2011 ford flex, viper 5901 issues

You just said it the way I was thinking. Exactly the way. He wired it to bypass the alarm by making it think there was a key in it. I wrote him back before reading your post, on the what if I didn't arm the car with the factory fob etc. Have not heard back. Let me ask you this. Can you still arm the car with factory and not use the Viper? I ask this in the "just in case" thinking. I have my factory alarm off any way because if I keep it on and then open my lift gate, the alarm will go off. If I can still arm the car with factory and not use viper, I am going this route. Just need to know the downsides.

Sure. Just don't "arm" or lock the car with the Viper fob. (Unless the installer set it up for passive/automatic  arming, then you would have to get that reprogrammed.) He didn't really bypass the factory alarm, he is disarming it by turning on the ignition for a few seconds to simulate the driver turning the key. You will lose some of the benefits of what you paid for though by not using the Viper alarm. The Viper fob has a MUCH longer range than the factory fob. Plus being able to look at the 2-way fob and confirming the state of security and it letting you know if someone just hit your Flex. And I don't think the factory alarm has a built in shock sensor so you'd lose that benefit too. If remote start is all you really needed you could have probably gone with a Viper 5501 and saved a little green.  

Ok. I have no intention of using the factory key fob in most situations. It was just in case something came up that I needed to. More curiosity than anything. I looked at the 5501, but I prefer the 5901 especially with the visual key fob. Either way, thanks for your answers. I think I am going to go this route with the installer

No problem!  Good luck.

Installer just wrote me and said he did not have it hooked into the factory alarm but rather lock and unlock only. He said it is arming itself. I wrote him back and told him that I bet he had passive/automatic arming set on. I bet you that is what it is. We shall see

Monty - One more question on passive alarm. Why would this mess with the factory alarm? I am a bit confused on how this would be an issue, but it seems like I read it in other places as well.

Are the doors locking themselves after you turn off the ignition and exit the car? It might take a few seconds to happen. If they are then passive arming has been selected. This is defineately an option on the Viper. It may be an option with the factory alarm too. I'd check in the owners manual of the Flex to verify. I don't see how the Viper can arm the factory alarm unless you arm the Viper with a door open. The Vipers settings can be changed by you if the installer didn't lock the unit with a bitwriter. If he did then you would need a bitwriter to change it. I'm pretty sure the factory alarm would be changeable by you also. Again, I'd check the manual.

No they don't lock and he said it definitely was not in passive mode. He sent me a print showing the set up required for some Ford vehicles and it did in fact say that the only solution on certain models was to make it think you had turned the key. Not sure mine would be like this. It has the perimeter alarm, securicode but I am thinking yours had this as well. For some reason it is arming when the doors are locked with the Viper alone. The only options I have are auto lock/unlock type settings but this is only after you have been driving.

Well, I don't really know what else to suggest. Everything I've read states it arms on lock with the door open. How long are you waiting after you close the door to arm the Viper? Try waiting till the interior lights go out plus a few extra seconds. Then arm and disarm with the Viper fob. Open the door and see if the factory alarm sounds. If it does I'm stumped. If it doesn't, you will have to wait till interior lights go out to arm. Just a thought. Make sense?

Confirmed - Alot of Fords mid-way in 2010 on up lost there factory Dis-arm wire. This wire ran from the drivers door key cylinder and was often tapped into to disarm the factory alarm. According to the Ford Handbook that comes with the car, The only way to dis-arm the factory alarm now is with the keyfob or by starting the car with a valid key if the keyfob is lost/broken. Try it, Lock your doors using the factory remote and wait 1 minute. Put the key in the drivers door cylinder and unlock the door and open the door without using the keyfob. You should hear some kind of chiming going on when you open the door. After about 5-10 seconds of chiming the factory alarm will start to go off. If you put the key in like you are about to start the car and turn it 2 clicks(you don't actually have to start it) The chiming will stop or if the alarm had triggered, it will stop. So, what the installer did was to wire up the aftermarket device(remote starter) to duplicate the turning of the key to disarm the factory alarm. This is the ONLY way to do it. Its just how Ford made their car. It will not hurt anything in the car by powering the ignition on for a few seconds. Now for the issue of "not" using my keyfob to lock the car, so he can disconnect the powering of the ignition. This is a false statement with Fords, and trust me you need the disarm setup regardless if you use your keyfob or not. The factory alarm not only arms from the factory keyfob, but if ANY door/hatch is open and you lock the doors. This means if you are getting out of your car and you have passengers, and you didn't realize that not everybody has closed their respective doors or hatch yet. You lock the doors with the 5901 remote with one of those doors still open. Guess what? you just armed the factory alarm and didn't even touch the factory FOB. Now what happens, you return from the car and unlock using the 5901 remote just the way you've done a thousand times, and the factory alarm starts blarring. I hope I have added some important information to help you understand how Ford designed your car and aftermarket integration of the factory systems. There is another option, loose the 5901 Remote Start/Alarm combo and go with a one button Remote Start only. No alarm. This way you are locking and unlocking with the factory keyfob. Therefore, arming and disarming the car through the factory keyfob, and only starting the car with the aftermarket keyfob. The process of remote starting will automatically disarm the alarm. You can go with the Viper 4203 or the Avital 4113 One way system.