Relay Crime (keyless vehicle theft)

[wag123]

https://www.reddit.com/r/misc/comments/eann1h/the_relay_crime_west_midlands_police/
Local police here are reporting a major uptick in keyless-start vehicle thefts and breakins. Do you know about this, right?

 

[PimTac]

Yep and since my car is right outside I keep my fobs in a faraday pouch.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Yep, but I'm thoroughly insured so not really concerned.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Lucky that remote locks on my car are broken. Dodged a bullet there.

 

[dareo]

Love manual keys you can push in and turn. I'd prefer not to have the push button keyless stuff.

 

[mrsilv04]

This is one benefit of owning older vehicles that really aren't worth stealing anymore...

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by dareo
Love manual keys you can push in and turn. I'd prefer not to have the push button keyless stuff.


Having keyless go is way better than a key. Real keyless means you just pull on the door handle and it automatically unlocks. Wouldn't get a car without it. Means you can get into the car without even taking the fob out of your pocket. Pull the handle and press the start button and away you go. Not worried about it getting stolen either, like others said, that is what insurance is for.

 

[PimTac]

Yep. I have fond memories of jiggling the key in the ignition so I could start it or dropping the keys at night and hunting for them.

The fob never leaves my pocket. I just walk up, touch the button and all the door unlock. Push another button and the engine starts.

No system is foolproof.

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted by Wolf359
Not worried about it getting stolen either, like others said, that is what insurance is for.


As someone that went through vehicle theft in 2018, my brilliant brother in law left our van running in the driveway, fully unlocked, I can say that it is still and ordeal I would rather not go through again.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by KrisZ
Originally Posted by Wolf359
Not worried about it getting stolen either, like others said, that is what insurance is for.


As someone that went through vehicle theft in 2018, my brilliant brother in law left our van running in the driveway, fully unlocked, I can say that it is still and ordeal I would rather not go through again.



Yeah, but I've had my car for a while and I'm thinking I wouldn't mind if it got stolen because then I'd probably just get another newer car. But it's fine now and I can't bring myself to get rid of it.

The whole setup of it getting stolen is unlikely for me anyway. I live in the city in a complex with the car out in the parking lot. They'd have to figure out how to get into the building first in order to get close enough to capture the signal. That theft method just works for people who live in a single family and park their car out in the driveway.

 

[ragtoplvr]

If anyone steals one of my cars they must be hard up.

Rod

 

[WhyMe]

My mom has left her CRV on a couple of times and walked away . i wish they would have a system that would shut it off after a preset time without any inputs . thank fully it was never at her home .

 

[spavel6]

All my cars are manual.

Sure you can figure out how to spoof the NFC/RFID of the key, but good luck figuring out how to use your left foot and right hand in unison to engage "D".

 

[DGXR]

Something always bothered me about those effortless keys, where you don't need to press a button or do anything, just carry it in your pocket. How hard is it to reproduce a frequency or wavelength? Surely pretty easy to copy, once intercepted.

Pretty soon we'll have chips embedded under our skin for all kinds of access and identification. Ugh.

 

[dareo]

Originally Posted by Wolf359
Originally Posted by dareo
Love manual keys you can push in and turn. I'd prefer not to have the push button keyless stuff.


Having keyless go is way better than a key. Real keyless means you just pull on the door handle and it automatically unlocks. Wouldn't get a car without it. Means you can get into the car without even taking the fob out of your pocket. Pull the handle and press the start button and away you go. Not worried about it getting stolen either, like others said, that is what insurance is for.


Respectfully disagree. Our TourX has that full keyless stuff but i am always fob in hand remote starting it and unlocking it moments before we get in it anyway. Having a physical key gives it a place to be in the car as opposed to pocketing it or it sitting in a cup holder or something. 2/3 of my cars are still real key models and i like it that way.

 

[supton]

Last set of car keys I bought were like a $1.50 each. That's a price I can live with.

Of course, I tend not to lock my car either, nor store anything of value in them--heck, the vehicles aren't worth much either.

 

[Superflan]

In a big city where bike stealing was average, I had a Suzuki VStrom with only key immo and alarm as theft protection. No u-locks, discs locks or something. I was riding the bike everyday during one year. The only day someone messed up with it, they made it smash on the ground like the other bikes parked on my street.

I even left the keys in the switch for 3 days (it was pouring rain and I didn't notice until it stopped and I was getting ready to ride)

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by DGXR
Something always bothered me about those effortless keys, where you don't need to press a button or do anything, just carry it in your pocket. How hard is it to reproduce a frequency or wavelength? Surely pretty easy to copy, once intercepted.

Pretty soon we'll have chips embedded under our skin for all kinds of access and identification. Ugh.


It's an RFID key just like any other keyless entry fob. It's just that it's transmitting whenever the car is looking for a fob. Those break in methods just copy the signal from the key. It's different every time as it's using public/private key encryption. Basically they're just using a range extender and the car thinks the key is right next to it when it's really far away. The signal strength of the keyless fob isn't that strong.

The newer keyless fobs actually shut off and don't respond when it detects it hasn't moved in 5 minutes like when you have your keys sitting still in your house.

 

[dnewton3]

For every technology created to "secure" something (fob keys in cars, computer virus/malware prevention, home cameras, etc) there's a person out there trying (and often succeeding) to defeat it.

 

[Skippy722]

I'm not worried. I lock my vehicles, the 300 has GPS tracking assuming they don't immediately annihilate the infotainment system, and I have insurance. If they're going to go through that much effort to steal a vehicle, that's on them.