Hello all,


Happy New Year! I hope all of you here are doing well as we start 2012.

I've got a question about my dad's 2003 XC70. While I was visiting my folks for the holidays last week, the car's alarm system started acting up for some reason. It would activate at the most inopportune times (read: while going into church), causing Dad a few headaches. The alarm would always come on while the car was parked and the engine off, never with the key in the ignition. This happened at least once a day, but just before Christmas it mysteriously went away.

Dad called me three days ago and said that the car's alarm had begun to go off, again at inopportune occasions. This time, I told him not to use the keyless remote fob to lock and unlock the car, but rather manually with the key. I also told him to check the fuses, and if he found the fuse for the alarm, to remove it and clean its contacts. He followed my suggestions, but just an hour ago, he called and said that despite using the key, the alarm went off once more just as he was parking the car in the driveway.

What do you think this issue may be? Is it an electrical problem, or is the alarm system in that particular year of XC70 an issue? Dad's car currently has 115.5k miles on it. Any suggestions/help are welcome, and very much appreciated - again, thanks a lot for your assistance. :)