Alarm door lock deactivation fix - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

Scream · 1st January 2003, 12:16

With reference to the thread "They Tried to Steal My Beast"

Hello
Spoke to a dealer friend of mine about the problem some of you have with cars alarms deactivated with the door lock when breaking into your car

You can have the door lock deactivation switched off using any dealer DIS or Modic computer

Under "Car memory 1.1" it is the 3rd option
yoiu can coose
"alarm activation/deactivation by remote control"
or
"alarm activation/deactivation by remote control or door lock"

This is correct for all 5series from 1998

Hope this helps you guys

ELEVENS · 1st January 2003, 17:02

I was wondering how that works. For example, if the key doesn't deactivate the alarm, what does?

atomic80 · 1st January 2003, 17:03

But if we were to do that then we'd lose the capability of turning on/off the alarm with the remote as well. Is there a way for us to turn on/off the alarm disactivation/activation feature with JUST the door lock and still do this with the remote?

Scream · 1st January 2003, 17:46

You choose one of 2 settings

1) Allow only the remote to disarm the alarm

or

2) Allow the remote to disarm the alarm or the key in the door lock to disarm the alarm

At the moment it seems the USA standard setting is number 2
If you set number 1 it will be like our standard setting where only the remote can disarm the alarm.

atomic80 · 1st January 2003, 17:55

Thanks for the clarifcation! I'll stop by my dealership to have them activate #1 for me!

Scream · 1st January 2003, 18:02

Just tell them its under " CAR MEMORY 1.1 "

Chris Foote · 1st January 2003, 18:34

Scream, thank you so much for posting this info!

-Chris

HotWheels · 1st January 2003, 19:07

Scream,

This is great information. In case anyone missed it, they need only scroll down to my post "They Tried to Steal My Beast" to understand the relevance of this info.

I do have a question, had my car been set to "remote only" alarm deactivation, and the alarm went off when they unlocked/opened the doors, how long does the alarm sound for? While the other setting wouldn't have prevented them from breaking off the door handle, it probably would have prevented them from taking the time to steal the stuff inside the car.

It makes no sense why they would deliver US vehicles (or any vehicles) with the other setting. Can anyone understand the purpose of allowing the key to deactivate the alarm when BMW surely knows of this problem?

atomic80 · 1st January 2003, 19:19

A point in reference is that I do remember my salesperson going through this feature with me when I first took delivery of my beast. At the time I didn't think that it would be necessary to disactivate the alarm system via keyhole feature. I have since then changed my outlook on that and will have them fix that for me.

Can't entirely put the blame on BMW for this. We did get this choice in the first place. Just have to be aware of it when programming the beast during delivery.

Scream · 1st January 2003, 19:20

Hotwheels

European law prevents the alarm frou sounding for more than about 2 minutes. The flashing indicators will continue to operate untill a accepted key is inserted.

The "CAR MEMORY" default settings are determined by the official BMW company in each country. But can be changed by the dealer at any time, there are over 20 settings, from alarm to automatic door lock to seat position ect.

I have been told that many americans like using they key instead of the remote.
So BMW has to try and make all its customers happy.
But only some of us know better

1st January 2003, 20:02

Thanks Scream. Your help is much appreciated.

The unfortunate thing is that in the US, the dealer will not agree to program over half the features, due to liability issues (the auto closing of windows in one example). I wonder if anyone knows of a US dealer that will agree to program all features?

I have another question. Does the e39 M5 alarm come with a built-in tilt sensor (so that if someone tried to tow the vehicle the alarm would go off)?

Cheers

atomic80 · 1st January 2003, 20:07

DDM5,

That's not the problem. The problem with programming the auto-up windows is that the computer used by dealerships don't even have this feature to turn it on/off. Not at least that I could see when I watched my salesperson do it. I suspect that this feature is programmed using a different computer overseas maybe even at the factory via some other method.

As for the anti-tow feature, yes, the M5 has this sensor.