.  I do  believe that there is some seconds after an alarm has set for it to become active.  This would explain why anybody or animal  left in the car would not trigger the alarm if it was unset within a matter of a few seconds of being set.

As stated earlier, I will try to simulate with pressure washer the blast of water that I believe may have been responsible for my two alarms and discuss with Lexus whether the system can be made less sensitive.   

I don't think it was attributable to a low Battery as the car hasn't been used or alarm activated since the two false alarms (I say with crossed fingers) and I usually do a 20 mile run at least once a week plus occasional longer journey which keeps service Battery sufficiently well charged.  However, I guess this could be a possibility in some cases. I know on my BMW I removed the Battery to charge and store it for a period and in due course the alarm started anyway.  Apparently, there is a source of stored power which if it drops below a certain level will active the alarm and by removing the Battery this had happened.  I had to reinstall the Battery in the car and connect to charger with the alarm sounding all the time until the reserve power source was topped up and all was quiet. I am not sure if the RX works the same way in this respect.