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Is a Car Alarm Worth It?
Should you go to the trouble of installing a car alarm or buying a car specifically because it offers a car alarm as a perk. The answer is probably no. This is because so many studies have shown that most people ignore them. Originally designed to spur people to action and make them call the police, people have become to used to the sound of them being triggered automatically. They go off when people pass by, with the slightest tremor of the earth due to a passing truck and for all sorts of reasons. The result is that nobody takes them seriously. In New York apathy towards car alarms has becomes so enhanced that the New York Police Department actually conducted a study that concluded that having the alarms in crime ridden neighborhoods was actually making crime worse as the noise of the alarms could be used to conceal the sounds of other kinds of illegal activity.
Originally the car alarm was developed to discourage theft. It works by emitting a loud sound when the sensors or circuits that detect motion near or on the vehicle are breached. Usually the sound is a klaxon, a siren, a pre-recorded verbal warning or the sound of the vehicle’s own horn.
The problem seems to be that nobody has figured out how to design a car alarm that isn’t over-sensitive. The car alarm uses infrared, microwave or ultrasound volumetric sensors to detect unnecessary movement. The alarm itself is designed to be triggered by vibrations, the tilting or towing of the car, touching, the opening or closing of door latches or switches or by an interior light being switched in. All car alarms will also go out if the ignition circuit is activated.
It may be more difficult to buy a car with a decent car alarm in the future. This is the direct result of all of the false alarms. Instead the trend is towards marketing devices that immobilize the cars if the sensors detect a violation. This means the car simply won’t respond to having a key in its ignition. The wheels freeze if you try to tow it. The good thing about these immobolizers as a form of automobile security is that they are silent.
Also more popular than car alarms are the new vehicle tracking systems that can help the police trace the whereabouts of stolen vehicles. The latest trend is for car manufacturers who are offering the car immobilizers this global positioning tracking feature with it. This is an attractive deal because if you get a GPS security protection service independently you often have to pay a recurring fee for it but if you buy a mobilize it is included. The only drawback of these two security measures is that they do not possibly deter someone from vandalizing a vehicle in the same way that a car alarm could.
The latest development in the car alarm industry is a two-way pager that sends a silent vibration to a unit you wear on your person if someone decides to violate your vehicle. The only problem with this is that you may not be able to do much about it if you are far away from your car in the first place except call 911.
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