My sister is shipping her 2003 bug to Hawaii and wants to know how to properly disable the anti-theft system. The lady at Matson (<--shipping) said something about disconnecting a wire running to the battery.

I have read about VW systems onboard that are touchy (something about the radio - and the Neg cable to the batt) so I want to do this right so she'll be able to drive it at the destination. There are SO many posts online about solving problems with the system. We don't have a problem - just this question about de-activating per Matson's request.

I guess they don't want a boatload of cars with alarms going off - lol.

Is there a fuse that should/could be yanked? Is there a wire that goes to the battery that needs to be disconnected? (If so, how do we recognize it?).

Please help me do this right.

Thanks in advance,

drcarl

 

Welcome to the forum.

There is no direct fuse just for the alarm else thieves would just remove it. If she's that worried about the alarm going off she could disconnect the earth lead on the battery and lock it manually with the key.

I'm not sure what year they stored radio codes in the ecu. She may loose the radio if she doesn't know the code. Just leave it unless she knows the alram is dodgy, if it goes off so what there shouldn't be anyone in the vehicle decks while the ship is in motion.

 

Thanks. I will 1) see if she has the radio code, 2) learn about how this code is used and 3) about proper shut-down...and 4) learn how to ID the earth (ground).

 

Matson call center (Phoenix?) said they are referring to disabling AFTER MARKET (motion, or touch-sensitive) systems, not the factory ones controlled by the key. These are very difficult to disable without removing the 'neg' battery cable (aka "earth" cable)

Thanks anyway!