Modern Car Theft

Astaroth

Which car is designer to breakdown? That being the key difference, as in the same way that faulty cars do sometimes set themselves on fire we still can't have the Robocop style flamethowers as an antitheft device (outside of South Africa anyway)

I know with my old car, and the faulty hire car, the only thing you could do with the physical key that was inside the fob is lock/unlock the doors though doing the second would trigger the alarm. There was no way of starting either vehicle with the metal key.

I've no idea if every manufacturer that does keyless mechanisms has a low battery warning on the key. My old car didnt, though it wasnt a true keyless system, certainly didnt warn you the battery was going beyond it starting to get ropy at unlocking/locking the doors

imightbewrong

Sounds like the designs are already poor if they don't have something as simple as a low battery level warning.

Many cars are designed to go into 'limp mode' - if you are going up steep hill when this happens you may well be in trouble.

If I had forgotten my car key I would want it to fail fast at home - not at the motorway service station.

When do 'keyless' cars lock themselves by the way?  I guess if you've left the key at home you can't?  Or have they thought of this?

Astaroth

But again, its designed to go into limp mode because of a fault as its safer to be in limp mode than no engine.

Varies by manufacturer, with some theres a button on the external handle that'll lock when pressed as long as there are no keys detected inside the vehicle, some will do it after a time period of no activity in the car & doors closed etc.

imightbewrong

Yes so having a car stop with a warning if you have forgotten your key (AKA stole it) seems in line with the design principles.

Okay so not only have you forgotten your keys - it will also lock you out when you get out for a wee at the service station.

There's no way this has been thought through

Astaroth

Just as it will if you lose your keys whilst having the wee, or if you go back to my mothers car in the 90s, when she locked her keys in the car when going to the loo.

No system is foolproof or impossible to have problems with.

imightbewrong

No system is fool-proof, no.  But a system where you can get all the way from your lounge to the service station loo without ever having your car key on your person, and then being stuck there, is over-engineered IMO and re-introducing issues that were solved years ago, just for 'convenience'.

Each to their own of course, and no doubt it is 'cool' - until your car is gone.

IronGiant

Do the proximity chips actually need power? I'm sure my old CRV had one built into the key itself to inactivate the immobiliser and had no battery.

Astaroth

Even with physical key "it can happen", I had to go rescue a friend who left home without his car key by accident to drop his wife off at the station. Got in the car, in a rush, wife gave him her key and he drove her there, walked her to the platform and she asked for her keys back... not thinking he gave them to her and waved her off... got back to the car and suddenly no keys again but now outside the home/car and 20 miles from home.

To be honest with the keyless systems I've used the "wifes handbag" thing is less likely as the proximity is required is less than the width of the car so if shes on the passenger side and you the driver then you wouldnt be able to unlock the doors (though she obv could)

imightbewrong

Sure anything can happen - but there are way more opportunities with the new system in my opinion - plus the fact it is deeply flawed from a security point of view as we have seen.

I'll be sticking with the button system.

Astaroth

I'd solve that stituation by not giving the wife a key to my car

I am not enamoured with it either but my last car was a half way house with no metal thing you could stick in a hole and operate the car with normally but you did have to press the "key" to open the door etc.

Even the original button remotes had problems with people working out ways to bypass it so its no surprise that another new technology and another set of people finding flaws.