Key Security?
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 5,865
Likes: 2
From: Hope, Arkansas - '07 LMB Coupe
Cruise-In VIII Veteran
First off, reprogramming a new FOB requries a key. Also, the procedure is not easy, so much so that some members have given up trying and asked their dealer.
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 1999
Posts: 20,054
Likes: 44
From: Swansea IL
The DIY individual would need to buy/have a new FOB, they would also need access to your emergency key and car. The process could then be done. But at that point the process can be tricky and many to include myself gave up after 10 or 15 minutes of fooling around. I did manage to get my new "spare FOB" programed but it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.
I doubt a thief would go to all this trouble.
Tom
I doubt a thief would go to all this trouble.
Tom
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 32,921
Likes: 2
From: Coppin' a tan from the Messiah's aura
St. Jude Donor '08-'09
The DIY individual would need to buy/have a new FOB, they would also need access to your emergency key and car. The process could then be done. But at that point the process can be tricky and many to include myself gave up after 10 or 15 minutes of fooling around. I did manage to get my new "spare FOB" programed but it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.
I doubt a thief would go to all this trouble.
Tom
I doubt a thief would go to all this trouble.
Tom
Flatbed much easier, quicker.
CF Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 23,313
Likes: 25
From: Tucson Arizona
As Sven mentioned there are easier methods to steal a car but ultra sophisticated, high-tech car thieves can likely steal any keyless entry car.
Ask soccer star David Beckham....he's had two armor-plated BMW X5's stolen by high-tech car thieves who hacked the codes for the vehicles' RFID chips.
Not long ago a research team from Johns Hopkins using a laptop computer, an antenna and specifically designed software demonstrated to Texas Instrument engineers how they could extract the code that transmits from a small Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip inside the key. They successfully demonstrated to TI that their keyless entry technology can be defeated. Needless to say TI is upping the encryption ante for future systems.
Keyless entry cars are vulnerable but it's not easy for the 'average' car thief. The fact is cars are safer today than ever before and Nationwide, I believe car thefts are actually down.
Ask soccer star David Beckham....he's had two armor-plated BMW X5's stolen by high-tech car thieves who hacked the codes for the vehicles' RFID chips.
Not long ago a research team from Johns Hopkins using a laptop computer, an antenna and specifically designed software demonstrated to Texas Instrument engineers how they could extract the code that transmits from a small Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip inside the key. They successfully demonstrated to TI that their keyless entry technology can be defeated. Needless to say TI is upping the encryption ante for future systems.
Keyless entry cars are vulnerable but it's not easy for the 'average' car thief. The fact is cars are safer today than ever before and Nationwide, I believe car thefts are actually down.
