[park960]

Read this about an attempted theft. There are several ways we can lock our cars. Which ones are safe???

"I locked my car. As I walked away I heard my car door unlock. I went back and locked my car again three times. Each time, as soon as I started to walk away, I w...ould hear it unlock again!! Naturally alarmed, I looked around and there were two guys sitting in a car in the fire lane next to the store. They were obviously watching me intently, and there was no doubt they were somehow involved in this very weird situation . I quickly chucked the errand I was on, jumped in my car and sped away. I went straight to the police station, told them what had happened, and found out I was part of a new, and very successful, scheme being used to gain entry into cars. Two weeks later, my friend's son had a similar happening....
While traveling, my friend's son stopped at a roadside rest to use the bathroom. When he came out to his car less than 4-5 minutes later, someone had gotten into his car and stolen his cell phone, laptop computer, GPS navigator, briefcase.....you name it. He called the police and since there were no signs of his car being broken into, the police told him he had been a victim of the latest robbery tactic -- there is a device that robbers are using now to clone your security code when you lock your doors on your car using your key-chain locking device..
They sit a distance away and watch for their next victim. They know you are going inside of the store, restaurant, or bathroom and that they now have a few minutes to steal and run. The police officer said to manually lock your car door-by hitting the lock button inside the car -- that way if there is someone sitting in a parking lot watching for their next victim, it will not be you.
When you hit the lock button on your car upon exiting, it does not send the security code, but if you walk away and use the door lock on your key chain, it sends the code through the airwaves where it can be instantly stolen
Be wisely aware of what you just read and please pass this note on. Look how many times we all lock our doors with our remote just to be sure we remembered to lock them -- and bingo, someone has our code...and whatever was in our car."

[Luminous]

Originally Posted by park960

Read this about an attempted theft. There are several ways we can lock our cars. Which ones are safe???

"I locked my car. As I walked away I heard my car door unlock. I went back and locked my car again three times. Each time, as soon as I started to walk away, I w...ould hear it unlock again!! Naturally alarmed, I looked around and there were two guys sitting in a car in the fire lane next to the store. They were obviously watching me intently, and there was no doubt they were somehow involved in this very weird situation . I quickly chucked the errand I was on, jumped in my car and sped away. I went straight to the police station, told them what had happened, and found out I was part of a new, and very successful, scheme being used to gain entry into cars. Two weeks later, my friend's son had a similar happening....
While traveling, my friend's son stopped at a roadside rest to use the bathroom. When he came out to his car less than 4-5 minutes later, someone had gotten into his car and stolen his cell phone, laptop computer, GPS navigator, briefcase.....you name it. He called the police and since there were no signs of his car being broken into, the police told him he had been a victim of the latest robbery tactic -- there is a device that robbers are using now to clone your security code when you lock your doors on your car using your key-chain locking device..
They sit a distance away and watch for their next victim. They know you are going inside of the store, restaurant, or bathroom and that they now have a few minutes to steal and run. The police officer said to manually lock your car door-by hitting the lock button inside the car -- that way if there is someone sitting in a parking lot watching for their next victim, it will not be you.
When you hit the lock button on your car upon exiting, it does not send the security code, but if you walk away and use the door lock on your key chain, it sends the code through the airwaves where it can be instantly stolen
Be wisely aware of what you just read and please pass this note on. Look how many times we all lock our doors with our remote just to be sure we remembered to lock them -- and bingo, someone has our code...and whatever was in our car."

Wow thats scary, thanks for sharing! Thank god you made the connection and didn't just shrug it off. Was this in the US?

I usually end up locking the car via the comfort access button, I wonder if that is a safer option?

[neilr_]

Snopes disagrees (but they agree with what I thought I knew - codes that change with each use).

http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/lockcode.asp

[Knightelf]

Lol the first post is directly from the chain email quoted on Snopes. Good pick up.

[Redbeemer]

When I took my new '95 M3 to the shop to have an alarm system installed, I looked at several cheaper models and then asked why one was so much more expensive. The guy said it had the latest technology and was the first of its kind to feature rolling codes. He pulled a black box out from under the counter and asked the owner of a Ford parked directly in front of the store to lock the car with his remote. As he did this, the store guy hit a switch on the black box to capture the code. When the Ford was locked, he hit another switch to play back the code and he asked the guy to go outside to verify that the car was now unlocked. He came back inside shaking his head and asking how he did that. He said he had ordered the black box to capture the codes off the internet and bought it to demonstrate the new alarm with the rolling codes. I believe the same thing happened a bit later with garage door remotes as they now also use a rolling code on all the newer openers.

[SteveInfante]

Ha ha. Rolling codes as pretty secure. I always use Comfort Access so I never even touch the key Fob.

On a side note my kid likes to put his hand in the handle and ask me to put my hand on his head. The door unlocks, he smiles, and off we go.

[drivethemachine]

It's stories like this that are so popular on Facebook and everybody and their mother shares them without verifying the source. This tech may have been feasible back in the 90's but today's systems are so much more secure.

There is actually something very cool BMW does (at least I remember my E46 did, so I assume newer ones still do): when you lock the car with the keyfob, it mechanically disconnects the inside door handle -- so if someone breaks the glass they are unable to open the door. When you lock the car with the dashboard Lock button (or auto lock in Drive), it doesn't do that so in case of an accident first responders can open your door.

[CanadianGatorBacon]

Even my garage door opener has rolling codes. PITA to program the integrated garage door openers in cars. Can't imagine that this doesn't also apply to car fobs and that it would be difficult to capture the codes.

[jtzako]

It may be possible to clone a remote signal, but it is NOT a fast process and generally not something that can be done with just 1 signal capture. Modern Fobs use a fairly complex rotational code, if they did capture your signal from a single use they wouldnt be able to open the doors with it. (even garage door openers mostly use this nowadays)

There is another type of device that transmits signals repeatedly to try and find one that works, but that also isnt a quick process.