Interior Alarm Sensor - Leaving windows down and someone sticks their hand in?

So I read in the manual somewhere about the Ultrasonic Field Disturbance sensor that senses when something moves in the interior and triggers the alarm. I think that's great because using radar it can tell that someone has disturbed the interior. I want this because I want to leave my windows down and if someone puts their hand in the window the alarm will go off. I've seen it in the manual and I also read this thread that says it exists but long story short... When I leave the windows down and lock the car (and alarm is on) I put my hand in the window and the alarm does NOT go off... why?!? I think this is a great feature and would like it work!

I have never heard of this feature. Interested to see who chimes in...

If you leave you windows down, lock the car and then reach in, it should go off, horn and all. I did this while picking up my dry cleaning the other day and scared the cr$% out of myself. I know the motion sensor is located in the rear center console. (see Ken's picture from his Bumper Plugs painted console article below) I'm not sure is this can be turned on or off, and can't find anything in the owner's manual. Perhaps a call to the dealer is in order? Let us know what they say.

I have never tried it. I know it worked on the Boxster with the top down if you used the clip to activate the switch to make it think the top was up.

Passenger compartment monitoring IS part of the alarm system. Page 25 of my '06 Owners manual: ​ When the alarm is armed, the following areas are monitored – Doors – Front and rear lids – Glove compartment – Passenger compartment If one of these alarm contacts is interrupted, the alarm horn sounds for approximately 3 minutes. Additionally, the emergency flasher and the passenger compartment light flash for approximately four minutes. When the alarm is triggered, the light-emitting diode changes over to double flashes. In order not to limit the action range of the passenger compartment monitoring system: Do not fold the backrests forward. ​ Deactivating the passenger compartment monitoring system for one locking process If a person or animal remains in the car while it is locked, the passenger compartment monitoring system must be switched off. Quickly lock car twice . The doors are locked but can be opened from the inside: 1. Pull inner door handle once to unlock door lock. 2. Pull inner door handle again to open door. Note Inform any person remaining in the car that the alarm system will be triggered if the door is ​ opened.

It does work! Picking up car at dealer, the window had been left down, but the car had been locked. Tossed a magazine in the window, and off it went. Marty

STLPCA, I'm not sure how I missed that yesterday when I searched! I feel like a doofus.

Don't feel bad. If everyone read the manual,,what the heck would Santa Fe do with all the spare time he'd have? As it is he'd never have time to drive his CS if others didn't help out every so often. The other day was my turn. :cheers:

I am pretty sure page 25 was ripped out of my Owners Manual!! Thanks for the post! Learned something today!

I was wondering the same actually, I had a friend sit inside the car and then I locked it, but then nothing happened!! could it be that this system is an option I didnt have?! ________________________ "Sir! We're surrounded!" - "Excellent! We can shoot in any direction!" A good car will get you from point A to point B. A great car... will just get you into trouble!

Here's a wierd one... Kevin, remember that night at your house for the Rock n' Croc 2 dinner, I turned my car on and revved my exhaust and the alarm on the Boxster behind me started going off? Now the manual doesn't mention noise activation anywhere... that's one thing I've noticed the AWE does well, the WRX STI alarms are especially sensitive to noise..

Hey now that might have been the reason! Lets go park in front of some Subies!!!

It needs a minute or so to be armed, don't ask me why but that is the way it works on all cars.

I realize this thread is about a year old, but I would like to ask the Cayman Club members if they would please check the operation of their interior alarm if they wouldn't mind. My dealer is trying to tell me that the alarm in my Croc has not working properly until recently. They say the proper function of the alarm is for the interior sensor to be inactive when the windows are not closed. I've had my Croc for 2.5 years and I've always had the interior sensor active with windows down and the car locked but now I'm told I'll have no interior protection unless I have the windows closed. Please read on... I took my 2K6 CS to the dealer for false alarms which started occurring at an Autocross while parked in the shade in between runs. This was about the 8th Autocross I had participated in...no alarm issues in the previous Ax's. I took it to the dealer and after replacing the interior sensor all was well for another Ax or two but then the alarm started going off again...but this time it was while parked in the sun in between runs at an Ax. In addition to that, I stopped by a friend’s house one night and reluctantly parked my Croc in the street (first time I ever did that and I hated every minute of it) but it once again had false alarms I assume from the lights of passing vehicles. I my Croc back to the dealer and they told me that the coding was wrong and they reloaded it to correct it. They also said it is not unusual for the alarm to go off at Ax's due to the timer in the car for the Ax...but I told them there is no timer used inside the car...the timing is done by breaking a beam at the start and finish lines...they made no mention as to why the alarm would go off from being parked in the street. Anyway, since my second visit for this issue, when my windows are down, there is NO longer any interior protection from the sensor. I found this out by accident when I removed a number of things from the passenger seat while the car was locked with the windows down in my driveway. So back to the dealer I went. Now they’re telling me that the interior alarm is disabled if the windows are not closed. They said they checked 3 other Croc's and they all behaved in the same manner...ie, the interior sensor is disabled if the windows are not closed. :wall: I told them that all was well when I took delivery in July of 2K6, the interior sensor worked when the windows were down before, and the problem just started while parked at an Autocross in the shade in between my runs several months ago…everything was fine before that. :helpme: Does anyone have any suggestions? Do most all of the Croc's, 2K6, 2K7 & 2K8 have the interior sensor active or inactive when the windows are down with the doors locked?? I know there is another thread, which addresses false alarms, and I'll remove the few coins that I recently put in my console JIC. Thank you in advance for your help. After this is resolved I'll have to address the lack of a sleep feature on my Chili Pepper (2K8 Cayenne )...they tell me it doesn't have this feature while the brochure says it does. :crazy:

Well I had tested it, and it works with the windows down (100% sure)==> Still, mine is a Boxster S ! Btw, what is the 'sleep' feature? Hope it not for the driver

Thanks for confirming your interior sensor is active with the windows down. On my Croc, and on your Boxter and 911 's as well, when the vehicle is not used for a period of time (7 days I believe), in order to help save the battery the locking system goes into a "light sleep" and the remote locking functions are temporarily deactivated...thus one has to unlock the door by inserting the key in the lock to awaken the "sleeping beauty". The "Getting to Know your Chili Pepper" brochure notes the Chili Pepper has this function too...but it does not work on my 2K8 Chili Pepper and the dealer is trying to tell me that my Chili Pepper does not have this feature. :crazy:

I haven’t ever heard my alarm go off on my new 2K8 Cayman S, and come think about it, I’m not sure I’ve ever even heard the horn from outside the car, so I thought I would try this experiment out. I had read in the manual about the not leaving first stage alarm set with people or pets in the car, so I figured it had to be something to this. I rolled the windows down, locked the car with one click on the remote, waited 1 minute, and then stuck my arm in. It did not go off immediately, but after a movement or two, sure enough she went off. I reset the alarm and did it again without waiting for a minute (maybe 10 seconds) and it did NOT go off, so I guess it has to wait for a minute or so. I reset the alarm and this time relocked it with the double click on the lock and waited well in excess of 1 minute. I reached in and waved my arm around a lot and even moved the steering wheel and nothing happened. I pulled on the interior door handle to open the door though and she went off. It appears to work just like the manual describes (see page 21 in the 2008 manual). I can confirm for you that a 2K8 does indeed have the passenger monitoring system. BTW – a one click first stage alarm is confirmed by two flashes of the running lights. A two click non-compartment monitored alarm is confirmed by a long running light confirmation. Don't forget to set it to the second stage if you leave that dog in your car! And make sure you tell the dog not to open the doors either.

i keep a sword by my door incase someone tries to break in my car, true story

Towerman...Thanks for checking that out for me. That helps to confirm how mine use to work. :dance: Now I can tell the dealer that the 3 Croc's they checked, that did not work with the windows down, are malfunctioning too! I got a call from the shop today and they offered to put the computer back to the way it was...so I asked them to please do that. When I get the car back tomorrow I'll verify the alarm works properly once again. The only thing is, they monified the computer in the first place because I was getting false alarms. Guess if the false alarms return they'll have to check something else as disabling an alarm is not the proper way to correct a false alarm issue. This Saturday is another Autocross...so that'll be a good first test to see if the false alarms return. BTW - my dogs won't open the doors...they like to go for a ride and stay in the car a while...but I can only take them one at a time since they are both 100 pounders and one pup just barely fits.

The 987 range of vehilces use a microwave interior sensor, this creates an invisible net inside the car around the sensor , which is located under the handbrake. Unlike earlier infra red sensors found in the 986 it is not triggered by wind or sound , so is less likely to false alarm. The sensor cannot be adjusted but can be reduced in range if metal objects are placed in the cubby tray under the arm rest. I know that the range of the sensor in my Boxster is not significant and have already had one unit replaced with no improvement. Unfortunately the alarm system is part of the vehicle electronics and cannot be fully deactivated to allow an aftermarket alarm to be installed in its place. There are however upgrades that can be ADDED to the standard alarm system such as a tilt / tow away sensor and a battery backed siren. These additional increases in security are stipulated in some countries such as the Netherlands and England so are available as Porsche parts. I have retro fitted these components to my 987S to comply with local insurance requirements here in the UK.

Thank you for explaining about the microwave interior sensor. I did have several coins in the cubby tray but have removed them. Afterwards, I checked the operation of the interior sensor and found it's not working well at all. Apparently my invisible net does not cover the drivers side of the car at all. I sat behind the wheel (windows up) and moved my arms around, without extending them over to the passenger side, and the alarm never went off. It will go off from the passengers side. With the windows down, working at it for some time, I did manage to get the alarm to go off but only once...that was when I extended my arms in from the passengers side to well beyond the console and kept moving them around for some time. Does this sound like the typical operation of the microwave interior sensor? I'd hate to go back to the dealer for this again if this is normal. Since this is my first Porsche I'm just assuming that this is not normal operation.