Volkswagen T-Roc Forum banner

Car alarm !

13K views 12 replies 7 participants last post by  twist  
#1 ·
I was rudely awakened this morning at 5 - 45 am by my car alarm going off in my drive , I pressed the key fob from indoors and it stopped , I had a look around the car and there were no signs that somebody had attempted to gain access , I was also sent a text and e mail from VW to say my alarm had been activated , I have had the car three weeks now and this is the first time and I hope the last time it has happened , Has anyone else had a similar experience or any idea what might have caused it .
 
#2 ·
Mine has only occasionally gone off due to my Dash Cam sucker on the windscreen losing its "suck" and falling off. However there was one occasion when I must have shut a fly inside the car which decided to fly around at sunrise and set mine off then.
 
#3 ·
In September 2019 when my car was 4 months old, it was parked in a secured basement car park below the block of flats where we were staying on holiday. One morning when I went to the car park, the hazard lights were flashing but the alarm/horn wasn't sounding (it may have gone off, but being on the 5th floor we didn't hear it).

I got an email from VW (We Connect ?) saying ...
" We wish to inform you that your online Anti-Theft Alarm detected movement of your vehicle XXXXXX on 17.09.2019 at 10:10. "

Strangely, the time given in the email was just before I reached the car park. I examined the car with a fine tooth comb and could find no evidence of any 'movement' (eg no other cars had bumped it) and there was no evidence of an attempt to break in. I even tried nudging around the car with my body and could not set off the alarm, so put it down to some freak glitch in the system.

A similar thing happened a year later in October 2020 ...
"We wish to inform you that your online Anti-Theft Alarm detected activity in the interior of your vehicle XXXXXX on 05.10.2020 at 11:48."

I can't recall where the car was at the time and the first I knew of this was when I read the email a few hours later, but again there was no evidence of anything suspicious.

Given that We Connect is known to wrongly report cars' locations, I'm not too surprised to get false alarms.
 
#5 ·
This is the first time an alarm has gone off on any car i've owned and would be happy to know what could possibly set it off , Are they so sensitive that say a bird or cat maybe the culprit , I did try banging the car a bit and couldn't set it off myself so i'me hoping it was a one off , Its' not very good for the neighbours if it keeps doing it .
 
#6 ·
John Boy, have you taken any rubbish to the dump recently ? I had a similar alarm problem to yours after I took a boot load of loft rubbish for recycling in my previous car, a golf. My alarm went off several times in a week, mainly at night, and like you I couldn't find the cause.
Then one evening, after a hot sunny day, there on the dash-top was a very large dead spider :eek: :shock: . I'd obviously transfered the spider into my car with the rubbish. After that, no more alarm problems.
The internal space monitoring system is very sensitive. The movement of a spider, or an insect like a fly or moth can easily be detected and set the alarm off.
 
#8 ·
Rocadoodledo said:
John Boy, have you taken any rubbish to the dump recently ? I had a similar alarm problem to yours after I took a boot load of loft rubbish for recycling in my previous car, a golf. My alarm went off several times in a week, mainly at night, and like you I couldn't find the cause.
Then one evening, after a hot sunny day, there on the dash-top was a very large dead spider :eek: :shock: . I'd obviously transfered the spider into my car with the rubbish. After that, no more alarm problems.
The internal space monitoring system is very sensitive. The movement of a spider, or an insect like a fly or moth can easily be detected and set the alarm off.
I thought internal monitoring for modern car alarms was a volumetric system rather than motion (as in older cars), specifically to avoid false alarms caused by any pet (or pest) in the car. A volumetric system measures the volume of empty space inside the cabin - reducing the empty volume (space) by inserting a hand, arm or body sets off the alarm. I'm pretty sure I've sat in my car while programming key personalisation etc. which requires the car to be locked/unlocked while in the car. At no time did my movement trigger the alarm.

As an aside, perhaps the spider died from fright when the alarm went off :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
#9 ·
Impala said:
Rocadoodledo said:
John Boy, have you taken any rubbish to the dump recently ? I had a similar alarm problem to yours after I took a boot load of loft rubbish for recycling in my previous car, a golf. My alarm went off several times in a week, mainly at night, and like you I couldn't find the cause.
Then one evening, after a hot sunny day, there on the dash-top was a very large dead spider :eek: :shock: . I'd obviously transfered the spider into my car with the rubbish. After that, no more alarm problems.
The internal space monitoring system is very sensitive. The movement of a spider, or an insect like a fly or moth can easily be detected and set the alarm off.
I thought internal monitoring for modern car alarms was a volumetric system rather than motion (as in older cars), specifically to avoid false alarms caused by any pet (or pest) in the car. A volumetric system measures the volume of empty space inside the cabin - reducing the empty volume (space) by inserting a hand, arm or body sets off the alarm. I'm pretty sure I've sat in my car while programming key personalisation etc. which requires the car to be locked/unlocked while in the car. At no time did my movement trigger the alarm.

As an aside, perhaps the spider died from fright when the alarm went off :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
You may well be right about the volumetric system in a modern car Impala. The golf I was talking about was a mk 5, so Spidergate was probalbly about 15 years ago, when I was youngster in my mid fifties :lol:
Perhaps John Boy's alarm was being set off by extra air entering his car via open vents if it was windy on those occasions.
 
#10 ·
Perhaps, but as I said I have had 2 alarms and never found a reason for either. No spiders, hidden illegal migrants, dogs, drunks, draughts or earthquakes. A mystery.
 
#11 ·
Impala said:
Perhaps, but as I said I have had 2 alarms and never found a reason for either. No spiders, hidden illegal migrants, dogs, drunks, draughts or earthquakes. A mystery.
:lol: :lol:
Well, the T-Roc is a bit of a looker, so perhaps you could write your spurious alarms off as attention seeking :lol: :lol:
 
#12 ·
It is happening to my t-roc as well. It’s a few weeks old. It’s not coming from inside the car because the message says “Activity on the vehicle” rather than “Activity inside your vehicle”. Any ideas? I’m called the garage tomorrow.
 
#13 ·
Check the bonnet is fully closed. Although its possible if it’s the bonnet sensor it specifies that in the message - can’t remember, I was too cheap to renew the services thing this year so I can’t test it for you :LOL: