GM that easy to steal?

A member of my family had their 2002 Silverado pickup stolen yesterday. It has all the bells and whistles, including On-Star.

I did a little reading on the PassLock system.

Please tell me if I am correct:

  1. The only way they could have stolen the car is with a Key. There was no broken glass on the scene. I understand with the PassLock, there is no way to hotwire or break the console and start it? The alarm ever went off.

  1. On-Star is worthless for a good thief - they apparently can very easily disable the system. They figured it out within an hour of being stolen, but On-Star said "Sometimes it takes a while to locate it" - yeah - right! So far - not found.

So apparently all the advertised wonderful security features are really pretty worthless in the end.

Comments?

Reply to
TF
Loading thread data ...

I think you have your facts substantially correct, but your conclusion is not.

There are different kinds of car thieves. Sometimes a thief is a family member with a valid key, but without permission to use the vehicle that day. Sometimes a valid key was hidden on the vehicle to facilitate entry after loss of a key.

Sometimes a thief is a young punk that just wants to go joyriding. If the punk has no valid key, it might take a long time for him to figure out how to "hot-wire" the vehicle.

A real professional car thief can probably get the car no matter what you do. This involves a tow truck or a trailer, and they simply remove the vehicle to some place where they can disable anything they want. Chop shops can work this way.

The GM theft-deterrant system is good, but it may not be perfect, and it was never advertised as wonderful. OnStar is good, but it may not be perfect either.

There is another method to keeping your vehicle. Don't park it in a place where car thieves will be plentiful.

---Bob Gross---

Reply to
Robertwgross

Unless they had a key, it's unlikely they could have managed to start the engine. However, they could still have towed it away or flat-bedded it..

Reply to
Robert Hancock

That is the time-honored practice.

---Bob Gross---

Reply to
Robertwgross

Reply to
Bobo

Didn't you watch the dateline where the theives just write down your VIN, then go to the dealership and say "I need a new key, I lost mine, here's my VIN number." This suprisingly worked quite well. Even still, they called the dealership with the VIN and got the "code" required to cut a new key and then brought the "code" to a key maker. In the show this never worked with GM dealers, but that was just in one area.

Steve

Reply to
Steve Mackie

Please repost a follow up if & when the vehicle is recovered. Would be interested in knowing if the steering column was broken open.

My 1978 Oldsmobile Holiday 88 was stolen in 1986. ( 85,000 miles ) Parts missing when recovered.

  1. Radio.
  2. Super Stock III Wheels / Tires & Spare
  3. RR Brake drum.
  4. Center Woodgrain Dash Trim panel.
  5. Battery.
  6. Entire contents of trunk & glove box.

Damage done to Vehicle

  1. Trunk lock ripped out.

  1. Holes punch into L & R rocker panels from Hook style bumper jack .

  2. Doors dented operating jack handle

  1. Broken seal on Radiator Tank to hose connector. This happened by dropping battery on upper radiator hose. Found out about this problem 1 month after recovery when antifreeze was found on the street..

  2. Scrapping Noises in the front end, turned out to be 2 Broken Front Coil Springs.

  1. Permanently bent frame.

  2. Steering column broken open.

  1. The Transmission ( turbo 350 ) failed 6 months after recovery. Some gear with a splined shaft running through the center had spider web cracks all around the spline bore. Cause of cracks - Revving the car up & dropping it into gear. ( know as Neutral drops ).

I'd still love to know what they did to break both front springs. And did they bend the hell out of the 4 wheels they were stealing?

As you can see by this list a lot of problems can be caused from theft. Problems may arise 1, 3 or 6 months after the recovery of the vehicle.

This was the first car I ever had stolen, so we didn't know what to expect. The bruttha's only had the car for about 6 hours before it was found it sitting on the frame in a vacant lot in the " Elite " section of the city. Imagine what could of been done if they had it a week. They were never found - never are !

Total payout from Insurance company was $1400 for the car. It ended up costing close to $700 more than what the Ins Co paid due to having to replace the front springs, rebuilt the trans, repair the radiator & buy the chrome rocker mouldings to cover my painted rockers that were ripped open.

Insurance company said if you don't hear from the police in a week consider the car GONE and we will issue a check.

I only paid $1995 when I bought the car 3 months before it was stolen. It was in beautiful shape & ran great. The car sat one month & 3 days at an Olds dealer where a friend worked, they didn't want to touch it even though all the parts had come in within a week of ordering. I ended up getting the thing out of there , brought it home & I put it back together Myself . I had it till April of 1991. Sold it with 196,000 miles on it. I put 110,000 miles on it after it was stolen.

It had at least 2 more owners after me.

I actually found the car 13 years later in a junkyard in August of 2003. It had around 330,000 miles & a blown engine.

Good Luck

========= Harryface =========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE ~_~_~270,000 miles_~_~_
Reply to
Harry Face

Towing is a very likely occurance.

Check to see if it was impounded as well - that's happened to me once or twice.

Reply to
Joseph Oberlander

I doubt they flat-beddit it. It was parked right outside of his office - actually right outside of his window. There are several employees that look over the parking lot. While the thief was able to hop in the car and quickly get away, I would think a tow truck would have caught someone eye- everyone knows his car.

I am curious - is onstar as easy to disable as just pulling the fuse, or ripping out a few wires?

Reply to
TF

Actually, it is slightly easier than that. It takes about ten seconds, if you know exactly what to do.

---Bob Gross---

Reply to
Robertwgross

That is correct, but it you can disable it much faster and easier than that, and you don't need to have access under the hood.

---Bob Gross---

Reply to
Robertwgross

GM put out a TSB to dealers warning of this criminal practise a while ago. It warns that they must require government-issued photo ID and proof of registration before providing keys, and that cutting keys for other than the registered owner could result in the dealership or employee responsible being charged with aiding and abetting grand theft auto in the event the vehicle is stolen.

Reply to
Robert Hancock

Reply to
Bobo

Don't forget the possibility of a tow truck.

Reply to
Timothy J. Lee

The bent frame and the broken springs would suggest that the car landed hard. Possibly if you're going fast and hit a speed bump of some sort or go over alleys really fast

Reply to
AV

In fact, the Passlock system doesn't require a key, but simply has to see the lock cylinder rotating past a hall effect sensor. This prevents the thief from simply hot wiring under the dash. While I don't see a lot of stolen trucks, it stands to reason that a thief could probably get that lock cylinder to rotate if he wanted to, key or not.

OnStar is vulnerable to a simple fuse pull or cable cut, if you know where to find it, as someone else has already pointed out. If that is the security that you are looking for, perhaps a Lojack would be better. This is much more discrete, and allows law enforcement to locate the vehicle before the thief even realizes he is being tracked.

Jerry

Reply to
belowme

It's a lot simpler than that to disable.

---Bob Gross---

Reply to
Robertwgross

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.