[rossm]

Originally Posted by Broken_Gearbox

The port is the least of our worries. Things have become so advanced! Thieves are using key cloning and signal grabbing kit with an amplifier. It happened to a friend of a friend... he was sat in his room with the key in sight. The CCTV recorded his Astra door being opened. Only thing is that the theif did not start the car because you need the key present OR the theif saw no value in an Astra H.

Manufacturers are responsible for this. Going wireless has made things worse. They need to create keys that time out or can be physically switched off. Our keys are on all the time! BMW still use a poor HI TAG system with less than 40 rolling codes.

In fact you don't even need an amplifier if you clip a device on to the vehicle that grabs the code. No car is safe at the moment and it is scary!

Yeah there has been a spate of thefts along the M4 recently, they are using jammers to prevent the cars being locked, so the advice is to check your door handles before walking away.

http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/ne....htm?id=345847

[Hugrov]

Originally Posted by Nobby Clark

Very very naive. Happened to my brother's neighbour. He woke up with a knife at his neck and the words "move you're dead. Where's the f***ing keys".

You can hypothesise all you want in the safety of a forum but this stuff, thankfully rarely, happens.

Sure there is no need bow down completely and and some here would say leave the keys in the lock. But there is no point taking any risk of harm for the sake of car.

Which is exactly what I said in the first line of what you read, I'm not going to put my family at risk for a car.

[Nobby Clark]

Originally Posted by Nobby Clark

Very very naive. Happened to my brother's neighbour. He woke up with a knife at his neck and the words "move you're dead. Where's the f***ing keys".

You can hypothesise all you want in the safety of a forum but this stuff, thankfully rarely, happens.

Sure there is no need bow down completely and and some here would say leave the keys in the lock. But there is no point taking any risk of harm for the sake of car.

Originally Posted by Hugrov

Which is exactly what I said in the first line of what you read, I'm not going to put my family at risk for a car.

But then you wrote,

Originally Posted by Hugrov

I'm of the same opinion, of course I wouldn't be stupid enough to put my family in harm's way for the sake of a car but I don't believe in making it easy for thieving scum, I'm not one for leaving the keys easily accessible if somebody breaks into the house, they'll have to bloody find them and unless they're gonna lift my car or tow it, it hopefully ain't going nowhere!! Like I say, definitely not gonna endanger my family for a car but won't be making it easy either.

hiding the keys will put your family at risk.

[Hugrov]

Originally Posted by Nobby Clark

But then you wrote,



hiding the keys will put your family at risk.

Your words, not mine

[willjames]

I contacted Williams yesterday by e mail asking the question with regards to the fitting of an aftermarket immobiliser such as the Autowatch Ghost and whether it would affect the warranty. The Service Manager rang me today at Williams and he told me that firstly the the fitting of anything to the wiring system may affect the Warranty. I told him that I was concerned about the OBD thefts recently and he told me this has been addressed with a software update. He told me to take my car in and check the version and he would update if required.

We had a good chat and fair play for him taking time out to call me and discuss.

I didn't get the answer I wanted with regards the potential warranty issue with a third party installation, but I did get the answer I expected.

[meatballs]

Is the software update available foc out of warranty do you know?

[willjames]

Originally Posted by meatballs

Is the software update available foc out of warranty do you know?

Not sure, didn't ask that. If I find out I'll report back.

[DriveS]

What a great thread. I was totally unaware of this and surprised that manufactures did not see this coming.
Taking all into consideration I am going to put the OBD disabled stickers on and move the OBD port. I think this will stop most of them.

As for them breaking in to your home to get the keys when I am in, I would just give them. But when I am not in and the car is home, I always hide the keys.

Can anyone tell me the exact part to fit as the dummy connector and where to get it from?

[vadimo]

If bmw is factory fitted with alarm system, surely as soon as thieve breaks window alarm goes off? It's glass break sensor. Therfore this is more of an issue for cars witbout an alarm?

[DriveS]

Does anyone know how if you can check your software version is the latest one with the fix or do you have to go to BMW?
Is there a certain production date where the fix came in? My car is May 2015, just before the LCI came out.

[Nobby Clark]

Originally Posted by vadimo

If bmw is factory fitted with alarm system, surely as soon as thieve breaks window alarm goes off? It's glass break sensor. Therfore this is more of an issue for cars witbout an alarm?

The factory alarm is pathetic. It just chirps.

[Tobamory]

Originally Posted by willjames

I contacted Williams yesterday by e mail asking the question with regards to the fitting of an aftermarket immobiliser such as the Autowatch Ghost and whether it would affect the warranty. The Service Manager rang me today at Williams and he told me that firstly the the fitting of anything to the wiring system may affect the Warranty. I told him that I was concerned about the OBD thefts recently and he told me this has been addressed with a software update. He told me to take my car in and check the version and he would update if required.

We had a good chat and fair play for him taking time out to call me and discuss.

I didn't get the answer I wanted with regards the potential warranty issue with a third party installation, but I did get the answer I expected.

i was going for this but in the end i just got traffic masters tracker fitted and slapped a DiskLock over steering wheel.

If they want it then they'll get it either by towing it away or smashing my door down. I'm hopoing the disklock will deter, them unless their professionals and then I'm stuffed.

I'm reliant on securing it as good as i can and thus far ive got

Gap
Tracker
DiskLock
2 Dogs
CCTV

if they knock hard enough i,ll throw em the keys..... i feel for the guy who woke up with a knife to his neck, id sell up and buy a rust bucket..

[ajfoggy]

So they amplify the signal from the key just sat in your hall or lounge??? So if you put the key in some sort of shield to block the signal it wouldn't work??

[ajfoggy]

There seem to be loads of Faraday Bags around?

[ajfoggy]

Are we talking comfort access keys here or all keys?

Originally Posted by Broken_Gearbox

Yes sir they use an amplified cloner/jammer to reach out to your fob and basically get it to issue an unlock command. Once unlocked there is no alarm to extinguish of course so there is freedom to clone a blank key or low load etc. Some say to put the key in the fridge but personally I don't think 'cold' is good for the fob battery. There was a guy I worked with and he used to leave his keys in our work fridge as he said he could never remember where he places them otherwise - personally I cringed as when you think of all the bacteria on the keys. I keep mine in a RF shielded box but I don't know if it works! No one knows about what thickness works for shielding. Even a key in a safe can be accessed but then most safes are not RF shielded.

It gets worse. Cars can also be stolen via connected drive. Samy Kamkar demonstrated this at Def Con. It didn't even take a minute.

I think this is all down to manufacturers. The only one who seems interested at the moment is Toyota - who have been researching on how to counter roll jams, code grabs and what have you. Samy wants to see manufacturers address these problems.

It depends on the consumers take as well. I read a comment on here years ago that likened car security flaws to buying a door. He said that if you brought a secure door for your home and a few years later thieves found a way to open it then you can't blame the company that made the door. My humble opinion is that yes you can especially when it is a known issue and not enough had been done to fix it. The responsibility lies wholly with manufacturers to address these problems. It's not good enough to take a back seat and say that thieves will catch up. They might but enough needs to be done to slow them down enough so they are stuck for a year or years trying to crack the security.

Samy had one idea of many. Make keys that can be switched off. Keys are always on is the problem. This unfortunately doesn't prevent clone attempts if someone attaches a device to your vehicle. Were we better off with blade keys?

Key holes can be picked, drilled or smashed but if you have a really good lock then you can fight all of those but that of course brings us to the EU competition laws that landed us in this place. The small business or independent garage need to be able to create and sell these keys... The equipment out there that enables all of this needs to be tighly regulated. I could go on but that's my two pence for now.

[meatballs]

Originally Posted by Broken_Gearbox

Some say to put the key in the fridge but personally I don't think 'cold' is good for the fob battery

Microwave would make more sense as its designed to keep (microwave) signals within the box so is normally a fairly decent faraday cage.

[willjames]

How far do we go? Its feckin ridiculous. BMW need to sort their heads out and make it much more difficult for thieves.

Having said that I have House Alarmed, internal door locks, dog, CCTV on front (records 24/7) and I sleep with the window open every night so I could hopefully hear someone feckin around outside...oh and a trusty bat at the side of my bed!

[willjames]

Originally Posted by storeyd

Does anyone know how if you can check your software version is the latest one with the fix or do you have to go to BMW?
Is there a certain production date where the fix came in? My car is May 2015, just before the LCI came out.

Great question. I was only searching through I drive the other day for the same thing. But I think the software version the I drive relates to is the Media version etc.

[Mr Burt]

Originally Posted by sensible

Too right. There is a reason why they sneak around in the dark. Most don't want the confrontation. If they were the sort to come into your house and hold a knife to you throat they wouldn't be sculking round in the dark, they could just go into any car park and take the keys off you and drive away.

Met loads of them and they are not the gangsters you would think.

Totally agree. These scumbags do not want confrontation because it can lead to ID issues, DNA etc. Most are not physically up for it, skinny little cowards most of them, working for a couple of hundred quid at the most.

Leaving the keys downstairs on the table quotes make no sense to me. It's like walking around with your wallet hanging out your pocket as you would rather have it stolen with no force than being robbed.

The amount of times people have force used against them in their own home for car keys is very very rare.

Make it hard for them, keys not visible, good alarm that you set when you go to bed and best of all get a dog. One that will bark when something just ain't right. They will sense them long before your spider senses tell you to hide under the table and throw the keys at them.

These 'people' want to complete their task with the minimum amount of exposure. Disturbed they will make off and pick somewhere else.

Regarding the grabbing devices. Did the owner lock the car in the first place. I admit I've come to my car in the morning and discovered it unlocked. We leave busy lives and can we all say we lock our car every night. No I don't think so.

Summary.
Switch on, make it hard for them and don't become an easy victim by rolling over. It's your property FFS.

[bimmer456]

You will have to remember to remove it prior to servicing and not lose the tool. Regarding an earlier post about the alarm going off, a simple hack that can be used to unlock any BMW is to call the 800 number on the label on the windshield. You then give them the VIN which is also on the windshield. They'll ask for the password which is the same for almost everyone unless you change it. But the password can be changed with BMW assist as they don't ask for the old password. They only ask when you want to unlock the car.

[CraigJ]

Originally Posted by magic77

Totally understandable. My port is well hidden and they would be hard pushed to find it in time the alarm is going off outside the house. Car when ever is parked is on a wheel lock and to me that keeps me happy.

But it all depends on your situation where you go / where you park

Totally understandable I think if I had gone for M3/M4 or M5 in future I woudl probably fit something similar. Though the other issue is warranty the way BMW UK these days tries to get out of any warranty claim sods law in my case I can just see it happenning.

Ive just bought a used obd port from ebay for £18 hopefully a bargain if it stops a scum bag from programming a new key to my car. I'm going to fit it this weekend, can anyone give advise on how to remove the panel covering the port?

[DriveS]

Originally Posted by Broken_Gearbox

The most common check is window drop. Insert your key in the door lock. Turn and hold to see if windows open. If they do then you need an update. This is only one method. Take your car to the dealer and get the update. My dealer lied to me as I discovered when I took it to another dealer they then applied the update. So beat to have it verified or act innocent and approach another dealer for an update.

OK so I just put my key in the door lock turned it, the lock opened. I held the key in the turned position for 10 secs and the window did not open.

So this means I have the latest software? If yes is the any point in blocking or moving the OBD port?