Do you have a car with keyless entry and a push button start? If so, you may be open to theft of your vehicle and perhaps worse if you aren’t aware of the downsides of leaving your key fob in the car or near your vehicle by the front door of your house as many people do.
Modern cars with key fobs can be stolen by thieves working in pairs and with relatively easy to find equipment. By tricking the locking system on your car using a device that projects the signal from your key fob inside your house, they can unlock your car door remotely and possibly start the engine and drive the car away.
Can Cars With Key Fobs Be Stolen?
While one car industry “expert” claimed in an online story I read recently that this sort of car theft is an urban legend that hasn’t actually been documented in detail, the first reported theft of this kind actually occurred in 2013. A security video caught a thief standing by the driver’s door of a parked car in a driveway and somehow unlocked it while seemingly just standing there. He then got into the car, started it and drove away.
Authorities were able to determine that the thief had used a method of theft that utilizes the signal from the car fob inside the house and a device that they hold against the car lock. Your key fob transmits a signal to an external device that the thief is holding up against your car lock to trick the lock into thinking it’s the car owner unlocking the door.
Key Fob Car Theft
A 2017 test by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) tested 35 different makes and models of vehicles using this sort of theft method with a device that they purchased online available to anyone. They were able to gain entry and start around half of the vehicles and drove off in all but one of the cars they tested. The device they used to gain entry to the cars can also be made at home relatively easily by someone with electrical skills.
Car companies are now aware of this possibility and try to do what they can to prevent it. If you own a car with a keyless entry system where you can have the key fob in your pocket or purse and simply touch your car door handle to unlock the door, you may need to have the fob near you otherwise the car won’t start or function. This is a security feature of sorts although my car has this feature and several times the system has told me it can’t locate the fob even though it’s in my pocket and I still drive away with no problem.
As the non-scientific test above showed, the majority of cars were not only unlocked and started, most were able to be driven away. At that point a thief can change the locks on the car and do as they wish with the stolen vehicle.
How Does Keyless Car Theft Work?
“A car is basically a computer on wheels.”
Check out the short video below which illustrates how keyless fob car theft works and how you can help to prevent it.
Prevent Car Fob Theft
Store your car in the garage each night. If you have a garage that has room and isn’t full of stuff, park your car inside at all times. Not only will it protect against car fob theft it will help to avoid vandalism or theft that could occur if parked in your driveway or on the road. It protects your car against the elements too.
Store you car fob away from your car. Your car fob typically can be anywhere from 15ft – 65ft (5m – 20m) away and still unlock or lock your doors. If you can lock and unlock the car while standing inside your house near the front door while your car is in the driveway, a thief can do the same. Don’t store your car fob on the key holder on the wall right by the garage door or by the front door. Store it as far away from the car inside the house as possible. This probably means you bring the car fob up to your bedroom each night at a minimum. That’s not much effort on your part.
Tin foil. Decent high end car fobs may cost $150 and up. The thought of wrapping it in cheap tin foil is a bit of a stretch but people do it. Alternatively you can get a small box with a lid and wrap it completely in tin foil and put the key in there with the lid on top each night. You can also buy a special pouch that blocks signals from being transmitted that your fob gets stored in when not in use.
Speak with your car dealer or manufacturer. Certain manufacturers have features in place that may help to stop this sort of theft on your car model. If you have a key fob that enables you to turn the signal off when it’s not being used, you can activate this feature so this form of theft won’t work. A thief won’t be able to transmit the signal from your fob if it’s shut off.
If you live in a small home, can’t keep your car in a garage and it’s always parked close enough to unlock the door while inside your home, tin foil or a signal blocking pouch might not be a bad idea.
Update Your Car Software
Modern cars have computer systems that function much like computers we use at home and work. They provide services and benefits for us to take advantage of while driving but the cost is that vulnerabilities are created and exploited by thieves.
Just like our personal devices, software updates are often produced by car companies to correct vulnerabilities, fix bugs and to add new functionality. These updates are typically delivered by two methods:
Manually: You either receive a flash drive from the manufacturer to install the update yourself or your car dealer updates the software for you during a service visit.
Automatically: Some modern cars can download software from the cloud without you doing anything. Updates are beamed directly to your car and are installed and activated automatically. By 2022 it is expected that more than 200 million vehicles around the world will have this over-the-air
software update capability.
As over-the-air updates require sending a signal to your car, you might find that software updates are blocked if you park underground in a garage where the signal can’t be reached. The next time you drive outside the garage, the system should be able to access the update.
Garage Door Opener Storage
Another thing to think about is the convenience of storing your electric garage door opener in your car typically in your glove box or if it has a clip, on the pull down visor above your head. If you park your car outside, a thief can either use the method described above or simply break into your car and conveniently open your garage door with the opener. Whatever you have in your garage is now available to steal and if the garage door into your house is unlocked, they can gain entry into your house.
If you store your car outside, bring your garage door opener in with you. If you store your car inside your garage, you can still keep your garage door opener in the car for convenience but lock your car each time to be safe. If someone gets hold of your garage door opener they can gain entry when you’re not home.