I (and everybody else, methinks) have been annoyed in the past by a car alarm that's been incessantly blaring for five minutes or more, with no owner in site.
Usually the owner is at a distance from the car, or is in a noisy area (club, party, etc.), where they cannot hear the alarm going off. Unfortunately, everyone else can. And the general public is not going to stop someone getting in that car (general public thought process: "if it's the owner, he'll stop the alarm eventually; if not, I'm not potentially risking my life to protect someone else's insured property").
So why not have a pager system between your keys and your alarm? As soon as your car alarm is activated, your keys are also activated, producing a mini-alarm or vibrating action, alerting you to the alarm which you may not be able to hear in your current location.
This would prevent public annoyance, as well as alert you to a potential security issue with your vehicle.-- lewarcher, Apr 30 2002 Alarm Pager http://www.wintec.c...ager/lca-2000ce.htm [brewmaster, Apr 30 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004] Another one. http://www.carmedia1.com/autopage.html [dag, Apr 30 2002] car Watch http://carwatch.supanet.comAlarm pager that rings your Mobile for FREE! [jackjay, Oct 04 2004] Baked, I had one about five years ago with a Viper system. Since then they've come a little further. [link]-- dag, Apr 30 2002 Damn. I was so confident with this, having never heard of it, that I would post it before doing any research on external sites...sorry guys...-- lewarcher, Apr 30 2002 It should call a phone number: people who carry cell phones are the sort who would want this product, so there's no sense in having them carry a separate device. In fact, put such squealers into other places: burglar alarms, sump pumps (is there a flood?) and thermostats (fire?), etc.-- horripilation, Nov 11 2002 Oh, great. Now not only is the alarm going off, but the cellphone's going off in the theatre, which causes the Theater sniper's rifle to go off...-- thumbwax, Nov 11 2002 Baked... Kind of. My father has a second hand BMW upon which the original owner bestowed the most incredible alarm system I've ever seen. On the off-chance that some poor bugger stole the thing, the car will telephone (or text) its owner, with a pre-receorded message that it's moving without the benefit of the key. The owner can then call the police, who'll track the car via some form of on-board tracing device, and select an option (over the phone) which will wait until the car stops (at lights / junction etc.) shut off the engine, immobilise itself and sound its alarm. James Bond eat your heart out...-- ScepticAL, Jan 25 2003 I'm working to try to get rid of audible car alarms in New York City, in favor of these pager devices (which seem to work much better). Check out the campaign's website (which Jutta linked to, because I couldn't figure out how...thanks!)-- aaronf, Jun 03 2003 Methinks the last link by [jackjay] is purely self-promotional and commercial.-- Cedar Park, Jul 13 2003 random, halfbakery