Alarm?

Hi Ive got a 2002 EP1 and I was just wondering does it come with an Alarm as standard because i dont think mine has one thanks

put your window down..lock your car...stick your arm in and wave it about..see what happens

i tried that and nothing happened. so does that mean the alrms not working or i dont have one?

How in the earth would that work? That would mean that if you left a person in the car and accidentally locked the doors the alarm would come on. That would be just dumb design.

Lock the doors, push down on the front wheel well so the car starts going up and down on the springs. Shake it up and down for a while and if the alarm doesn't come on then you don't have one

How in the earth would that work? That would mean that if you left a person in the car and accidentally locked the doors the alarm would come on. That would be just dumb design.

Some of them do have this. I know for a fact mine does, as i locked my friend in as a joke and he set it off... twice! haha

Another way to check : lock it with the window down, then open the door from inside. I'm pretty sure that sets mine off aswel

Or lock it remotely with your key fob. Then unlock it just using your spare key. That sets my alarm off anyway...

yeah i think my car doesnt have one then. Is it worth fitting one in?

How in the earth would that work? That would mean that if you left a person in the car and accidentally locked the doors the alarm would come on. That would be just dumb design.

Some of them do have this. I know for a fact mine does, as i locked my friend in as a joke and he set it off... twice! haha

Another way to check : lock it with the window down, then open the door from inside. I'm pretty sure that sets mine off aswel

Mines does it to think it was you martin sayed it before and i tryed it

yeah i think my car doesnt have one then. Is it worth fitting one in?

All EP1s come with no alarm, only an immobiliser.

How in the earth would that work? That would mean that if you left a person in the car and accidentally locked the doors the alarm would come on. That would be just dumb design.

Ok so you think cars somehow magically decide wether or not it is a unfortunate passenger stuck in the car, or wether its a burgular breaking in?
Get real! If you are locked in a car that has internal sensors, then you are going to trigger the alarm. If you didnt, then id seriosuly be questioning the quality/set up of the alarm.

Also, rocking the car is surely only going to work if the car is fitted with tilt sensors? (Not many cars have them)
I could be wrong with this one...


Newer cars have a button you can press to disable the internal sensors. Like on my car, if i press lock twice it dis-arms the sensors.

99% of cars that have an alarm, will be set off by movement inside once locked.



To tell if your EP has an alarm, then look above the rear middle seat. If there is a unit mounted on the roof lineing with a couple grills on it, then you have an alarm.
At least this was the case for pre-facelift cars.

If you get an aftermarket kit, you normally get two ultrasonic sensors, one at the top of each A pillar.

Also, rocking the car is surely only going to work if the car is fitted with tilt sensors? (Not many cars have them)
I could be wrong with this one...

Ok so you think cars somehow magically decide wether or not it is a unfortunate passenger stuck in the car, or wether its a burgular breaking in?
Get real! If you are locked in a car that has internal sensors, then you are going to trigger the alarm. If you didnt, then id seriosuly be questioning the quality/set up of the alarm.

I wrote that from experience not with an EP2, but a >2004 Volvo. All of those have alarms, yet when you accidentally lock a person in the car the alarm won't come on if the person moves.

Back to Volvos. The way those detect a passenger is with pressure sensors (or something) in the seat. Those decide whether to light up a "fasten seatbelt" sign as well!

Are you saying you've never been in a modern car that has separate "fasten seatbelt" lights for the front passengers??




Obviously the EP2/EP1 isn't as modern (or expensive ) as a Volvo, so that explains why they don't have the same features.

My own car has the annoying seatbelt warning for each front seat.
But that doesnt mean it senses passengers when the car is locked.

The majority of standard fit alarms consit of Ultrasonic sensors which detect movement within the vehical, meaning if a passenger was accidently locked in, the alarm would sound.

Advanced ones have tilt sensors, glass sensors, proximety sensors etc etc.




Although, going back to your Volvo;
Let say you have a laptop sitting in your passenger seat, and you window is down far enough for someone to get a hand in.
You walk away lock the car, then along comes someone who reaches in and grabs the laptop.

Now is your seat sensor system going to decide that its a passenger moving around, creating the movenment and the weight change on the seat, or is it going to know its an item being lifted off of the seat?

Not sure how that works.

Although, going back to your Volvo;
Let say you have a laptop sitting in your passenger seat, and you window is down far enough for someone to get a hand in.
You walk away lock the car, then along comes someone who reaches in and grabs the laptop.

Now is your seat sensor system going to decide that its a passenger moving around, creating the movenment and the weight change on the seat, or is it going to know its an item being lifted off of the seat?

Not sure how that works.

I know what you mean. But I think there's something more to it than just pressure sensors. Because when I stock up things on the passenger seat, the warning light doesn't come on. But when I sit there, it does.
My knowledge ends here, probably would have to ask Volvo's engineers

If you wanna test your car to see of there's an alarm, stay inside it and lock it with the remote, then try to start the car. The Alarm is wired into the ignition system and will realise something is up straight away, causing it to trigger.

However, if you have the car from new and didnt order an alarm with it, it wont have one. The EP1 even in facelift form didn't come with it as standard. (I had to order mine in advance of the car arriving)

When it comes to waving your hands around inside to trigger the alarm, that will only work if there are ultrasonic sensors fitted, usually at the A pillars (either high or low but can be mounted in the ceiling too) and look like little speaker things. Another thing to take note of though, is the Alarm even though armed, it wont become active from anywhere between 30sec and 2 mins with most. so it wont sound for ya if you try yo trigger it straight away.

there are ultrasonic sensors fitted, usually at the A pillars

This may be the case for most aftermarket systems, and some OEM, however the EP's standard system is as ross said

To tell if your EP has an alarm, then look above the rear middle seat. If there is a unit mounted on the roof lineing with a couple grills on it, then you have an alarm.