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- Nov 13, 2014
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It's a common thing to purchase a car without an alarm in Trinidad and Tobago and get what's called a free dealership alarm. Basically the dealer has their shop/group of installers make quick work of installing an aftermarket alarm on a brand new car. This usually means a basic Viper 350 Plus alarm, you'll know it by the remote. It so happens that I was given the job to install a rear view camera on a lovely Kia and as soon as I pulled the driver's side fuse box cover, I was met with a disgracefully installed "starter kill" relay and excess transmitter wire totally blocking access to any and all fuses. This thread serves to show how poorly these "free" alarms are installed. Someone told me that the one I worked on was the worst he's seen. I have to say, it is not the worst as the car actually started and worked trouble free for 2 years. However, I cannot say that it would have started for much longer given the shoddy work that was done and that will documented in this thread. Feel free to have a look, feel free to comment, I'd like to hear from you if you have had issues with your new car due to a free alarm as well.
I was greeted by this upon gently removing the user removeable fuse cover.
This is how the ignition, power and starter wires were tapped at the steering column. It was a good waste of tape as it was lazily wrapped showing a lack of pride. I am not a daily tradesman but I can tell you, its things like these that made me get my hands dirty.
Alarm Module/Brain loosely fitted into a crevice between the dash support frame and the fuse box. Any thief would have this alarm disabled in 2 seconds flat.
Upon pulling off the side cover on the part of the dash that meets the door when closed, this is what I found. The metal there was sharp, it is not visible in the picture but eventually the wire insulation would have cut away resulting in a short circuit.
Lower dash panel pulled, it literally looked as though this alarm was just taken out of the box and installed as is.
Dash support frame in the lower right hand corner of picture. This is how the alarm was "mounted". It was shoved into a crevice. I am surprised it never hit against the plastic beauty panel and made noise.
Here is a shot of the door harness wiring for the alarm.
Very lazily tapped and visible from the fuse box area. I am not happy.
Starter Kill relay.
As far as I'm aware this isn't a standard wiring practice.
After moving this around a little bit this happened. Totally safe. I have done twist and tape installs which have lasted for many years and continue to hold with every strand and I am not an installer. Very bad.
Starter Kill Relay wiring
Alarm siren and bonnet switch wiring. Prior to my repair, I inspected this car once when brand new and there was 1 strand of wire grounding the siren to its base... According to the Viper installation manual the ground for the siren should not be at it's base and I definitely do not think 1 strand is a good ground.
Bonnet switch wire taped to the hood release cable.
Hole drilled for the bonnet switch. Looks as if it was drilled from below....
Missing bolt from A pillar... On a supposedly new car with 1 owner.
As soon as the A pillar trim was pulled, these wires came swinging down at me.
Wire for door triggers was tapped into the dome light ground, that's fine but the wire was being squeezed between the roof liner and metal of the roof.
Notice the tape on wires leading to similar location, good install ethics by yours truly on the reinstall.
Harness insulation was butchered by installer and left like this with a little piece of tape to hold the tapped wires which I removed as seen earlier.
Rewiring commenced.
These wires were double insulated and then a third piece of tape was used to keep things slightly neat.
Taped up to look clean and have a bit of a factory appearance. The tapped wires are not visible.
Fuse box area cleaned up properly. All alarm wires were properly wrapped in black electrical tape to provide further insulation and retain neatness to blend with the oem.
This is how the park lights were tapped for the alarm. Diodes were not necessary but this isn't a very good tap.
Once the little bit of tape was removed from the harness leading to the steering column, it was evident that the oem insulation was badly cut.
Another angle. Starter wire was cut for relay. I personally would not have tapped any wires this far down the column as it is far too obvious and dysfunctional from a stealthy point of view.
The cut was already made by Mr.Installer and so I opted to rewire and neaten.
I don't think that's going to be a problem for a long while.
The Ground Wire for the alarm.
Wrapped around a bolt and bolted into PLASTIC.
Has the plastic melted? I have my reverse sensor module tapped into an oem dash bolt but it has never melted like this due to making 100% contact with clean metal and not plastic.
Alternate angle of ignition harness after repair.
Park light wire taps moved. Pretty much concealed within the factory loom.
Retaining a somewhat factory appearance under the dash. For anyone who knows what the oem Kia stuff looks like its pretty obvious to tell that someone has messed with it.
Factory appearance 70%. Alarm install completed and fuse box is 100% usable as intended by Kia Motors Korea and there is not an aftermarket wire in sight.
Lower dash panel back on. No more relay, no more transmitter wires and no more alarm module.
Notes
Install Notes:
-Relay and Alarm Module were both moved to better locations.
-Given the constraints of already being done, this took me far more time to do at an acceptable level than a clean install.
Behind the camera guy notes:
-I am not an installer. I do this as a hobby and as a means to change that which I do not like.
-There will be an update to this thread in the coming days as the engine room alarm wires get sorted out.
-The dirt on the fuse box wiring is a result of living with permanently sweaty hands. It puts me to a disadvantage in that my grip is far less than average but it has not managed to stop me ever.
Disclaimer: I hope in no way to discredit anyone's work by making this thread. It is my intention to highlight my dissatisfaction with most of these free alarms. I have had experiences already with brand new vehicles shutting down in crucial life or death moments due to the failure of dealership installed accessories and alarms.
If anyone wishes to use these pictures, by all means go ahead just give credit where it is due and be sure to mention TriniMotors.
I was greeted by this upon gently removing the user removeable fuse cover.
This is how the ignition, power and starter wires were tapped at the steering column. It was a good waste of tape as it was lazily wrapped showing a lack of pride. I am not a daily tradesman but I can tell you, its things like these that made me get my hands dirty.
Alarm Module/Brain loosely fitted into a crevice between the dash support frame and the fuse box. Any thief would have this alarm disabled in 2 seconds flat.
Upon pulling off the side cover on the part of the dash that meets the door when closed, this is what I found. The metal there was sharp, it is not visible in the picture but eventually the wire insulation would have cut away resulting in a short circuit.
Lower dash panel pulled, it literally looked as though this alarm was just taken out of the box and installed as is.
Dash support frame in the lower right hand corner of picture. This is how the alarm was "mounted". It was shoved into a crevice. I am surprised it never hit against the plastic beauty panel and made noise.
Here is a shot of the door harness wiring for the alarm.
Very lazily tapped and visible from the fuse box area. I am not happy.
Starter Kill relay.
As far as I'm aware this isn't a standard wiring practice.
After moving this around a little bit this happened. Totally safe. I have done twist and tape installs which have lasted for many years and continue to hold with every strand and I am not an installer. Very bad.
Starter Kill Relay wiring
Alarm siren and bonnet switch wiring. Prior to my repair, I inspected this car once when brand new and there was 1 strand of wire grounding the siren to its base... According to the Viper installation manual the ground for the siren should not be at it's base and I definitely do not think 1 strand is a good ground.
Bonnet switch wire taped to the hood release cable.
Hole drilled for the bonnet switch. Looks as if it was drilled from below....
Missing bolt from A pillar... On a supposedly new car with 1 owner.
As soon as the A pillar trim was pulled, these wires came swinging down at me.
Wire for door triggers was tapped into the dome light ground, that's fine but the wire was being squeezed between the roof liner and metal of the roof.
Notice the tape on wires leading to similar location, good install ethics by yours truly on the reinstall.
Harness insulation was butchered by installer and left like this with a little piece of tape to hold the tapped wires which I removed as seen earlier.
Rewiring commenced.
These wires were double insulated and then a third piece of tape was used to keep things slightly neat.
Taped up to look clean and have a bit of a factory appearance. The tapped wires are not visible.
Fuse box area cleaned up properly. All alarm wires were properly wrapped in black electrical tape to provide further insulation and retain neatness to blend with the oem.
This is how the park lights were tapped for the alarm. Diodes were not necessary but this isn't a very good tap.
Once the little bit of tape was removed from the harness leading to the steering column, it was evident that the oem insulation was badly cut.
Another angle. Starter wire was cut for relay. I personally would not have tapped any wires this far down the column as it is far too obvious and dysfunctional from a stealthy point of view.
The cut was already made by Mr.Installer and so I opted to rewire and neaten.
I don't think that's going to be a problem for a long while.
The Ground Wire for the alarm.
Wrapped around a bolt and bolted into PLASTIC.
Has the plastic melted? I have my reverse sensor module tapped into an oem dash bolt but it has never melted like this due to making 100% contact with clean metal and not plastic.
Alternate angle of ignition harness after repair.
Park light wire taps moved. Pretty much concealed within the factory loom.
Retaining a somewhat factory appearance under the dash. For anyone who knows what the oem Kia stuff looks like its pretty obvious to tell that someone has messed with it.
Factory appearance 70%. Alarm install completed and fuse box is 100% usable as intended by Kia Motors Korea and there is not an aftermarket wire in sight.
Lower dash panel back on. No more relay, no more transmitter wires and no more alarm module.
Notes
Install Notes:
-Relay and Alarm Module were both moved to better locations.
-Given the constraints of already being done, this took me far more time to do at an acceptable level than a clean install.
Behind the camera guy notes:
-I am not an installer. I do this as a hobby and as a means to change that which I do not like.
-There will be an update to this thread in the coming days as the engine room alarm wires get sorted out.
-The dirt on the fuse box wiring is a result of living with permanently sweaty hands. It puts me to a disadvantage in that my grip is far less than average but it has not managed to stop me ever.
Disclaimer: I hope in no way to discredit anyone's work by making this thread. It is my intention to highlight my dissatisfaction with most of these free alarms. I have had experiences already with brand new vehicles shutting down in crucial life or death moments due to the failure of dealership installed accessories and alarms.
If anyone wishes to use these pictures, by all means go ahead just give credit where it is due and be sure to mention TriniMotors.
