wondering if anyone can steer me in the right direction. On a JDM Impreza. I’m lead to believe the alarms are retrofitted. My fob has recently been intermittent so changed the battery (tear shaped fob with 2 buttons on it). After placing a new battery in it there was a visible red illuminated light. However the fob will not unlock the central locking. At present the car is secure. When I last drove the physical ignition key worked fine. So I’m sure that’s not an issue. I don’t believe I need reprogram any keys etc (not even sure if the JDM has the internal touch pad but I believe not).
Anyway to my point! Anybody got any advice on this. Red light should indicate all good with new battery in the fob???? If I open the drivers door using the key alone the alarm will go off & I then can’t switch it off.
Am I limited to an auto locksmith/ mobile alarm specialist to sort for me? Any steers gratefully received as I’m now stuck without a car 😡. Many thanks in advance.

BPR,

Thanks, think I’m a step closer to working it out! Having done a few searches on the wider net the fob with new battery will need resetting to the after market system fitted. I believe (but could be wrong) the aftermarket alarm & fob then takes over as the primary means of activating the central locking & alarm (waiting on confirmation of this). Unfortunately I have no other info as to the after market alarm fitted which doesn’t make it crystal clear which direction I go in. I believe the steady red light in the fob I observed is it telling me it is ready to be reset to the existing system. The fob is already set to the work with the current system but the interrupted power supply requires a reset to reconnect the two if that makes sense. Unfortunately I only ever received one ignition key & one fob when I took ownership of the vehicle. Lesson learned, I kept putting off replacements as they are not cheap via Subaru!
Any further input is gratefully received. As and when I get it figured out I will put any relevant info on here for others if they ever find themselves in a similar situation!!!! But again thank you.

Hi Don,

physical ignition key has 2 buttons on them but they are redundant as far as I know. Have never used them to lock/unlock the vehicle & don’t work now if I try. It is a 2003. The image you provided is very similar (if not identical) to my fob & primary means of entering the vehicle & deactivating the alarm. I only use the larger of the 2 buttons to unlock & lock the vehicle. Can you shed any light please?

Don,

Sorry, it is a Blob Impreza. Having just thought about it further, when I sat in the vehicle (previously) for any length of time it would rearm the immobiliser, to get the vehicle to start I would need depress the large button on the fob again & got a very low level audioable click. So I would surmise the fob also deals with the immobiler. That may or may not still require the ignition key to be in the ignition barrel. So I’m short, new battery in fob, steady red light seen in fob (since gone out). I’m starting to think I need work out how to get back to that point (steady red light on fob) then sync fob back to alarm/immobiliser/central locking? Sound plausible anyone!?!?!?!?! Starting to believe that is my issue 😂 (car related at least!!!).

Hi bud, can’t sit in car as can’t get in without setting off alarm. From what I’ve leaent so far you should not activate any security related parameters if you wish a simple reset. Think I’m on the right track now though, I’m pretty convinced I just need sync fob (that powered down & has new battery) to the existing system & im sorted. I’m away from the car at present so can’t try till the AM. Once I have it cracked I will add to this in case anyone else needs it at a later date!

So thought I would update on this! Cannot resynch key fob to vehicle. It seems ridiculous but my only option may now be to have someone come out, bypass the alarm & immobiliser & then install a new alarm!!!! Not cheap for what started out as a simple fob battery change!!!! Having spoken to a few specialists today this may now be my only option 😡.
So word of caution, if anyone else has an after market alarm fitted, either have 2 fobs & never change both fob batteries at the same time or always ensure one is working prior to attempting to switch the other one out.

Yeah strange indeed. I am going to contact Cobra UK but having checked their website they farm work out rather than dealing with direct. Think I’m just unlucky on this one but will persevere with it! It definerly doesn’t want to resynch as it is now!
Bugger!!!