Our VW Jetta has gone bonkers. I unlocked the car door this morning and the alarm went off. No way to shut it off. The unfortunate part of it all (other than the fact that the horn wouldn’t stop until we disconnected the wires to it) is that the engine won’t start until it’s been disabled. What a great way to build in maintenance revenues for the dealerships.
Research shows (mainly from www.myvwlemon.com) that many people have had this problem and I confirmed this fact with the dealership. There are multiple sources to the problem so it is not simple for the owner to troubleshoot.  After reading about the alarm system I can’t believe how hokey it is and how susceptible to failure it can be. How could somebody from a well-known manufacturer have approved of the design for the system is beyond me. Especially a system where there is no simple way for an owner to bypass the alarm system with the appropriate authentication (like a valid key or a key-code combo known only by the owner/dealer). I’m sure the dealership will have no problem resolving the problem but good luck getting the secret from them.
I’ve instructed the dealership to disable the alarm system such that my car will start and so that I can still lock the doors with my key. I don’t care about the alarm system itself and the reason was made abundently clear this morning: After 20 minutes of the horn incessantly blaring, the only person on my street who cared was my neighbour who was only interested in helping me stop the damn noise.