Interest article in current Wired magazine alleges than recent Honda Civics bypass the RFID "secure keys" by jiggling the parking brake in a specific way. Is this an urban myth or fact?
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Scary if true.parking brake bypasses civic secure key system?
Aug 04, 2006
6 Replies
Wow, crazy story. I believe that it's true. I found this guide (ilco is a legitimate key company):
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I see it requires obtaining a Brake Code from Honda to make it work though. Sounds very much like the hoops you would jump through to get the radio code. It also appears the same applies to pretty much every make of car and within Honda it isn't specific to the Civic, only the "chicken dance" is different. At any rate, there are much easier ways of stealing a car.
Great link.
Mike
Article says the code can be derived from the VIN. Time get paranoid :-)
Time to go old-school and add you own hidden ignition-kill switch!
Not derived by the customer - the VIN is needed to access the code through manufacturer's support system, as described in Bucky's excellent link. The very same process would be used to get an actual working copy of a key for the vehicle; see
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for the skinny on that route. Even with the code, a correct "dumb" key is required, so a thief would find this a very cumbersome and high exposure route to stealing a car. If you can get a working key the same way, why would anybody bother with the less effective approach? Don't lose sleep over this one. 'Wired' has always favored sensation over enlightenment, and they continue the practice here.
Mike
But not as cool as doing a cheat code with the parking brake! =)
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