standard cars where access without raising the alarm requires the key, keyless entry models can be tricked into thinking a key is present through a transmitter and receiver device. If your cars fob isnt stored safely, then it can be very easy for a pair of opportune thieves to pick up the keys radio frequency signal, without having to break into your house. Luckily, however, there are many ways in which you can make it extremely difficult for them to do this and protect your motor.
---- Except, how isthere any signal to pick up unless you are in your home pressing the Unlock button on the fob at the same time the thief drives by? I myself dont' bother pressing fob buttons once I've left the car, until I want to drive away the next day.
There is a constant signal on some. I don't press any button to drive my car, just have the fob in my pocket. The car knows when I'm getting close and if locked turns a light on the mirrors.
I get in the cat and push the start button in the car.
There is a limited distance of a few feet though. My fob is far enough from the car it cannot be recognized. Pressing the lock or unlock buttons works at a much greater distance
Nope. My car even has Smart Trunk (optional setting). If the car is locked and I approach it from the rear, when about three feet away it knows I'm there and opens the trunk for me. Nice when hands are full.
There is a very limited distance though. No buttons need be pressed, the car senses the proximity of the fob.
When I'm close to my Lexus LS460L with keyfob in my pocket it greets me with turning on the lights under rearview mirrors.
Then, I pull the door handle and it opens the door and unfolds the rearview mirrors. Then, I step on the brake pedal and push the car's (not keyfob) START button and it starts up.
Also, when I'm touching a button on the trunk with my keyfob in my pocket it opens the trunk.
None of that happens when I have that keyfob in a copper mesh Faraday bag/protector no matter how close I am to my car.
I don't remember pushing ANY keyfob button EVER for as long as I own that car. I'm locking it when leaving by pressing a button on any door handle. It locks all doors, folds the mirrors and activates security system when a button on any door handle is pressed when keyfob is nearby and not in Faraday bag. Won't do it if the keyfob is inside the car.
And this is true for ALL relatively modern cars with that START button. They are ALL prone to stealing by an amplifier/receiver if keyfob is not put in a Faraday bag. There was a video from security camera on our local Nextdoor showing how a top-of-the-line Mercedes-Benz was stolen from our neighbor's driveway in less than a minute, from a car stopping by and a perp going out of that car to the moment he drove away in that Mercedes.
Please, don't spread that BS about no signal unless a keyfob button is pressed. It is simply false.
The guy in NextDoor who raised t his subject replied to me: "No. Push button cars are in constant communication with the key fob when close enough for signal. Once the signal is amplified, the device they are using can unlock the car. Once inside, they can insert another device into the ODB port which reprograms the key encryption to whatever they like."
He envisions being close enough to the fob when the fob is in the house but near the door and everyone is asleep, then unlocking and stealing the whole car. Possible?
Well, it's not *simply* false. it's false in the case of cars some, like the guy on NextDoor, describe cryptically as "pushbutton" cars. My car's fob and the car have lots of pushbuttons too.
Last Feb to June I rented a car that was only a year old and I've already forgotten how unlocking the door worked, but it had a little add-on keypad and 4 numbers had to be entered to start the car. So that would defeat this method of stealing cars. But I know American cars, or non-rental cars, don't have such things.
It seems almost like it's worth not buying a car like this. Even if you live in the Yukon, on a farm 20 miles from town, where thieves never go, if you go to town and don't use the Faraday bag or something, and someone likes the car, can't he see the owner get out of it, follow him and amplify the signal and while the owner is walking one way, walk the other and steal the car?
The key fob and the vehicle routinely "ping" each other when in range. This is what allows mere possession of the key to allow one to unlock the trunk, or fuel filler cover without any button push on the remote.
The evesdropper can simply "overhear" the ping and use the data to capture the necessary bits of the protocol.
Yep. But those bags have their use too -- you car can be stolen when you e.g. park it at a grocery store and come inside. The good practice is to put the keyfob in a Faraday cage protection bag every time you leave it. Those are not big boxes and easily fit in one's pocket. Something like this:
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