Alarm system question

jlilnc14 · May 17, 2017

But then the truck's alarm goes off. Just like I'd punched out a window.

I guess I just learned to not use the key to unlock the door. This thread has taught me that this is a "feature" rather than a "bug" on GM's part.

So what would you like happen? Using the key and not having the alarm go off? The alarm lets you know just in case it's not the owner entering the truck via the keyhole. The keyhole is only for when you can't get in with the key fob. I had a friend that was too lazy to change her battery on her key fob and just used the key hole and guess what? The hey hole broke after several months.

Nick The Great · May 17, 2017

So what would you like happen? Using the key and not having the alarm go off? The alarm lets you know just in case it's not the owner entering the truck via the keyhole. The keyhole is only for when you can't get in with the key fob. I had a friend that was too lazy to change her battery on her key fob and just used the key hole and guess what? The hey hole broke after several months.

Yes. I would like to insert the key and have the door unlock. Like my front door. Or my padlock at the gym. Or my bicycle lock. Or my fireproof file box. Or my toolbox in the garage. With no fuss.

These are $400 keys with a chip inside; I think the security system could be able to recognize it vs a screwdriver or drill bit.

If the best defense against the key is that it'll wear out too soon . . . well that's a pretty weak argument. I hope the little plastic button doesn't wear out on my fob first!

I don't even really care all that much about it, but it's just odd that everybody else is okay with this.

Mark Diedrich · May 17, 2017

My 2003 was that way too, what have you been driving that was different? Guess you'll have to learn to adapt that's how they are! Smh

Thomcat · May 18, 2017

OP's problem of unwillingness to carry the remote fob will soon be solved. Just fobs, not keys and fobs are the future. GM Trucks have already migrated from double sided machine cut keys to the laser cut blades and the next step already on most newer vehicles is one piece switchblade keyfobs with the key blade spring loaded into the fob, like my Impala or optional keyless entry. Even "keyless entry keyfobs" like my Malibu use a fob containing a hidden blade for emergency entry to the hidden keylock in case the fob battery dies.

Car keys are an endangered species and evolution's lesson is adapt or die, so once the remainder of the newer models follow suit, it will be either carry some type of fob.......the switchblade fob, a keyless entry fob or call a taxi.

dman1458 · May 18, 2017

I do find it odd that the alarm would sound when you unlock using the key. My Titan, as an example the keyless entry is hit or miss, so sometimes I have to use the key. Even though the alarm is active it has never sounded entering the truck this way.

jlilnc14 · May 18, 2017

Yeah the security chip only prevents the vehicle from being started. Doesn't do much in preventing theft or vandalism. I personally like the fact that if you don't use the key fob to unlock, the alarm will go off. If someone was to break the lock and was trying to steal stuff from my truck, I would know when the alarm goes off. Without the alarm, you wouldn't know till they are long gone.

Thomcat · May 19, 2017

I do find it odd that the alarm would sound when you unlock using the key. My Titan, as an example the keyless entry is hit or miss, so sometimes I have to use the key. Even though the alarm is active it has never sounded entering the truck this way.

Well a Silverado or GMC is not a Titan. If the alarm doesn't sound when active and you open the door with or without a key on a Silverado or GMC or Traverse, etc, it means the alarm system is broken and the DIC too if it fails to indicate the system is broken.

GM's uses a mechanical only keylock in the driver's door. There is no transponder like the one in the ignition lock that "reads" a chip in the key to deactivate the system. The Chevy and GMC truck keys do not have a chip in their keys, They are laser cut mechanical keys only, the FOB deactivates the alarm so it cannot be activated or deactivated with a key, operates the same with GM's older systems like my Traverse which use a traditional cut key with a chip, but also lacks a transponder in the driver's door to read the chip.

GM keys with a "chip" inside contain a cross within a circle symbol at the base of the key; GM keys without do not.