The Mystery of the Missing Car - Solved?
In late 2003, our brand new white Honda Civic hybrid - Honky - was stolen from the street in front of our house. We still possessed all three keys, each with an immobilizer transponder chip that made it impossible to start the car without a key. The crime seemed inconceivable, and I wrote about my experience here, for Newsweek.com.
For the next two years, I received hundreds of email responses about the story. Many messages were from fellow car theft victims, upset that their insurance companies refused reimbursement on the grounds that immobilizer chipped cars simply cannot be stolen without the proper keys.
In this month’s issue of Wired (the August issue), I have finally published my follow-up article. I hope this answers some of the questions I raised in my first story and exposes the insurance industry’s dubious faith in technology that was clearly proven vulnerable by intelligent, adaptive car thieves.
I welcome any and all feedback on this story.
July 31st, 2006 at 12:04 am
Thanks for that article on ‘wired’! I found it interesting that the pedalpushing-method for code entry is not more widely known. I recall that FIAT over here in Europe used to give out the code on a little plastic card with every newly delivered car. Certain manufacturers like Peugeot even had a keypad mounted on the dashboard on some models.
July 31st, 2006 at 11:41 am
Now that you’ve told everyone in America how to steal my car, how about telling us how to disable this back door?
August 1st, 2006 at 9:04 am
I will let you iin on a not so secret. On any GM vehicle you can take your factory key to any key shop and get it copied and it will work. It will eventually kill the ignition system but it works. To my understanding it is the same with the other “big 3″. Just a little info for you insurance company as well. A Blank will work as well.
August 1st, 2006 at 9:19 am
FYI - You can also get computer chip upgrades - or use a unit to reprogram the onboard computer to ignore all security features. This was offered to me after I bought a 1997 Lincoln Mark 8 since extra keys are $100 or so and the computer upgrade is $220 and gives performance tweaks also.
August 2nd, 2006 at 8:22 pm
Another trick that has surfaced. When you go to get an extra key made, whether it be at the dealer or at an authorized key maker, they might be cheating you. The special key costs $100. So what they do is cut open your original key, remove the chip and tape it or glue it right on the steering column right next to the ignition - within the allotted 7 inches. They then give you back your original key, minus its chip, plus an extra new key, which doesn’t have any chip in it and is only worth $1. When you try to start the car with either key - it works since the chip is there - right next to the ignition. Only if you are looking for the glued chip will you find it. The more expensive the key, the more incentive they have to fake it.
August 3rd, 2006 at 4:37 pm
Dear Brad,
I too have a car stolen in San Francisco (a beloved Mustang) and the whole “unbreakable” key code thing collapsed for me. Anything is hackable. But may I suggest: RAVELCO (http://www.nohotwire.com/), which is a simple device that simply “unplugs” your car’s basic functions, ignition, fuel system, starter. You take the plug with you when you lock the car. The plug can be wired in any one of 100,00 physical combinations. Virtually makes a car unstealable. I now have them on all my cars. It is a low tech solution that makes the thief work so hard and so long on your car that his or her only recourse is to tow it away.
August 3rd, 2006 at 9:26 pm
I read your article on wired.com while I wasted the hours in my cubicle doing nothing productive while being compensated like a texas oil tycoon. Anyways enough about work, I drive a vehicle that has a chip in the key.. I personally hate it because to get a spare it going to cost me an arm. But the chip problem is nothing and the e brake trick is old new’s in the underground world. But there is something elese out there that very few people have even herd about.. its a program that can be run on a laptop,palm or similiar device.. you dont need a key to unlock the door (as long as the car has auto locks) the prog will unlock doors,pop trunks, roll down windows, turn on or off alarms, as well as program the ecu and basicly anything else electronic on your vehicle… and it can even start the motor and disengage the steering lock. I had herd about if for years and thought it was b.s. like G.W. bush…. until I ran into at work who was talking about this program his brother had… like a testosterone breathing man I told him put your money where your mouth is and bring your brother to my house with his equipment and if he can start my 05 acura tl ill give him 100 bucks and his brother 100 bucks! Wow he shows up with his palm pilot and nothing else and did everything I told you it could do. So I was out 200 bucks but then I installed a kill switch it turn on when I park my car
Watch out because this is nothing new and ppl have been doing this for over 10 years and I have yet to hear about it anywhere
August 4th, 2006 at 10:47 am
Hello,
Two more items:
1. Valet-parking attendants have access to keys, so with the right equipment, they can copy the electronic codes etc. Having read the VIN, they can find the address from the DMV information, and the rest is up to them.
2. I once talked to a professional burglar, safe breaker, who having left the prison, was working as a locksmith. He claimed that he could brake into any safe or a lock. I asked him how that could be possible in view of the fact that locks are so different and unknow. He explained: “No matter how a lock or a safe is built, the whole security system, at one point, is reduced to a simple executing (locking/unlocking) element. You go after it, skipping all the high-tech, and the safe is yours.” My point is: In all protected vehicles, no matter how sophisticated their protection, past all the computers, there is somewhere a single piece of hardware which executes the “GO!” command, by some crude, elementary action. For a curious and intelligent man (not many women so far), it does not take long to find out.
My truck’s protection is very low tech: whenever parking in a public place, I pull out the fuel-pump’s fuse; it takes me ten seconds. Not a full security, but non-standard.
August 9th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
Brad,
I read your article “Pinch My Ride” with great interest. My question is very simple: Is it possible to contact one of your contributers to your article? The individual I am talking about is Rob Painter. I would love to discuss some aspects on Automobile Theft Deterrent Devices. If there is any way that I could be contacted via e-mail, it would be greatly appreciated. Depending on his response to my question, you might have an other follow-up article on that subject in the works.
Sincerely Walt Licht
August 11th, 2006 at 4:51 am
Whenever I read about locks, DRM encryption or any form of security designed to keep someone away from something, I keep on being reminded of a comment made to me by a schoolmate some twenty odd years ago:
“The flaw of every lock is that it’s made to be opened.”
Security systems will only ever delay a determined thief. We must find a way to make the rewards of stealing so small that it simply isn’t worth it - or, from the other angle, the penalties of stealing so large that it simply isn’t worth it.
August 22nd, 2006 at 8:44 am
What I found interesting about your article is that the insurance companies were not the big name companies, but the lower end companies. You did not list State Farm or AllState or Farmers, but Geico, Esurance and Progressive. All three of those talk about how their rates are lower than everyone else’s. This would sure explain how they are able to be lower: they simply deny claim after claim.
December 22nd, 2006 at 10:09 am
I am the leasee of a 2006 Audi A4… Several weeks ago the car was stolen from a driveway, then recovered several blocks away after it hit ’something’ which resulted in it’s abandonment… To the best of my knowledge, my keys were not used to ‘jack’ my car… I’ve read alot about transponder’s and immobilizer’s, and have learned that my 2006 Audi A4 is equiped with a transponder which supposedly keeps the car from being stolen… My insurance company is confident that since my car is equiped with a transponder, that there is no way on God’s green Earth it can be unlocked, started, and driven without the key… This will probably result in my insurance company not settling the claim for damages to the car… However, after visiting this website, my eye’s have been opened to more than I could have hoped for… Basically, what I’ve learned, just from visiting this website, is that if someone wants my car, they’re going to get it!… However, the kind customer advocates from Audi USA assure me that the trustworthy service attendants at my local Audi dealership would not, but more importantly, could not make a copy of my key… Furthermore, they know of no way to unlock, start, and drive the vehicle without a master key, or at the very least, the emergency key, which is a common piece of hard plastic with a groove cut down the center, which acts as an immobilizer, allowing it’s holder the ability to unlock, start, and drive the vehicle only once… And yes, they did confirm that this emergency key could be copied, and used again!… So, my question to anyone out there that’s reading this is: IS MY TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED AUDI A4 VULNERABLE TO ANYONE WHO POSESSES A COPIED KEY, OR A LAPTOP / PALM PILOT WITH A PROGRAM, OR EVEN BETTER, A ‘JIGGLE KEY’ AND A SEQUENCE OF MOVEMENTS OF THE PEDAL-STEERING WHEEL-BRAKE?
May 26th, 2007 at 8:22 am
Nissan warns U.S. cellphones can disable car keys
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2424455020070524?feedType=RSS&rpc=22
Thu May 24, 2007 7:22PM EDT
DETROIT (Reuters) - Nissan North America (7201.T: Quote, Profile, Research has a warning for customers: placing your electronic key too close to your cellphone could leave you stranded.
The automaker is asking customers driving new models of two of its flagship sedans to keep their car keys and cellphones at least an inch apart to avoid disabling the “intelligent keys.”
Cellphones kept near Nissan’s I-Keys — wireless devices designed to allow drivers to enter and start their cars at the push of a button — can erase the electronic code on the keys, rendering them unable to unlock or start the cars.
The problem has occurred on the 2007 Nissan Altima and Infiniti G35 sedans — two of their top-selling models, the company said on Thursday.
“We discovered that if the I-Key touches a cellphone, outgoing or incoming calls have the potential to alter the electronic code inside the I-Key,” Nissan spokesman Kyle Bazemore said.
“The car won’t start and the I-Key cannot be reprogrammed,” he added.
The problem has occurred in a “very small percentage” of cars sold, Bazemore said. He also said a new version of the I-Key would be available in the fall.
Bazemore said current owners have been notified of the potential glitch via mail and can get new keys from dealers if they encounter the problem.