Keyless Entry Theft

[gerrym]

I wouldn't vent to much at car manufacturers. They obviously do the best they can, with the technology available at the time. But, a thief is still a thief. Maybe vent more at the Courts for the pathetic sentences given to car thives, or the lack of interest police forces have in following up car thefts. And £100k cars get nicked like this as well, all the time.

My choice about theft actually was referring to having a tracker fitted to my car or not. As someone else said on this very forum, what would you like? Your car back which may have been ruined by some oily snot driving it like the clappers for days before it was recovered, when Tracker managed to locate it, or the cost of Gap Insurance?

So, I went for Gap Insurance.

GAP insurance is just yet another insurance product which is just another gamble. If you don't need to claim, what a waste of money. If you need to claim then it's the bargain of the century.
Personally I don't take it but there is no right or wrong answer just a right or wrong outcome and to know that you will need hindsight

 

[Deleted member 113659]

GAP insurance is just yet another insurance product which is just another gamble. If you don't need to claim, what a waste of money. If you need to claim then it's the bargain of the century.
Personally I don't take it but there is no right or wrong answer just a right or wrong outcome and to know that you will need hindsight

A gamble it may be. But a very low risk one really. It cost me £160 for a two year policy with ALA. Money well spent given how much it could save me.

 

[RedFormula1Fan]

What do you expect them to say? They would never make a comment that could lead them to be liable for vehicle thefts. Their position is no different from any other manufacturer.

Whether your car hoad the double click deactivation is irrelevant if you didn't use it. It would be detailed in the owner's handbook.

Yup, it's in the handbook no secret.

Some say they deactivate this every night but I don't see the point in that. Two presses? May as well just leave it off and use the key as normal to lock/unlock!

I've switched it off on my spare key to save the battery but otherwise love it, great feature.

 

[Bonecho]

Interesting read.

Two weeks ago I had a knock on the door in the early hours to be met by the police who had been called by one of our neighbors.

Someone had somehow manged to open the door and was seen sat in the drivers seat.

Im 100% certain the car was locked and there was no damage so no idea how they got in.

Thanks to someone on here who described how to disable keyless go using the fob (sorry, can't remember the poster) I now disable keyless go before going to bed.

But would they not now have your code stored on their laptop so they can try again?

I have also read the after the X5 the second most popular car to steal is the C class

 

[Bonecho]

I have just watched the Merc video on keyless go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS7i9N68Xrk

Just strikes me as being the gadget targeted at the most extreme laziest motorist.

Lucky for me my C Class has entry by pressing the keyfob and then placing the key into the ignition and I wouldn't have it any other way. So far I have not experienced any wrist strain at the arduous task of turning a key.

My last car had a keyless start and I found it a pain as I could never find the house keys when I got out of the car.

 

[brucemillar]

I'd love to know the percentage of cars sold with keyless entry that get stolen by hacking the keyless go system? How many remote locking cars get stolen?

As already posted, if they want the car, they will take it. Put a steering wheel Disc lock on an X5 they'll just breaking into the house for the keys..

Ah ha. Nail on head.. Thank you. That is 100% the point I made to my insurer asking them if they were prepared to underwrite the risk to me, my family and my property. Their initial answer was (maybe correctly) "do not buy an X5" but they then capitulated on most points accepting that "determined" thieves would steal the car regardless.

It is well documented that in large swathes of West London, Range Rovers and X5's are un-insurable or self insured. Some owners paying premiums almost akin to the market value of the car, where they can afford it. This blamed on almost entirely on "keyless"

 

[GeeJayW]

Yup, it's in the handbook no secret.

Some say they deactivate this every night but I don't see the point in that. Two presses? May as well just leave it off and use the key as normal to lock/unlock!

I've switched it off on my spare key to save the battery but otherwise love it, great feature.

Is it possible to turn it off and leave it off? I thought that as soon as you use the key to unlock the car, the keyless function becomes re-enabled?

 

[grober]

A short history
https://www.mbca.org/star-article/march-april-2012/modern-tech-smart-keys-and-keyless-go

 

[190]

https://hub.co-opinsurance.co.uk/park-smart/

It is well documented that in large swathes of West London, Range Rovers and X5's are un-insurable or self insured. Some owners paying premiums almost akin to the market value of the car, where they can afford it. This blamed on almost entirely on "keyless"

What with moped crime and acid attacks I'm not sure I'd ever feel safe visiting London again. It's a puzzle why people with money would want to live there.

The secret is to live somewhere with money but safe. When I put my postcode into this link, there are zero car thefts within a 1 mile radius over the last 6 months. And this area is full of Range Rovers and X5's

https://hub.co-opinsurance.co.uk/park-smart/

 

[Delayed Steve]

All the people posting that turn keys are the answer to this problem are kidding themselves, they have been stealing turn key cars since the middle of the last century.
The cars that appeal to professional car thief are high end high spec new cars and they all come with keyless entry.
They haven't got customers for the likes of a seven year old C180 SE so won't steal them !
It's nothing to do with the type of lock fitted it's more to do with supply and demand..

 

[whitenemesis]

Only recently on TV was a report on thieves jamming remote lock signals, so driver's get the car blip the remote and think the cars locked.

All the problems with keyless entry is either deliberate circumvention or operator error.

 

[SW18]

I read that a few years ago, Americans pull into garage attached to house, get out of car and leave it running, go to bed and die of carbon monoxide poisoning. Supposedly thinking the car switches itself off, I would say these people are fatally flawed, not the keyless go system.

Russ

Are these perhaps the people for whom coffee cups state "this beverage may be hot"

 

[190]

They haven't got customers for the likes of a seven year old C180 SE so won't steal them !

Well it's good to know my car is safe.

 

[richard]

Deactivating and activating
If you do not intend to use a key for an extended period of time, you can deactivate the KEYLESS-GO function of the key.

I have just worked out why my Keyless Go on GLC doesn't work sometimes. Slightly embarrassed

Whilst on the topic, there are commercially available products aimed at law enforcement with a receiver that has to be within 2 meters of the key (i.e. outside the front door for most people) and the other end by the car - this bypasses Keyless entry. There are also lots of key-grabbing devices for high-end vehicles and you can be quite far away for those to work.
However, the products I saw are for most manufacturers but not for Mercedes Benz. I couldn't get an answer out of the device maker as to exactly why but clearly MB more difficult than Audi/BMW

The other issue with BMW is the VIN is stored in the key for a key-reader to read. So if you have a friend at a BMW garage they can look up the VIN and probably the owner, so if you find a BMW/Mini key, you have a free car.

Richard

 

[RedFormula1Fan]

Is it possible to turn it off and leave it off? I thought that as soon as you use the key to unlock the car, the keyless function becomes re-enabled?

Ah, yes you're quite right. I assumed it would stay off but the handbook does say press any button to reactivate.

 

[Deleted member 126969]

I've got into the habit of only using the KG feature when I'm out and about. At home, I always disable the key. I'd likely also disable the key if I was parked somewhere that scumbags are even vaguely likely to be operating too.

That said, who'd want to nick a C350e?

 

[ktsennaf1]

Hi,

i would like to hear from owners who have experienced the same issue i have.

 

[sambam2006]

Don't the newer cars have Mercedes Me built into the car? I am able to see where my car is all the time through the APP. From my knowledge a sim card is located in the car somewhere hidden and is used for Mercedes Me, traffic etc

I heard another story where a C class was stolen somewhere in West Yorkshire, UK without taking keys and was recovered by Police using Mercedes Me Location Tracking

 

[ktsennaf1]

Mercedes Me is an application you can sign up for if you have the premium plus pack. it will give you vehcile tracking via GPS and parcked vehcile info.

The SIM card you refer to is in the communication module and this can also be used to locate vehciles but the process to locate a car using this method is complex and Mercedes are not willing to do anything here. They simply provide the SIM card details to the police who are supposed to contact the phone company directly.

When my car was stolen the thieves turned off the GPS and the SIM card option failed as the plolice were not aware of a process to retrieve location by going to phone compamy.

Even more annoying was the fact that when i called Mercedes customer services on the morning of my car being stolen they told me they don't offer tracking via MercedesMe. This information was incorrect and later that day i called customer services again and they told me it was possible but by the time i set this up it was too late.

All in all this was a waste of time.

Once again.......I have purchased a premium product and received poor service from Mercedes and the options to locate my vehcile all drew blanks.

Nightmare!

 

[Tiim533]

Once again.......I have purchased a premium product and received poor service from Mercedes and the options to locate my vehcile all drew blanks.

Nightmare!

I feel your pain, but it was the thieves who did this, and not MB. Even with trackers, GAP Insurance, you'd have still have lost out.

And remember the old joke about the kids who asked the bloke for £10 to looks after his car when he parked it in Merseyside? The chap said "No worries lads, there's a rottweiler in the car!", to which the kids replied "Oh, puts out fires as well does he?"