Keyless Entry Theft

[GeeJayW]

Is that a wind up Roger?

No need to get cranky...

 

[Petrol Pete]

Reminds me of a story from the late 1980's early 90's , a business acquaintance was shocked to find his wife's brand new XR3i had been stolen from his garage.

He was more pi**ed off that they had scratched his Ferrari GTB while getting the thing out !

The general consensus was that it was easier to strip and sell the Ford than the Ferrari !!

 

[brucemillar]

The general consensus was that it was easier to strip and sell the Ford than the Ferrari !!

Not if you are Lord Brockett.

Sent from my iPhone using sausage fingers.

 

[brucemillar]

The general consensus was that it was easier to strip and sell the Ford than the Ferrari !!

Not if you were Lord Brockett.

Sent from my iPhone using sausage fingers.

 

[ktsennaf1]

Hello,

I would like to hear from other owners who have experienced the same problems / costs I have.

I am planning to file a class action and need more examples of this.

 

[AMGeed]

I am planning to file a class action and need more examples of this.

I wish you well with this, but be prepared to lose a lot of money and your court case. MB will defend this until you are broke as has been recorded on this forum before when an owner with a good case lost.

Have a read, when you have time, of this owners fruitless case he took against MB. Different circumstances but something to think about before taking any action against them.

https://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/general-discussion/69081-warranty-problems.html

 

[GeeJayW]

I wish you well with this, but be prepared to lose a lot of money and your court case. MB will defend this until you are broke as has been recorded on this forum before when an owner with a good case lost.

Have a read, when you have time, of this owners fruitless case he took against MB. Different circumstances but something to think about before taning any action against them.

https://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/general-discussion/69081-warranty-problems.html

Can only agree with this.

Taking on big corporations is unlikely to end well for your bank balance or your sanity. The legal fees will be properly excruciating. Even if you have a clear legal case, they'll do all they can to stall it and just as you're about to enter the courtroom to present the case, I bet they'll then want to settle the case to avoid a judgement. So you won't even get your day in court. They'll never have to admit responsibility.

Not even sure if a class action lawsuit is doable in the U.K. anyway, all very American where even then there needs to be a significant number of plaintives to bring a case.

It's crap that your car was stolen in the way it was (though frankly I'd prefer that way to the alternative approach John had to deal with, i.e. some hoods smashing down the front door and demanding the keys with menaces). My suggestion is to suck it up and move on.

Life is way too short for me to even think about taking something like this on.

Good luck!

 

[Deleted member 6183]

I wish you well with this, but be prepared to lose a lot of money and your court case. MB will defend this until you are broke as has been recorded on this forum before when an owner with a good case lost.

Have a read, when you have time, of this owners fruitless case he took against MB. Different circumstances but something to think about before taking any action against them.

https://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/general-discussion/69081-warranty-problems.html

Can only agree with this.

Taking on big corporations is unlikely to end well for your bank balance or your sanity. The legal fees will be properly excruciating. Even if you have a clear legal case, they'll do all they can to stall it and just as you're about to enter the courtroom to present the case, I bet they'll then want to settle the case to avoid a judgement. So you won't even get your day in court. They'll never have to admit responsibility.

Not even sure if a class action lawsuit is doable in the U.K. anyway, all very American where even then there needs to be a significant number of plaintives to bring a case.

It's crap that your car was stolen in the way it was (though frankly I'd prefer that way to the alternative approach John had to deal with, i.e. some hoods smashing down the front door and demanding the keys with menaces). My suggestion is to suck it up and move on.

Life is way too short for me to even think about taking something like this on.

Good luck!

I can only echo the sentiment of these two posts, there are those who might encourage legal action as a 'one size fits all' solution to most of life's gripes but that's just lazy and thoughtless.

I assume that your insurance paid out and you can go and buy an Audi or something and forget all about it.

 

[ktsennaf1]

Hello,

I think you are all missing the point.

Mercedes are turning a blind eye to the problem of keyless theft and the weaknesses with the system. They told me my experience must have been a one-off but that is clearly not the case.

I have asked the motoring ombudsman to step in a adjudicate as I think Mercedes should warn customers about the risks of keyless entry and go.

Also, if they make changes to newer models whereby radio signals can be switched off there should be a some sort of communication scheme to warn owners of older keyless cars to protect their keys to prevent abuse of the signal.

I just don't want other people to go through the same experience I have been through.

I am not bothered about compensation so money if not my driver.

I just can't accept a manufacturer trying to insult my intelligence when they claim they have never come across this problem before and that I must have been very unlucky.

If they care about customers they should make every effort to protect the customer's purchase by offering sound advice / information.

Isn't this fair or am I missing something?

 

[rf065]

Isn't this fair or am I missing something?

Cars have been getting stolen since not long after they were first invented, it has always happened no matter how the manufacturers try to keep them as secure as possible but still able to be used as intended.

Don't confuse this with how you feel Mercedes are treating the matter because a judge will not care about you feeling Mercedes are not listening to you.

Russ

 

[AMGeed]

Hello,

I think you are all missing the point.

Mercedes are turning a blind eye to the problem of keyless theft and the weaknesses with the system. They told me my experience must have been a one-off but that is clearly not the case.

I have asked the motoring ombudsman to step in a adjudicate as I think Mercedes should warn customers about the risks of keyless entry and go.

Also, if they make changes to newer models whereby radio signals can be switched off there should be a some sort of communication scheme to warn owners of older keyless cars to protect their keys to prevent abuse of the signal.

I just don't want other people to go through the same experience I have been through.

I am not bothered about compensation so money if not my driver.

I just can't accept a manufacturer trying to insult my intelligence when they claim they have never come across this problem before and that I must have been very unlucky.

If they care about customers they should make every effort to protect the customer's purchase by offering sound advice / information.

Isn't this fair or am I missing something?

I don't think we are missing the point.
To be fair to you, I would agree MB haven't dealt with this very well.
Acknowledging that KG can be a way for thieves to gain entry and to be vigilant and keep keys in a Faraday case may have been more prudent of them.
But no manufacturer will come out and say that their KG system is fallable.
Locks are broken into, but manufacturers don't tell their customers to be aware. We already know, along with I would guess a good majority of KG equipped cars owners.

Accept what is done, move on and don't waste your energy chasing something you'll never win.

 

[claspknife]

It is not too difficult to steal a car with keyless go.

The thieves insert an antenna into the house through the letter box, or place it against the wall of the house. This repeats the near field RFID signal emitted by the key and enables the thief to both open the car and start it.

The car is then drives away to a warehouse and stripped. Most of these cars are fully stripped within 24 hours.

As I have said in a previous post the way to disable keyless go is to press the lock button twice in quick succession when locking the car. This is confirmed by a prolonged red led on the key.

You can also easily pull off the start button and use the key to start the car. This makes it a tiny bit safer.

See my original post on keyless go here.

Is keyless go less secure?

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...k/forums/showthread.php?t=226215&share_type=t

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[whitenemesis]

Choice...

A gang smash through one's front door, threaten the family for the car keys..

A gang highjack the keyless signal whilst sitting in a car outside one's house. Clone the key signal, open and start the car and drive away..

I know which I would be more 'comfortable' with ...

 

[E55BOF]

Slightly tangential to the thread, but does anyone know whether two KG keys together for two different cars will give a garbled signal? My ten-year-old Jag and my Peugeot both have KG, and I keep the keys together. Neither is likely to be a prime target for thieves, I think, but I'd be interested to know.

 

[whitenemesis]

Doubtful, there are so many RF signals always around us.

 

[E55BOF]

I thought I'd try it (lightbulb moment; we need an emoticon for that...), so went out with both keys in my hand to see. Neither car's keyless entry was affected by the other key. Time for a faraday cage pouch, I think, just in case.

 

[John N]

I thought I'd try it (lightbulb moment; we need an emoticon for that...), so went out with both keys in my hand to see. Neither car's keyless entry was affected by the other key. Time for a faraday cage pouch, I think, just in case.

I for one don't understand what you were trying to achieve!

 

[uumode]

Seems to be 6 options so far I can see to reduce but not eliminate theft of cars already with keyless go

1. switch off key with double press of lock button

2. put keys in portable shielded faraday cage box/bag

3. use additional mechanical lock (steering, wheel clamp)

4. remove and pocket a critical fuse from the fuse box

5. leave windows open with fake stuffed wallet and open box of glittering jewellery on seat so it looks like a sting operation (risky!)

6. ask dealer to disable keyless go function in car


I use method 1, and took out gap insurance (first time ever) specifically for the keyless go risk.

 

[Tiim533]

It still doesn't change the fact that regardless of what you do and what precautions you take, if a thief wants to steal your car, he'll steal it.

 

[uumode]

Probably a stance car manufacturers take with keyless go, so it doesn't harm putting the feature in