What does it take to set off the alarm on Boxsters?
 

At work a LOUD semi truck drove by the car lot and set off alot of cars alarms,but not my Boxster's. I went up to the car and made sure I had the alarm armed,and it was. But come to think of it I dont ever remember the alarm ever going off. I know the car has an because it has the Sport Package. What does it take to set off the alarm? I just want to make sure that mine is working correctly.

I dont know about yours but with mine I dont even lock my car anymore. My alarm goes off if a fly farts by it. So I just take my chances now with it unlocked. Im sure there is a sensitivity setting somewhere.

Mine has gone off when I've reached inside after locking it/arming it and activated the motion detectors. But it has never gone off because of noise or a bump.

What I am curious about is, sometimes when I arm it, the horn beeps and other times it does not. No rhyme or reason as to why. The light on the dash always flashes either way indicating it is armed, and the lights flash as they are supposed to. Just sometimes it beeps and other times, no.

It beeps when you have something open, like your center console (oddments tray) or one of the trunks is not fully closed.

My understanding from the manual is that the motion detector is only activated when the top is up. This makes no sense to me, wouldn't you want it active when the top is down so nobody is messing with the interior of the car?

Guess this is to prevent false alarms or something or the system just doesn't work properly with the top down.

This is why people use the little red clip!

Hi,

The Boxster does not have a Motion Detector in the classic sense, it's primarily a Perimeter Alarm, that is it detects the opening of a Door, Storage Compartment, or Hatch.

Most Cars with Motion Detectors use a very sensitive accelerometer (for lack of a better word) which detects if the car itself is moved, by a thief or sometimes a passing Truck or Bus depending upon how sensitive it is or is set.

The Motion Detector in the Boxster is an IR sensor that senses if anything is moving in the interior if the Top is Up or the Red Clip has been employed. It detects an arm reaching in and not the car's actual motion. This is why it is normally inactive with the Top Down (unless overidden by the Red Clip), because a falling leaf or a passing insect would set it off creating too many False Alarms. The Car's Alarm is impervious to moving or jostling the car, a thief could put it on a tow truck without sounding the alarm. Only when they broke the perimeter or reached inside would the alarm sound. Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

Does that clip come with the car?

nope. But it's only a few bucks at from any of our sponsors. A must have!

I just got that clip from ebay......probably the cheapest and most useful thing you can get for your boxster! :dance:

The clip is about $4! Try sending a PM to Tool Pants, he might send you one for free.