wales@ucla-cs.UUCP (05/18/85)
I received only one reply to my earlier request for references to tech-
nical info on car alarms. There was an article in Motor Trend on alarms
last year (January 1984, pp. 89-99).
I looked in the UCLA library system and in several bookstores. The only
material I could find on auto security systems was hopelessly outdated.
(1) Does ANYONE out there know of ANY books or magazine articles about
car alarms (other than the Motor Trend article cited above)?
(2) I understand that some insurance companies offer a discount on the
"comprehensive" coverage for a car with an alarm system.
Can anyone who has gotten such a discount describe to me what
minimum standards their alarm system had to meet (what features?;
installed by a pro?; etc.).
If you do decide to reply, be sure and mention which company pro-
vides your insurance.
(3) My car's alarm system (a top-of-the-line unit by Crimestopper) is a
model which the company sells only to professional installers. Fur-
ther, the warranty specifically declares itself null and void unless
the unit was installed by a pro.
This warranty provision makes no sense to me at all. Why is it
there? Do all the alarm manufactures do this kind of thing for
their "best" alarm systems?
(a) You might say: "Ah, but alarm systems are complicated, and an
amateur might install it in such a way as to make it ineffective
against a knowledgeable thief."
But what in the world does that have to do with whether the
company is willing to repair/replace the unit if it proves to be
defective? Nothing, as far as I can tell.
(b) Or, is it that "state-of-the-art" alarm systems are really so
flaky that a non-pro might easily destroy the innards by looking
crosseyed :-} at the unit?
I'm talking, of course, about damage that would not easily be
traceable to its cause. (I assume that any intelligent company
could look at a returned unit and tell, for instance, if it
failed because the dodo connected the +12V lead to a power out-
let instead of to the car battery!)
The only kind of insidious damage I can picture happening would
be something like stray static charge frying a CMOS chip. But
I would think that any piece of electronics that is intended to
work properly in a car clearly needs to be robust against a
static-filled environment anyway.
--
Rich Wales // UCLA Computer Science Department // +1 213-825-5683
3531 Boelter Hall // Los Angeles, California 90024 // USA
ARPA: wales@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA -or- wales@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU
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