What are the Signs of a Failing Engine Immobilizer in Your Car? When you are buying a car, you are making a significant investment of money and people always want the best for the money they are investing. Nowadays, cars are coming equipped with many advanced features that make driving them a pleasurable experience. It is very important to keep your car secure at all times because if someone steals your car, then it is going to create a lot of troubles for you in addition to the financial loss. There are many cars that come without being equipped with any security features which can make them an easy target for miscreants. However, car owners often install aftermarket security features in their car from preventing anyone from stealing them. There are many popular after-market security features available and one such feature is the engine immobilizer. The engine immobilizer does what its name indicates. The engine immobilizer is a technical security device that prevents your car from moving. It is a common security feature that is found in most cars. The anti-theft device prevents thieves from hotwiring your car and driving it away. However, if there is any fault with your engine immobilizer, then it leaves your car vulnerable to theft besides a host of other problems. Here in this article, we will discuss about the engine immobilizer and what are the signs associated with its failure.
Working of an engine immobilizer You might have observed that nowadays, cars are coming with a key fob start/stop system. Gone are the days when you used to start a car by inserting the key in the ignition lock to start the car. With modern cars, whoever has the key fob will be able to start the car. There is a digital token that gets sent from the key to the immobilizer whenever you attempt to start the car. However, if the wrong token is sent or no token at all is used, then the starter motor, ignition, and fuel system will remain disabled by the immobilizer. This is a great feature for responsible car owners who want to prevent their cars from being stolen. Nevertheless, if you misplace your car key fob, then you have to seek the assistance of your car dealership for getting a new key fob.
Signs of a failing immobilizer For the proper security of your car, the engine immobilizer system and the transponder chip must function coherently. If either one of them malfunctions, gets damaged or then it could lead to a host of problems and symptoms. Here are the signs of a failing engine immobilizer in your car.
Doors fail to lock If you fail to unlock your door with a key fob, then you will also be unable to lock your door with the key fob either. This is a terrible situation as you have to keep your doors unlocked or leave the windows down if the doors automatically lock after a certain period of time. Now, this situation is very critical because until you get your immobilizer fixed, your car will be vulnerable to theft, vandals and bad weather if you are having your windows down.
Alarm doesn’t function The alarm system in your car is associated with the same security feature as your engine immobilizer. When you have a malfunctioning engine immobilizer, then you will likely have a bad alarm system too. Depending on the type of alarm system you have installed in your car, this means that if anyone is breaking your windows or stepping near your car, then it will no longer cause the alarm sound to go off.
Doors won’t unlock When you press the unlock button on your car key fob and the car door is unable to unlock, then this is a sign that your key fob is not communicating with the immobilizer system. This can mean the battery in your key fob might need to be replaced or the engine immobilizer system itself has malfunctioned. Whatever the case is, your key fob will be unable to transmit without a functional key or immobilizer.
Finally The above-discussed signs are generally experienced whenever the engine immobilizer in your car malfunctions or gets damaged. This can cause you a lot of problems when you are in a hurry to go somewhere and are unable to get inside your car. The best way to avoid this type of situation is to go for preventive maintenance as it will detect any problem before it gets out of hand.