Security System Concerns

Loud noises?? Not one I've heard of.

However, if you lock the car (out of habit) with your 12 Y/O daughter and her friend in it while you go into the school to get your 10 Y/O and the friend decides to open the door to throw out a cracker that fell on the floor, the alarm will sound, the lights will flash and it will continue until you unlock the car. Not that this could EVER happen of course.

I imagine the alarm can be disabled, but if you are going to pay for it (how much??) and kill it, maybe it is better to wait or look elsewhere.

 

Kyle knows how to activate the alarm system that supposedly is already in the car from the factory.
From what I have seen, all packages but base list the factory alarm, though it seems the ones that don't simply don't have them activated.

The glass breakage sensor is an dealer installable option.

Not sure how well the RS3200 really works with a Prius, and to me, seems redundant. From what I have been gathering, the RS3200 activates using the car's wireless remote, so if you are getting SKS, having to use the remote to deactivate the alarm defeats the purpose of having SKS.

 

Having had some bad experiences with alarm systems, I REALLY don't want one and I keep getting conflicting info about which Priuses have them.

I would much rather have a Lojack than an alarm. I would rather that nobody had alarms, especially a certain former neighbor. His car alarm went off early one morning in the garage, and my bedroom was directly over it. The alarm kept going for three hours. He couldn't hear it because the garage was too far away from him. I didn't know which neighbor's alarm it was so there wasn't much I could do. Eventually he turned it off. By then the whites of my eyes had turned salsa red. The next morning it happened again.

There's also the time the alarm went off in my truck. Problem was I hadn't turned it on. And the battery in my remote was dead and I couldn't turn it off. That's a much longer story so I'll stop there.

I really hate car alarms.

 

Only thing I'd add, Leslie: the waiting list for Prii is getting really short. In the Seattle area (where the Prius is very popular), I've got two friends who were shopping for other cars, and found Priuses available on the lot for MSRP. (And both bought them.)

You might check with other dealers in the area, and see what transpires. At the very least, it might make your current dealer look for other pricing options.

 

First off, the GBS is an option, or at least it was, maybe they are including it now. Second, the dealer can adjust the sensitivity, and they can also turn it off with their scanner, as it has to be turned on when it is installed.

 

Well to set your mind at ease I live on a military post and had an F-16 fly over the area and it did a sonic boom thing that shook all the cars and windows. It set off a few alarms but not mine. I had a glass break sensor and the regular alarm. It must not be the right frequency. I have had the alarm go off when the dealer was showing me the features (purposely made it go off to ensure it was working).

 

"my bedroom was directly over it. The alarm kept going for three hours. He couldn't hear it because the garage was too far away from him"

That's about the time you use a brick to simulate his car having a "glass breakage sensor."