Well, THAT was embarrassing!

2741 Views 14 Replies 12 Participants Last post by BandE, Jun 12, 2017

Alfa in Vegas

Discussion Starter · May 8, 2017

Was at a picnic on Sunday. Had my car parked in the first row near the picnic grounds. A couple of people had asked me some questions about it...the most standard, "What is it?" (I guess no one watched the Super Bowl) So, at one point I leaned over to get in my cooler, and my money clip and key fob must have been perfectly lined up, because I set off the panic alarm on my car. Those that hadn't noticed it originally, sure did now. In my panic and embarrassment, I couldn't figure out how to shut it off with the key fob and just started hitting buttons...which isn't the answer! I had to get in the car and start it, then drive it with the alarm going off, to get it to shut off. I've since learned that just hitting the panic button again will stop it, as will driving the car until it hits 5mph.

This is why I usually don't keep my fob in my pocket!

Reactions: 2

1 - 15 of 15 Posts

MDriver

· #2 · May 8, 2017

so that was you on the Facebook Live Feed???

Reactions: 5

kanundrum

· #3 · May 8, 2017

LOL. I was at a local car meet and some Camaro and Vettes with cams set off the alfa alarm about 3 times lol.

Reactions: 1

KlassyPete2

· #4 · May 8, 2017

Lolll gotta hate when that happens! I'm sure you got a lot more questions after that ?!

Reactions: 1

bigk200

· #5 · May 8, 2017

It's happened to me several times. I think the key fob is poorly designed. And if you open it up you'll find out that it's a sealed unit, which makes it impossible to remove the actual switch for the panic button. I would definitely deactivate it if I could.

FNM

· #6 · May 8, 2017

...so they never found out what it was eh?

Reactions: 1

John_K_348

· #7 · May 8, 2017

Haha, man that IS embarrassing. My 17 year old Lojack fob does it all the time for my Miata now. It's the second one and just worn. Too many keys and too much responsibility taking up space in my pocket. Make one wrong move and you either chirp it, or set off panic.

burgngoldman

· #8 · May 9, 2017

I was driving down the road at ~50mph in my F430 and the alarm went off. I'd been driving for at least 30 min when this happened. (Don't you just love Italian cars!)

There was a lot of traffic and the shoulder was open to traffic also, so it took me a good 10 min (felt like 30!) to find a safe place to pull over. All the while I was trying to figure out the hand gesture for "Seriously, I did not steal this bright yellow Ferrari. I promise. Seriously."

Reactions: 3

John_K_348

· #9 · May 9, 2017

The driver's side headlight used to wink up and down on my 348, after I messed with the manual crank knob under the hood my first year. It would do it when I parked in front of my house to get my ramps out. Not a great way to end a drive.

Harrcon

· #10 · Jun 12, 2017

Okay, enough is enough! I'm at a funeral on Saturday, at a church in Connecticut. It's a Catholic service, with a lot of standing, sitting, kneeling. In the middle of a prayer, I hear this car alarm, and realize it is mine. I'm trying to keep quiet a reverent as I punch every button on the fob, except the trunk. Finally hit the panic button and turned it off.

That evening, I'm at a dive bar in Westport (thanks Diners Drive-ins and Dives) and the door guy yells that a white car has its alarm going. Me, again. Since then, nothing goes into the pocket with the fob. There has to be a better way.

Reactions: 1

FNM

· #11 · Jun 12, 2017 (Edited)

ahh that was you creating all that noise in CT.. thought it was my local fire house

Maybe have them look at the sensors might be too highly tweaked / faulty perhaps - I recall way back a million years ago my Dads Toyota was doing that all the time.. incidentally it was the ONLY part in the car that wasn't made in Japan and came from the UK and had a problem

Mine has not gone off at all and I took her to Limerock / Palmer with all the not so quiet cars

FNM

· #12 · Jun 12, 2017

and p.s. you weren't anywhere near Newtown / New Fairfield were you?.. I saw 3 Alfa's in an hour this weekend after seeing none EVER..

Alan

· #13 · Jun 12, 2017

I'm hoping that perhaps Alfa Romeo can change the panic button so it works more like the remote start and needs 2 presses in relatively quick succession, or one longer press. Anything where its a code change rather than reworking the mechanics of the fob and makes it more resistant to getting bumped because it is a real pain. It's certainly on my list of please make these code tweaks that AR is going to get as soon as I work out what the best email address to send it to is.

Reactions: 1

Chipshot

· #14 · Jun 12, 2017

Remote starting the car from a discrete distance and then stopping it without approaching is a fun trick. Anyone standing around looking at a Giulia would've been interested to see more, including who was driving the lovely beast. Imagine their disappointment when the car shuts down without going anywhere.

BandE

· #15 · Jun 12, 2017

There must be a way to disconnect the panic button....

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