last night i tried to start my 2009 elantra- some alarm went off , and altho the radio, air conditioner, and lites came on, i could not turn steering wheel, the gas pedal seemed dead, the car just seem to lock. if i opened the door, the alarm stopped beeping. (i never bought an alarm system.) this lasted about half an hour, then the car was fine. what happened?

 

Yes, you car has a factory alarm. Did you use the remote to unlock the door or the key in the lock? The alarm is set when you lock the car with the remote and you need to disarm the alarm by unlocking the car with the remote.

Did you read your owners manual?

 

no remote was used at any point -- just the key

 

But do you have a remote for the car? If you open the car with the key and the alarm is set it will cause the alarm to go off and the car not to start.

 

I have one remote which I normally use to open the car door. Actually this incident occured when my son was using the car -- he does not have a remote. He uses the car often ( probably more often than I do) and this problem only occurs very rarely. I questioned him further and discovered that the problem actually started when he got to where he was going, took the key out of the ignition. then the alarm went off -- it stopped when he opened the door. he then tried to start the car again, and at that point -- it seemed to freeze. again, the radio, air conditioner, lights -- all worked; but the steering wheel, gas, etc. were locked. the car wouldn't start. is there some way to "unset" the alarm? what if you don't have a remote?

 

My Audi A3 that had no problems before it locked my 2 month baby inside. I pulled over to get something from the boot and it did not open and then the drivers side door did not open either and I saw the central locking light lit up yet I had never previously used it.

given it was pitch dark and in the middle of nowhere panic set in and I tried to flag cars down but not Many passed by given it was -1 and in lockdown. Luckily a car stopped as I was helpless as my mobile, wallet, baby milk and everything was on the car. The only choice I had was to get them to call the firebrigade given the situation, but luckily they arrived quick and were fantastic. It took 11 of them but they got inside the without damaging the car door and pushed the central locking off and my baby was fine as he stayed asleep.

To avoid this I recommend never shutting the door whilst the engine is running without you inside or getting the electrics looked at on older cars