Why no passive alarm set?

rh71 · #1 03-11-2008, 09:40 AM

If you ever forget to lock your car via remote or comfort access door handles, the alarm never arms. Never, as in never. I understand there can be reasons where you're working on the car inside and outside and you want it to remain off but this can be a pretty bad tradeoff if you ever do forget to set it.

Say you're carrying tons of groceries and you can barely close the door... you do it with your foot and run inside. The car's left out there, unlocked and with no alarm. In my case my wife exits the vehicle after me all the time (she's preggo and slower to get out) and with comfort access she's the one to do it but sometimes forgets - and by then I don't always remember to either. It was left unarmed the entire night but at least it was in my garage in that case.

Even cheap alarm systems set it passively after 30 seconds or so. Did they overlook something here? Why not have it to be on the safe side? Manual does not indicate any passive alarm.

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watrob · #2 03-11-2008, 09:48 AM

Passive or not, I don't like the fact that there is no beep when you lock the X5. I mean you walk away, you have your back to the X5 and you push the button and your just not sure whether the X5 locked. So you turn around, stop, look, do it again to see if the rear lights flash.

And if a door is not closed properly it does not lock. How simple could it be, one beep its locked, 3 beeps its unlocked, 2 beeps a door is not closed. MB can do it.

rh71 · #3 03-11-2008, 09:58 AM

^ idrive has a setting to make it beep... it's probably just disabled for you. 1 beep locked, 2 beeps unlocked.

lakai · #4 03-12-2008, 01:53 AM

it beeps, although its hard to hear from far way. Its more like a chirp unlike many car alarms that honk.

watrob · #5 03-12-2008, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lakai

it beeps, although its hard to hear from far way. Its more like a chirp unlike many car alarms that honk.

The dealer told me that there is no chirp available?

HaroldC · #6 03-13-2008, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by watrob

The dealer told me that there is no chirp available?

We have it here in the US, I would imagine that you have it as well down under.

It's located in idrive> settings> vehicle/tires> door locks> confirmation
The option for acuostic confirmation for both locking and unlocking are there.

rh71 · #7 03-13-2008, 01:55 PM

So since nobody else is chiming in on the original question, let me ask this... what do other luxury brands (or even other BMW models) do in this case? Does it passively arm for them?

mwares212 · #8 03-13-2008, 04:29 PM

If I want the alarm set, I will lock the car. I don't see a problem hear

It's not like an alarm will stop anyone from stealing your car anyway. I had the alarm on my previous BMWs and they didn't automatically set.
No offense, but if you forget to lock the car and it gets stolen, that is your fault.

Penguin · #9 03-13-2008, 06:20 PM

I guess it's personal preference, but I don't want my vehicle setting the alarm unless I tell it to, e.g., if I leave my vehicle unlocked in my garage, I certainly don't want the !@##@#$ alarm going off if I later open the door to get something out of it, and then have to find the key to shut the $#@# thing off.

watrob · #10 03-13-2008, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HaroldC

We have it here in the US, I would imagine that you have it as well down under.

It's located in idrive> settings> vehicle/tires> door locks> confirmation
The option for acuostic confirmation for both locking and unlocking are there.

I have double checked, it only has visual confirmation, no acuostic confirmation. I have owned many BMW and not one has ever had acuostic confirmation.

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