When and by whom was the car alarm invented?

New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani commented, "Noise pollution is a major problem. Even in a city as exciting as New York, people should be able to sleep undisturbed by car alarms." Various countries have voted to ban car alarms, and some studies have even concluded that car alarms increase, rather than reduce, car theft.

Car alarms can be dated back to 1913 with a snippet of newspaper claiming that an unnamed Denver prisoner invented an alarm that would trigger when someone tried to hand crank the engine. Three years later, in 1916, the magazine Popular Science Monthly reported an inventor developing a wireless alarm system which would make a buzzer vibrate when their car’s ignition was tampered with.

The first recorded car theft case is from 1896. Since cars are not only valuable but also easy to hide, thieves have always seen cars as easy targets. They say that the companies that make sound systems for cars in California are also the inventors of the car alarm used as it is known today. A car alarm, which can make an extremely loud sound when triggered, is shown as an important tool that can scare away those who steal the car it is connected to, as well as inform the people in the vicinity that the car is being stolen, as well as the owner of the car. However, the biggest problem with car alarms is that the sensitivity of these alarms is never set exactly right.

The first mass-produced after-market car alarm was patented in 1954 by Victor Helman. The device would sit in the car’s glovebox and have wires running to the hood, trunk and doors all connected to a switch. If any part of the car was opened without disabling the master switch, located somewhere on the outside of the car, the alarm would be triggered.

Modern car alarms consist of a set of sensors attached to the car's surroundings. These sensors are activated when the car door is opened or the car is suddenly moved. The constant activation of alarms even in the absence of any theft has led people to ignore the alarm after a while, just as they would ignore a fake crying child.

OEM car alarms that came from the factory started in the early 1970s. One of the first major manufacturers to install car alarms was Chrysler. Chrysler’s alarm worked by placing various sensors were around the car which could detect an unauthorised entry or start up. 

The use of more modern stolen car recovery systems to replace typical car alarms is increasing day by day. In cars using this and similar systems called LoJack, when the car is reported to be stolen, a radio transmitter integrated into the car sends a signal to the police. Thanks to an application that works in harmony with this system, the police can locate the vehicle by locating it, and often even catch the thief in action.

A Brief History of Car Security Systems

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