Car alarm systems go a long way in protecting vehicles as well as creating alerts to let those nearby know of potential thieves. Sometimes, they could go off when you would rather they didn’t and you need to switch them off fast with no keys.
However, if you don’t know how to turn off a car alarm without keys, you may wonder how to properly go about it. If you’d like to find out, keep reading!
How To Turn Off Car Alarm Without Key
You can turn off your car’s alarm without the key by finding the easiest method to interrupt the power supply to the alarm system. This could be achieved by disconnecting a fuse, unplugging wire connectors or disabling the battery. Cars with keyless ignitions also let you do this by starting the car.
Learn everything you need to know about disabling an alarm without the keys, including the fastest way to do it, how it works by model and more by reading more below!
How Do I Deactivate My Car Alarm Without The Key?
To have an orderly guide, listed below are some options where you have neither the key nor the fob:
1. Flip The Kill Switch
Get inside the car and look for a small switch or button that’s usually located on the driver’s side, somewhere between the underside of the dashboard and the floor.
This switch is usually installed as part of an aftermarket alarm system and you might have the option to decide where it’s placed so you can find it quickly but a thief wouldn’t.
The kill switch is meant to stop the car if an unauthorized person gets a hold of it, but sometimes it malfunctions and sets off the alarm.
If you’re dealing with a used car and you don’t know exactly where it is, just feel around the steering column for a nub, switch or button that’s sitting by itself.
This option will turn off the alarm’s alert component but not the locking mechanism, i.e. the alarm will quiet down but you still won’t be able to start the car.
This method is the most ideal for a situation where you’re just looking to stop the noise when it becomes too much of a nuisance, (e.g. when it wakes you up in the middle of the night and you can’t grab your keys).
2. Disconnect The Alarm Wires
If your car is still using the manufacturer’s alarm system, then you usually won’t have the option to disable it through the switch.
In this case, you can turn off the alarm by disconnecting the wires that connect the alarm system to the rest of the car’s wiring.
This is something that you shouldn’t attempt unless you’re knowledgeable of the inner wirings of a car because if not, you could either cause damage to other components or seriously injure yourself through electric shock.
Make sure that when you’re doing this, you’re unplugging the connectors on the wires instead of cutting them, otherwise you’ll have to deal with repair costs that will only go up depending on the extent of your damage.
3. Take Out The Alarm Fuse
If you don’t feel like going through the hassle of figuring out which wires to disconnect to disable the alarm, you could try disconnecting the fuse.
This method is easier than the previous one, but it still carries most of the same risks and challenges: you need to be a professional, as you could cause extensive damage if you don’t know what you’re doing and there is still the danger of getting electrocuted.
You should conduct research to determine which fuse in your car controls the alarm. Look online or in your owner’s manual to find it then disconnect it carefully.
4. Disconnect The Battery
You can disconnect your battery to disable the car’s alarm system if all you’re looking to do is quiet it down and aren’t looking to drive it soon.
Unlike the other options listed above, this one shouldn’t be done by hand. Instead, you’re going to have to use a wrench.
Before getting started, make sure that your car is off and that it hasn’t been turned on to any position within the last hour or so.
Open the hood to reveal the battery and locate the positive and negative terminals. Some batteries will have protective caps over these terminals, so take them off if you see them.
Depending on how they’ve been fastened down, the amount of space available for maneuvering around the battery and more, find the right wrenches to get the nuts of the negative terminal.
Disconnecting the negative terminal will disable the alarm, and as a bonus, you can reset the alarm by reconnecting the battery.
This method is ideal for preemptively disabling the alarm rather than quieting it, where you feel it’s better completely off than active.
5. Consult Your Manual
If all else fails, go through your owner’s manual to see if the manufacturer installed any fallback features in the event that you didn’t have your keys.
How Do I Turn Off My Car Alarm If The Key Fob Is Dead?
All the methods mentioned above will also work if you don’t have your car’s key fob.
Whether the batteries aren’t working, you lost them or can’t use them for another reason, turning off your alarm without the key fob is the same as doing it without the keys.
How Do I Turn Off My Car Alarm Without a Key in a Honda Accord?
Honda makes the Accord in a way that makes it easy to turn off the alarm when you have the keys and not the fob, but not the other way around, meaning you’d have to use more aggressive methods to do it.
You can use one of the options above to turn off the alarm on a Honda Accord if you don’t have the keys.
How Do I Turn Off My Car Alarm Without a Key in a Honda Civic?
Like the Honda Accord, you would basically have to cut the power supply to the alarm system to turn it off if you don’t have the key.
Will a Car Alarm Turn Off by Itself?
Car alarms will trigger based on different responses to contact with the car and the alerts will last for a proportionate amount of time.
Manufacturers set this duration for themselves because there’s no standardized way to do it yet, but some alarms will go off indefinitely.
This means that any serious activity that places the safety of the car in danger will trigger an alert that goes on until it’s turned off by the owner or it drains the battery.
To know more about car alarms, you can also check our posts on how to disconnect a car alarm fuse, how to set off a car alarm, and the Kia alarm reset.
Conclusion
You can turn off a car’s alarm without the key by cutting off the power supply to the system. Do this either by disconnecting the wires or fuse, or disconnecting the car battery.
When doing this, you should be careful to avoid interfering with other electrical components of the car or getting electrocuted.