Theft alert - For no reason

[jejb]

I've had my truck for almost 2 years now. Never had this happen. I pulled the truck out of the garage to load it up. Came out of the house a few minutes later and opened the drivers side rear door. Horns starts blaring off and on every second or so, lights flashing, it was quite a show. I'm not sure the neighbors appreciated it at 6am though. I pulled out the remote and started hitting the panic button thinking that would shut it down. Nope. Finally hopped in the truck, started it (which still didn't stop the show) and then pushed the panic button to finally shut it down.

Aa far as I can tell, there was no reason for it to have gone off in the first place. Truck was not locked. Proof of that was that the back drivers door opened right up. I'd pulled it out of the garage like 5 minutes before with no drama.

Anyone else had this happen? How do I avoid this going forward?

EDIT: I got a "Theft Alert" email from Ram about it too.

 

[Dean2]

The panic button getting pushed while it is in your pocket is a VERY common complaint. Happens more if you bend over and have other stuff in the same pocket. They make FOB covers with raised protection around the buttons for RAM just to solve that problem.

It could also be that the alarm armed itself shortly after you shut it off. The alarm can be armed with the doors not locked, or not all of them locked. Check your owners manual as it varies by model and year of production.

 

[Tulecreeper]

The panic button getting pushed while it is in your pocket is a VERY common complaint. Happens more if you bend over and have other stuff in the same pocket. They make FOB covers with raised protection around the buttons for RAM just to solve that problem.

It could also be that the alarm armed itself shortly after you shut it off. The alarm can be armed with the doors not locked, or not all of them locked. Check your owners manual as it varies by model and year of production.

I wrapped electrical tape over the tailgate lock and Panic buttons. It's not a full fix, but it now takes more pressure to push the buttons and do something unintended. I also just started hanging my keys/fob on a brass clip from my belt loop. Keeps them out of my pocket.

 

[RamDiver]

I've had my truck for almost 2 years now. Never had this happen. I pulled the truck out of the garage to load it up. Came out of the house a few minutes later and opened the drivers side rear door. Horns starts blaring off and on every second or so, lights flashing, it was quite a show. I'm not sure the neighbors appreciated it at 6am though. I pulled out the remote and started hitting the panic button thinking that would shut it down. Nope. Finally hopped in the truck, started it (which still didn't stop the show) and then pushed the panic button to finally shut it down.

Aa far as I can tell, there was no reason for it to have gone off in the first place. Truck was not locked. Proof of that was that the back drivers door opened right up. I'd pulled it out of the garage like 5 minutes before with no drama.

Anyone else had this happen? How do I avoid this going forward?

EDIT: I got a "Theft Alert" email from Ram about it too.

If I'm reading this correctly, all was fine until you opened the back door, is that right?

If this is the case unless you have a special contortionist method of opening a door, how likely is it that this action could have also depressed the FOB panic button in your pocket?

I know about the pocket-triggered panic alarms, I have a fix for that but, this might be something else.

Here's one of my recent experiences that could be related;

I bought my truck new in January '22, and have been using it as a daily driver and for numerous outdoor activities.

A couple of months ago while getting back to the truck from a kayaking adventure, I had unlocked the doors using the proximity door handle, wandered to the back, loaded my gear and then opened the rear passenger-side door when the alarm started blaring.

WTF? So, I had unlocked with the proximity door handle and because I didn't open a door, it auto-locked the doors but why did the door open if it was locked?

After a short experiment, I discovered that a global door lock caused all the door buttons to drop down but this one door wasn't properly locked unless I physically pushed the inside button down first.

I could lock with the FOB, inside buttons, or buttons on the outside front door handles but this one door wouldn't be locked unless I physically pushed down the inside button on the door.

I had the door lock actuator assembly changed under warranty a few weeks ago, problem was solved.

.

 

[jejb]

If I'm reading this correctly, all was fine until you opened the back door, is that right?

If this is the case unless you have a special contortionist method of opening a door, how likely is it that this action could have also depressed the FOB panic button in your pocket?

I've had that happen too. But when that happens, pushing the panic button on the remote stops it. So this was different from that. Plus, there was no pressure on the remote. Nothing I was carrying was pushing on it and I was not bent over or doing anything else that might have triggered it.

I know about the pocket-triggered panic alarms, I have a fix for that but, this might be something else.

Here's one of my recent experiences that could be related;

I bought my truck new in January '22, and have been using it as a daily driver and for numerous outdoor activities.

A couple of months ago while getting back to the truck from a kayaking adventure, I had unlocked the doors using the proximity door handle, wandered to the back, loaded my gear and then opened the rear passenger-side door when the alarm started blaring.

WTF? So, I had unlocked with the proximity door handle and because I didn't open a door, it auto-locked the doors but why did the door open if it was locked?

After a short experiment, I discovered that a global door lock caused all the door buttons to drop down but this one door wasn't properly locked unless I physically pushed the inside button down first.

I could lock with the FOB, inside buttons, or buttons on the outside front door handles but this one door wouldn't be locked unless I physically pushed down the inside button on the door.

I had the door lock actuator assembly changed under warranty a few weeks ago, problem was solved.

.

I'll check that, thanks. But in this case, all the doors were unlocked.

 

[RamDiver]

You might try locking with the FOB, leave the FOB far enough away to not trigger the proximity unlock and then try opening all of the doors.

I found my defective door lock actuator quite by surprise.

I have no ideas if the alarm or panic is being triggered by opening an unlocked door but looking forward to exploring it if that's the case.

.

 

[JimfromAZ]

How's the truck battery and the key fob battery?

 

[jejb]

You might try locking with the FOB, leave the FOB far enough away to not trigger the proximity unlock and then try opening all of the doors.

I found my defective door lock actuator quite by surprise.

I have no ideas if the alarm or panic is being triggered by opening an unlocked door but looking forward to exploring it if that's the case.

.

Tried that yesterday, including the leaving the FOB away from the truck. All doors lock and won't open w/o the passive unlock or the fob. Tailgate and Ramboxes also stay locked.

 

[jejb]

How's the truck battery and the key fob battery?

Fine, AFAIK. No odd behavior from either. Truck only has 14K miles on it.

 

[Bad Tiki]

I’ve had it once when I thought it could be the fob, and once when I was sure it couldn’t have been. Was the same as OP, had to get in the truck, press buttons. Was no obvious reason, just opened door in driveway, which have done a million times. I also got a theft/breakin alert on app one night at work . Looked out plant window and could see the truck, looked okay. Morning found passenger window smashed out, stuff gone!

 

[Marshall]

I have hit the button a couple of times when in my pocket, at midnight when wife is sleeping is not a good idea at all I found out.
One or 2 times my truck would not read the fob and had to open the door with the key in the fob, and both times that will set the alarm off till you get the truck started by pushing the start button with the fob, then it would turn off. every thing worked next time till a couple yrs later when it did it again. alarm will not sound till the door is opened.

If truck can't read the fob, and you open a door, truck thinks someone is trying to steel me.

 

[jejb]

If truck can't read the fob, and you open a door, truck thinks someone is trying to steel me.

I'll have to test that one. You'd hope that would NOT be the case if the truck was already open.

 

[jejb]

Tested last night. Opened the truck with the passive entry, put the fob 50' away and opened the driver side passenger door. Nada. Same with using the fob to unlock it.

Guess I'll just have to chalk this up to a fluke.

 

[CanRebel]

Couple things I would guess.

Battery/power issue
Can't read the fob , doesn't mean it's bad.
Software issue, and needs update. This is what I think the issue was. it's very buggy.