[ulf]

Hello there,

I got a New Prius two weeks ago, drives fine, no problems.

Friday evening the car alarm turned on without any cause: The car had been parked and locked by remote key about 5 minutes before.
There were no doors open, no animals hitting the car,...
The alarm stopped when the remote key was used to unlock. I checked the inside and saw a blinking immobiliser warning lamp. Then I locked the car.
Several minutes later, the alarm turned on again. Turned off the alarm with the remote key. Did not open any door, so it self-locked 30 seconds later, and a few minutes later the alarm went off again.

Basically, whenever the car is locked, the alarm starts a few minutes later.
The immobiliser red warning light is permanently on.
When the car is unlocked, the immobiliser warning light is blinking, no alarm.
When the key is inserted, there is no immobiliser warning, no alarm, can drive.

Any suggestion on what to do? Anyone had a similar experience?

I am supposed to go to the dealer next week, and will have to leave the car unlocked until then...

Cheers, Ulf

 

[Fredo]

I don't have the alarm system, so I don't really know how it works. But, could a door not be completely closed? There should be a long beep when you try to look the doors with a door open, and there should be a door-open light on the dash. The rear hatch will sometimes not close completely, especially if the cloth lift tab forthe floor panel lays back into the latch.

Hope you find something simple like this, I know I'd hate to have to leave it unlocked for any length of time.

 

[mrv]

your immobilizer light sounds normal, and should have no bearing on this.

Does this only happen at home, or anyplace that your car is parked? (wondering if you've got some stray EMF/radio frequency nearby that is setting off the panic button).
Do you have the optional glass breakage sensor? maybe its microphone is set to sensitively.
Have you checked that all doors are properly closed (rear hatch can be a problem), and the hood is down? Listen to the beeps when you try locking the car.

Definately take it in to your dealer to have the alarm thing figured out. The immobilizer light sounds just normal, though.

 

[Nick]

Sensitive alarm

I've had a new Prius for 7 weeks and in this time the alarm has gone off three times while parked for no apparent reason, once at 5 am. Today we had heavy rain and some thunder. During the storm the alarm went off 5 or 6 times. Each time I was able to stop it using the remote key but then it relocked itself and went off again a little later.
I've never before owned a car with a 'nuisance' alarm so I'm not too pleased, and neither are my neighbours. Does anyone know if there is some way of reducing the sensitivity of the detection device that sets off the alarm?

 

[doug_mcdonnell]

Oversensitive car alarm

I've had the same problem even during light rain. Elsewhere on this forum someone mentions a button under the steering wheel to adjust a microphone volume setting. I'm still looking for soln.