I was replacing the instrument cluster surround on the MR2 and had to remove the "alarm armed" LED from the old surround. Always happy to see that alarms usual end up stuffed into a corner somewhere, and the professional hairball wiring complete with using speaker wire for the door actuators is always nice to see.
At least I know now which make & model alarm is fitted to the car so I can find a user manual and installation instructions online. But first, I better clean up this mess at least somewhat and stop hiding the antenna behind as much metal as possible.
Time to find my big box of cable ties, methinks.
Wiring anything on the car makes my skin crawl. Replace the alternator, fine. Brakes, even drum brakes, no problem.
But car wiring? Black magic voodoo. 
My 14th Miata was $500 (and had I waited another week, it would have been free) because it wouldn't start due to a faulty alarm, so I love alarms. Sold the hard top for $950, traded the car in for $1000. I REALLY LOVE alarms :)
I'm actually not afraid of wiring, but I get really annoyed at the way a lot of people and especially alarm installers hack up wiring looms.
For me, immobilizers = good, alarms = bad.
Most of my cars immobilize themselves regularly without an immobilizer or alarm...
My main gripe with alarms is that most of the time, the installs suck. Yeah, I know that they're usually not installed by high-end car electricians but the bodges I've seen beggar belief.
The best one was still my 911 SC Targa with a mysterious battery drain. Turned out the car had three (!) different alarms fitted, all in various states of non-functioning. The properly trained auto electrician tasked with fixing the mess ended up having to remake part of the loom just so he could fit a new, insurance-mandate alarm that actually didn't drain the battery. How that car actually ever ran and didn't catch fire is still a mystery.
every time i hear an alarm, i hope the car is actually getting stolen and that the thief will hurry up and get it running so they can get away from me faster..
That type of wiring is why I no longer allow others to install electronics in my car. berkeleying fire hazard.
Alarms are designed to make cars not work. Right there, that makes them the enemy. And they're always installed in such a way as to ensure the car will not work as often as possible.
I hate them. Every car I've purchased from California (all 40 years old, all crusty) have shown up with an alarm but no air filter. Meanwhile, my DD Miata has a chunk of the ignition wiring that's been cut into and replaced so many times from various alarm installs it has too much internal resistance to trigger the starter solenoid when it's hot out. I thought I had it fixed, but it's come back. Grr.
