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As most of you are aware Keyless entry on cars becoming more common, not requiring a physical key to gain entry to the car or even place into the car to start it up. This is leaving many new cars vulnerable to keyless entry theft as can be seen here:
What worries me is that if you are “targeted” by these criminals than this type of key cloning can happen whilst your shopping etc as they just need to be within close proximity of your key and then they could come steal your car at a later time.
Now I know there many Faraday boxes/pouches you can place your keys in to stop this kind of signal being submitted out and even disable the keyless entry on most vehicles but this does not stop how KEY CLONING.
So even if someone was to smash your window whilst you are sleeping they can easily create a cloned key and still drive off with the car in a matter of minutes. Ive actually seen this happen with my own eyes, my friend had actually broken his key and called someone out and they made him a replacement key within a few minutes using his computer without even much access to the car.
NOW whats the best way to combat this?
A combination of disabling keyless entry/using faraday pouch? But doesn’t stop the key cloning aspect.
I have come across something called a Ghost immobiliser. This means for the engine to be turned/put into gear you must input a sequence of buttons of your choice on the dash/steering wheel upto 21 buttons long. For example you press start/stop then input the sequence of: right paddle shift 3 times, left paddle shift 2 times, window up, window down etc. Almost like a cheat code on the old playstation consoles! Now without this code the car will not go into gear and the engine will cut out. Even if a key was cloned you would still need the sequence to enable to drive the car.
Heres a quick video showing it in action:
From what I know this costs around £400 to install so it isn’t cheap, but let me know what everyone thinks? What ways do you use to combat this method of theft? Is there anything ive missed?
ALSO I am unsure if Motability will allow for this type of immobiliser to be fitted to their cars? Does anyone know?
Thanks,
A very paranoid owner lol
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Not wishing to sound flippant but if my car was stolen i wouldn`t really be loosing sleep over it as its a motability car which will just be replaced. I keep my key in an RFID blocking pouch but i suppose if it were my own car i would probably consider fitting something like this.
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Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
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Scale modeller in my spare time
----------------------------The problem really is a manufacturers one and I just wonder what their doing about this.
My previous car had Keyless and was a great being only abled to use one hand but the theft problem does niggle in the back of ones mind.
I know that Ford have got around part of the problem by letting the key go into a sleep mode if there’s no movement of the key but I would love to know what other manufactures have done, if anything, to combat this.
Not wishing to sound flippant but if my car was stolen i wouldn`t really be loosing sleep over it as its a motability car which will just be replaced. I keep my key in an RFID blocking pouch but i suppose if it were my own car i would probably consider fitting something like this.
My thoughts exactly Stuart. I love my new car with a passion… but there’s no way I would consider parting with £400 of my own money in order to stop it being stolen by criminals with all the latest tech!
If Motability themselves were to fund the installation however – then that’s another issue altogether! 😉
Guess only one could drive, surprised they didn’t take both?..
Creating scare stories to play on people’s fears to sell them things they don’t need…. ?♂️ better installing a good cctv system to identify the culprits and let the police catch them.
£6 for two delivered
I’m with ajn here. Simple precautions are the best. If thieves are determined to steal your car, nothing with stop them. The theft in the video relied on the key inside the house being near the front door.
Why not just put fingerprint readers into start buttons? They’ve done this for years & years on smartphones. Code the car to several fingers just in case, add as many as you like to cover other drivers net cost practically zero it’s all existing tech.
Combinations of other buttons etc it’s just going back to the old days of immobilisers.
For me I couldn’t care less, as long as I have both keys in my hand when the insurance claim goes in its their problem not mine, courtesy car will article quickly & I’ll keep going.
I can see this being a huge concern for those with expensive mods like hoists, wheelchaie roof boxes, hand controls etc
I saw someone yesterday fitting one of those steering locks the ones that subsequently give the thieves enough leverage to snap the steering lock lol
Had a friend of a friend in London had their 4×4 picked up by crane lifted onto a flatbed & was last seen on a camera at Dover within an hour or so of being stolen. If someone wants it they’ll take it & better to do so without hurting anyone. If the only route left is car jacking they’ll start doing that where people can get killed.
Now that’s a great point there @Elliot..
3 German shepherds and a Belgian shepherd, if the morons break in to get the keys in a locked metal box they will be going out in body bags, if they hurt my dogs they will be going out in body bags. Even the police dare not enter my house, I mean to ask to see my cctv footage! My close hasn’t had a burglary in the last 10 years and the roads all around nearly every house either has been done over or had an attempted burglary and people say dogs are too much bother when I had just 1 50kg German Shep I reckon he saved my life one night when some scrotes tried to break in, Rocky got steak for his tea and beamed when I said who’s a good boy? My Belgian shep sleeps next to me but patrols during the night, I sleep quite safe.
<p style=”text-align: center;”>MYou sound a character ???</p>
I’ve disabled the keyless opening on mine so it doesn’t broadcast a signal and cannot be cloned, took 10 seconds and a couple of button presses, hardly a chore to press a button on the keyfob to unlock and lock it really.
I heard that a good old fashioned steering lock (crook lock) like the ones everyone had in the 90s would do the trick.
Current Car
KIA Sportage GT Line Mhev
Previous Cars
Peugeot 5008 Allure Premium
VW Touran SEL
Citreon C4 PicassoI heard that a good old fashioned steering lock (crook lock) like the ones everyone had in the 90s would do the trick.
Do they still sell them ?
I’ve disabled the keyless opening on mine so it doesn’t broadcast a signal and cannot be cloned, took 10 seconds and a couple of button presses, hardly a chore to press a button on the keyfob to unlock and lock it really.
. Yes you can switch my fob off holding two buttons until light flashes read it on CHR forum
I think people are slightly missing the point in all this.
Even if you disable the keyless entry or use the faraday box, if they gain entry to your car from a broken window then it is very easy to clone a key once inside. Yes I know if someone wants to steal your car they can get it lifted etc blah blah all that but the likelyhood of that is very very rare where as Key cloning or keyless method is increasingly popular and very easy. Having the ghost is very discrete and would require the car to lifted away, again which is very rare, I doubt criminals would do that for 30k motability car.
The reason I mentioned the ghost was for people who maybe spent alot on their AP (5k believe it or not ive seen people spend on extras etc) and want it to be safe incase stollen or maybe wanting to buy the vehicle afterl
I was thinking of getting this for my own personal vehicle and also mentioned how I was unsure if motability would even allow it in the first place.
Maybe stop worrying, start living ?
Only the rotor arm, lab? An enterprising thief would carry a Lucas one and a Denco one in his pocket. Best to take the distributor cap and HT leads with you.
I thank you.
Crooklock?
Roflmao we used to joke that those would jump off the steering wheel, open the door & hot wire the car for the thief they’re that useless. Some of them also allow purchase so a thief can smash the steering lock not that really helps anymore given immobilisers but still…
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