Hostile Attacks on Other's Cars

[DonD]

I am not an expert on this subject and looking for a conversation.

I have heard of creeps being able to copy the key fob lock and unlock signals and then be able to electronically let themselves into the car.

Does anyone know if late model Stingers are easy or hard to defeat? Several places sell Faraday Cage covers for our key fobs. Don't know if that buys you anything other than a false sense of security. Comments? Don

 

[MerlintheMad]

This is a subject of interest to me. I bought a couple of faraday bags on Amazon, and the seller sent me another pair when my review criticized the workmanship. So, I had four bags for a couple of years. Earlier this year, I happened to randomly walk up to my driver's door with the fob in a faraday bag, and lo and behold I could push the black button and unlock the door. WTH!? I checked out the bag for any indication of loose seams to explain the signal getting through: nothing looked wrong with the bag. As I said in my edited review:

"Along with the crap workmanship, it appears that the faraday bag itself either does not work all that well, or it actually wears out over time. In either case, bag this bag."

Out of the four bags, that one (which I had been putting the fob into every night for over two years) did not work at all: one worked every time (the car lock would not respond to the bagged fob), and two were partially effective, in that sometimes the car could not be unlocked, depending on the angle the bag was held.

So, all of that is to give a warning that a faraday bag/cage is not guaranteed: test it before you depend on it.

I am still unclear on how secure our Stingers are: some things I've read assert that the keyless entry on this car is not easy to crack. That would be good. But nothing certain in that regard have I seen. Apparently, if the fob is in range of the car, (even a faulty faraday bag would probably severely reduce that range), a scanner can read it and communicate it to the computer being used to open the car: once the fob is picked up, the replicated code sent to the computer from the scanner convinces the car that the fob is right there and the car can be unlocked and driven away. So, the security, first of all, is to keep the fob outside of range: if that is difficult or impractical, a faraday bag/cage is the way to kill the signal the fob sends. Another expedient that I tried (read about and was skeptical) is to wrap the fob in foil: indeed, a fully wrapped fob in foil is completely blocked. So, I have my spare fob wrapped in foil. I supposed you could just use foil every night instead of a problematic faraday bag/cage, but that seems like a needless hassle.

 

[DonD]

Appreciate your response MTM. Tried to word it so as to make it clear that I'm trying to learn how to best protect my car from sleazoids, not learn how to commit crimes myself.

As you say, a functional Faraday cage would prevent signals in or out and tin foil isn't a practical, every day solution. Don

 

[NS_Stinger]

Jeez guys it's a Kia Stinger not some super rare hyper car. If some dummy wants to go through all that trouble to steal your 50k car let them and use your insurance policy to get a new one.

 

[AtomicGTL]

Long as you dont own a Lexus, Toyota. You should be fine.

 

[DonD]

Jeez guys it's a Kia Stinger not some super rare hyper car. If some dummy wants to go through all that trouble to steal your 50k car let them and use your insurance policy to get a new one.

Now that's a novel and odd attitude. Why wouldn't you want to do something simple if it would deter a thief?

Insurance isn't much help if you're on a vacation and the car is ripped off and in this case the insurance company is being screwed by the thief. Don

 

[D.J.]

Now that's a novel and odd attitude. Why wouldn't you want to do something simple if it would deter a thief?

Insurance isn't much help if you're on a vacation and the car is ripped off and in this case the insurance company is being screwed by the thief. Don

Something odd here.
This is my first post in this thread, but @DonD your post #6 in this thread shows that I said something I did not say?

Some error or typo I assume?

 

[OliverNuther]

I guess this is one of those situations where you have to assess reward vs effort. Firstly we need to quantify how many Stingers have been stolen via the method OP describes. If the answer is zero then that is the same amount of effort that should be devoted to solving the problem.

 

[Transmetal]

Jeez guys it's a Kia Stinger not some super rare hyper car. If some dummy wants to go through all that trouble to steal your 50k car let them and use your insurance policy to get a new one.

I work at a police impound, cars are stolen literally everyday. Cars that cost much less than 50k. A 50k car may be cheap to you but it certainly isn't to me or a lot of other people. Not everybody has the best insurance I would know, I wrecked a car that I was planning on turning over to my son. Believe me, that car wasn't worth 50k and I had full coverage. It was worth it to me because I was going to give him a car that I knew was very reliable and was also easy to work on.

Personally, I don't want my car stolen and I'll try do whatever humanly possible to make sure it doesn't happen but that's all you can do is try. Some things are obvious no no's, others aren't as obvious.

 

[dimwit]

I got a cheap tea tin in which to place my car keys while at home. When I park elsewhere, I do use a small (working) faraday bag to hold the key.

 

[DonD]

Something odd here.
This is my first post in this thread, but @DonD your post #6 in this thread shows that I said something I did not say?

Some error or typo I assume?

My profound apologies to you. I simply don't know how that happened. Sounds like a lame excuse but it isn't. We were out of town for 5 days visiting our son at Thanksgiving and the computer simply wouldn't work. Didn't take my computer with us. Took a long time to get it to function properly. Sorry, have a good weekend. Don

 

[D.J.]

My profound apologies to you. I simply don't know how that happened. Sounds like a lame excuse but it isn't. We were out of town for 5 days visiting our son at Thanksgiving and the computer simply wouldn't work. Didn't take my computer with us. Took a long time to get it to function properly. Sorry, have a good weekend. Don

Lol. Its all good. Just a weird technical glitch.

 

[stoopid]

When I moved and drove across the country I had to keep my spare key for the car I was driving in the car. My pre-tested solution was wrapping it in aluminum foil inside an antistatic bag (the type individual electronics are shipped/stored) inside the small personal safe it always stayed in. With just the foil and anti-static bag the car would not detect the key.

I'm not aware of any active exploits for our car.

At home my Stinger is garaged and for most of the time at work well monitored. Not sure in my case using any type of faraday bag/cage would be necessary. I can certainly see how a good implementation of that idea would defeat any key fob signal relay strategy implemented by a would be thief, based solely on my own experience doing the poor man's equivalent. If I was street parking at home I would probably at the very least have a faraday container for my keys at home. That's the most common location for theft using the signal relay method.

 

[Legendsk]

... At home my Stinger is garaged and for most of the time at work well monitored.

My first job out of college. Engineering building had parking in a lot underneath the building in a "not the best neighborhood" in Kansas City. The lot had a 10' chainlink fence with razorwire around it and a Pinkerton guard who let folks in and out the normally closed gate after they showed him their badge. Another employee went down after work and discovered the transmission lever on his c. 1960 Olds station wagon steering column was hanging down, kinda floppy. He checked under the hood and found the transmission was gone. Missing. The guard couldn't imagine how this could have happened?

 

[stoopid]

My first job out of college. Engineering building had parking in a lot underneath the building in a "not the best neighborhood" in Kansas City. The lot had a 10' chainlink fence with razorwire around it and a Pinkerton guard who let folks in and out the normally closed gate after they showed him their badge. Another employee went down after work and discovered the transmission lever on his c. 1960 Olds station wagon steering column was hanging down, kinda floppy. He checked under the hood and found the transmission was gone. Missing. The guard couldn't imagine how this could have happened?

Interesting story, but not sure why you quoted my post. My work parking situation is nothing like you described.