How come the alarm goes off, when I put the key in the driver's door to unlock it? It's happened 4x now.

 

Turn the alarm off by unlocking the doors with the remote first. Otherwise it goes off. ,,,,,assuming you have a remote that is,,,,,,

Julian

 

That's weird. Why even bother with a key, then ???????

Not one of GM's smarter things.

 

It figures you'll unlock it the same way as you lock it.

 

If the remote goes dead, you'll need the key. Probably one of the reasons for door lock on drivers side.

 

If you lock the door with the remote, you have to unlock it with it. If you lock the door with the key, you can use the key to unlock it without the alarm going off. At lleast that's how mine is.

 

If you lock the door using the door lock button, it will alarm whenever you open a door, some sorta intruder/tamper feature, I had this problem my first week because we only got one key and the fob was at the dealers, long story...
Anyway, don`t use that button, that should solve you problem.

 

It's made to do that by design. It's not a malfunction.

 

Safety. It's the only thing that makes a factory 'alarm' usefull as an anti theft device. This way, if someone defeats the lock with a screwdriver or crow bar, it still sounds until you put the real key in the ignition.

My Jetta didn't have this feature, and someone broke in to it one fall evening, in my driveway, which is right underneath my open bedroom window. Woke up to an undrivable car that had to be towed away and had about $3000 damage.

That's what happens when factory alarms turn off with the key in the door

 

Why use the key? Because sooner or later, the motor in the door will start to fail and the only way into the car is with the key. This is happening in my 9-year-old minivan.

I have always locked all my cars with the door button. I hate that the horn sounds when I use the remote. The alarm is engaged same as if I used the remote. I know because the alarm light is on and I've tripped it once or twice when the lock didn't go down all the way. However, it does save the battery in the remote. I only use it half the time!