I can understand that someone could walk past my house and clone my car key without touching it or entering my house.
What about the physical part of the key with the 'old fashioned' cut aways, the car needs the key physically in the barrel to operate. How is that part got around?
Probably this applies to "keyless" cars - they require the electronic part of the key to be nearby (this is the bit that a criminal can clone), but the physical act of starting the engine requires nothing more than pushing a button.
I saw the Touran on one list of vulnerable cars. This has a cutaway key as well as a fob.
Except that it isn't true.
Neighbour's Disco was stolen from outside their house. They now, indoors, keep the 'key' thingie for the new replacment in some form of Faraday cage. And have a massive Crook Lock type thingie too. Just as well they hardly ever use the vehicle. AA were out getting it started the other day
- flat battery.
Why?
Local TV news showed CCTV footage recently of a couple of guys doing just that.
Chris
It's true for some cars.
The "key" only has to be in range and they will start and drive away. My mates bother in law got from near Burton on Trent to the other side of Birmingham without the "key". He had clicked the "open" button from the porch and put the keys down to put on his shoes. Got in the car, pressed start and drove away leaving the key in the porch. Then he switched off and couldn't restart it to come home.
If the key is in range of the snooper its code can be broken and the car opened. Then its away down the road to be parked in an estate for a week. If it's not collected it doesn't have tracker, the thief collects it and ships it.
Most keyless cars will 'beep' if the key becomes out of range whilst driving.
Hi-tech thieves use one device to 'listen' to the key by getting as close as they can to the house. They transfer the key information to another device that gets them in the car, then use a laptop connected to the OBD port to enable starting.
One of the security measures suggested by the police is a lockable cver for the OBD port.
Chris
The other one I saw (that involves more work) is to fit a short extension lead into the OBD port so that it still presents the port and with power but is technically non-functional. ;-)
Ok as long as you remember and tell the garage ...
Cheers, T i m
Dave Plowman (News) submitted this idea :
Any metal box or metal(lized) cover will prevent a key or credit card being read.
I have a sheet of metallized foil cut to the size of a bank note, inserted in with my notes, to prevent my cards being skimmed. The metallized foil is just the foil in which ground coffee is supplied. That should work equally well for a car key too.
keyless do have a key, to allow you to get in when all else fails, but there is no 'ign' to put it in, it also allows access to the bonnet.
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