Keyless cars...why the scare stories?

DUTR

I keep seeing threads on other forums, regarding thefts of keyless cars, I'm no car thief, but if the car is going to get stolen it's going to get stolen, if the car is not towed away, then they will just access the ports on any modern car surely?

forgotmyname

Ports easily accessible yes, But the ability to create a new key that will bypass the immobiliser then not all have that weakness. Or they have not found that weakness in all vehicles (yet).

But as with most things, If someone wants it bad enough they will get it.

colino

It is largely the BMW system that has been exploited that it is alleged, with its combination of easily overcome window-drop feature from the key slot and an alarm blind spot covering the area around the obd slot, a thief can drop the drivers window (software patch available) and reach in and hook up to the cars ecu. No original key required and 60 seconds later, driving away in a £30K+ car with no tow, glass breaking or owner beating involved.

londonTiger

if the car is valuable enough the thieves can go to great lengths to nick them. I recall on a car theft show some thieves take forged logbook and forged ID to order a copy key from the manufacturer and elect to collect it from the dealer as well. Then just walked up to the owners drive and get in that way.

Ectophile

The trouble with some keyless cars is that it's too easy to drive away with no damage to the car.

Some BMWs are doubly affected - you can open the car without a key, then one you're in, you can re-program a blank key to match the car. You now have a completely un-damaged car, and a key for it.

Meanwhile, traditional locks have been getting more secure - you can't just open them with a screwdriver, and the immobiliser won't let you start the car without the right key.

In short, high-value car + easy steal with no noise and no damage = good target to steal.

Spicy_McHaggis

Ectophile wrote: »

The trouble with some keyless cars is that it's too easy to drive away with no damage to the car.

Some BMWs are doubly affected - you can open the car without a key, then one you're in, you can re-program a blank key to match the car. You now have a completely un-damaged car, and a key for it.

Meanwhile, traditional locks have been getting more secure - you can't just open them with a screwdriver, and the immobiliser won't let you start the car without the right key.

In short, high-value car + easy steal with no noise and no damage = good target to steal.

The door will only open if the key is in close proximity to it.

Are you claiming the car is able to reprogram the transponder without any additional hard or software?

patman99

The way it's done is that the theif will target a car they want to steal, then follow it to a point where it gets parked-up (car park, driveway etc). They then use a jammer to jam the signal from the key to the car.

The locks on high-end motors are almost silent, so twhen the owner walks away, they don't notice that the doors have not locked as the signal is being jammed.
The immobiliser still kicks-in and flashes the indicators and blleps the alarm (if that feature is fitted). The owner may well see the reflection of the indicators and believe that their car is now safe and secure, when in fact it is wide open.

The thief then bides their time before approaching the vehicle, opening the door and plugging £1k+ of kit into the ODBII port and programing a new key to the car.

The trouble is, the EU passed legislation making it a requirement to allow independant garages to be able to access all parts of a vehicles ECU.

Also, a lot of maindealers replace their kit when it becomes incompatible with newer models. They sell the old kit on via sites like Autotrader and ebay. There is always a chance that the kit gets purchased by a thief possing as an indie mechanic.

ChumpusRex

My brother accidentally lost the keys to his Audi A3 on a night out.

The car was locked on the road outside his house, and he headed off to work on the train the next morning. At work, he called a "VAG security specialist" and explained the problem and told him which road it was on, and what the reg number of the car was, arranging to meet after work.

He arrived home at 6 pm, and the guy was waiting. The car had been unlocked, and 2 new keys had been cut and coded. They shook hands and £300 cash was exchanged.

missile

ChumpusRex wrote: »

They shook hands and £300 cash was exchanged.

That was cheap, Audi want £240 for one replacement key.

colino

Please don't be taken in by the BMW PR campaign. There aren't a handful of criminal masterminds using expensive, high tech signal blockers and code-readers travelling the country stealing selected cars. On BMWs a limited code generator that dumps the info. onto an easily accessed ecu and having a far from adequate cabin alarm, coupled to the easily overcome window drop feature rolls into a very vulnerable, car. How did it get Cat 1 status?
The devices for the sticky fingered are now readily available, cheaply, from China and Bulgaria, but BMW deny there is a fault: However they as a matter of course update software at service time and owners can have the weak areas patched by request.
Easiest thing owners who have the affected cars can do is resite the obd connection and leave a dummy one in its place. You might get a broken window and your werthers originals stolen in frustration, but they wont be able to drive away the car.

King_Nothing

Alot of performance Ford Focus' have been going missing recently through the same method, break the glass in the corner, reach up to the OBD port without setting the alarm off via a blindspot, disable the alarm, and unlock the deadlocks, then they're free to program new keys and drive off. It's why a lot of us are using steering wheel disklok's again.

But again, if someone really wants the car, they'll get it eventually, but extra security will deter and stop a few of the people who would normally try their luck.