Volkswagen: 99 VW Jetta Alarm System, hood latch, vw jetta

Question
My daughter's Jetta has an alarm that seems to go off randomly at times and recently, when the lock is opened with the key and the alarm appears to be off, it activates when the ignition key is turned or when the hood latch is popped from inside.          HELP!

Answer
There's a micro-switch in the lock mechanism that tells the CCM that the door was unlocked.  VW has had issues with broken solder joints where the connector meets the circuit board in the lock mechanism.  Reflowing the solder joints usually fixes the problem.  If you take the mechanism apart, I'd suggest taking pictures as you disassemble it.