Remote car unlocking

Mal Cullen

Mal Cullen

Mal Cullen

Associate
Joined
7 Feb 2010
Posts
191
Location
Essex
Hi,

The close I live on recently had 5-7 cars broken into one night out of around 22 houses/cars. Cars all ages but generally from 2003 to 2009 and include a black cab. None were stolen probably because we live behind security gates but maybe they were not after cars just contents.
The thing is no windows broken, no alarms and no noise. Wife is very light sleeper and heard nothing. Very unlikely we left car unlocked but guess you never know. Very very unlikely all 5-7 cars left unlocked.. Guys/gals were fast as they stripped anything of value from cars (sadly had left some things in ours overnight... lesson learnt).
Anyway how possible is it for the thieves to have some kind of remote unlocking device which can do different types of car/lock? Police were looking into it but didn't really get too involved I believe. As only stuff was nicked I don't think anyone could get too fussed about the whole thing and all the houses dealt with it in their own way and never discussed it en mass.
Is this something anyone has hear of before and do these kind of unlocking devices really exist?

Rgds

MC
 
Signal jammer would be my guess. Almost fell foul to it at a supermarket. Got out to go shopping with the gf, whilst walking away from car pressed the lock button on the keys without looking at car. Fortunately my side mirrors come in once locked and I didn't hear them move, turned around and me pressing lock was doing nothing.

I stayed with the car whilst gf shopped. Got home and all was fine after.

Now you imagine the opportunity at a busy supermarket car park.
 
Mal Cullen said:
Hi,

The close I live on recently had 5-7 cars broken into one night out of around 22 houses/cars. Cars all ages but generally from 2003 to 2009 and include a black cab. None were stolen probably because we live behind security gates but maybe they were not after cars just contents.
The thing is no windows broken, no alarms and no noise. Wife is very light sleeper and heard nothing. Very unlikely we left car unlocked but guess you never know. Very very unlikely all 5-7 cars left unlocked.. Guys/gals were fast as they stripped anything of value from cars (sadly had left some things in ours overnight... lesson learnt).
Anyway how possible is it for the thieves to have some kind of remote unlocking device which can do different types of car/lock? Police were looking into it but didn't really get too involved I believe. As only stuff was nicked I don't think anyone could get too fussed about the whole thing and all the houses dealt with it in their own way and never discussed it en mass.
Is this something anyone has hear of before and do these kind of unlocking devices really exist?

Rgds

MC
Click to expand...


Very early on there were some cars shipped with remote codes which just repeated or were sequential so with the right equipment you would be able to figure out the next code in the sequence. I forget the makes and models effected. But as Dis86 said it was more likely a signal jammer as they are pretty in expensive and concealable which would stop you locking the doors remotely. Seems a lot of effort to go through for just contents though the most expensive thing in my car generally is pair of running shoes.
 
Ahhhh that makes a lot of sense. Would a signal jammer cover an area which would fit 20 houses? Or are they very concentrated/targeted in where they work?

Man this world doesn't get any easier....
 
I ask because cars from each end were broken into.... and yeah seems bonkers to come in behind security gates to try to rip off contents of some oldish cars.. you would think there would be much easier pickings out there... Plus to get out you need a code for the gates... makes zero sense to me..
 
mind you they got around £400 notes worth of easily disposed of stuff from mine and always a chance you get a couple sets of Pings.. that kind of thing. But if it was a signal jammer covering the whole Close then all cars would have been open and only 5-7 were done over..
 
AFAIK signal jammers are quite power intensive (been a while since I read about them) so I would have thought they would have parked up a car (or 2) at around the time people get home from work leave signal jammer running for 30mins (or whatever) leave and then come back hitting people who havent returned to their car all night who's doors are open.
Or they might just have a nice way to get into some older cars as I bet car locks from 8 years ago arent really that good.
 
meandu229 said:
AFAIK signal jammers are quite power intensive (been a while since I read about them) so I would have thought they would have parked up a car (or 2) at around the time people get home from work leave signal jammer running for 30mins (or whatever) leave and then come back hitting people who havent returned to their car all night who's doors are open.
Or they might just have a nice way to get into some older cars as I bet car locks from 8 years ago arent really that good.
Click to expand...

Makes perfect sense thanks.. Every time I can't think of what could be going on, it becomes a lot clearer...

To my mind defo a signal jammer preventing a number of cars being locked/alarmed and then thieves in quick shiftie around the cars and hit the open ones...

Damn..
 
balky12 said:
Signal jammer would be my guess. Almost fell foul to it at a supermarket. Got out to go shopping with the gf, whilst walking away from car pressed the lock button on the keys without looking at car. Fortunately my side mirrors come in once locked and I didn't hear them move, turned around and me pressing lock was doing nothing.

I stayed with the car whilst gf shopped. Got home and all was fine after.

Now you imagine the opportunity at a busy supermarket car park.
Click to expand...

Especially when you wouldn't even give a second glance to someone getting in a car, as you would just assume it is their car.
 
Can't believe people just walk away from their cars, to a distance where you can no longer hear it locking and THEN don't also look back either. Signal jammer or not do people really trust their key fobs THAT much they don't require any audio or visual confirmation of the lock?

Maybe it's just because I got my first car in the late 90s where car alarms were pretty naff and remotes often had to pointed at the car with some kind of accuracy.

I lock my car the second after getting out and don't walk away until I've heard the doors lock and lights flash.
 
I seem to have a habit of checking the door handle and boot after locking it, especially with my GFs car, on our new car the wing mirrors fold in, so you know when it's been locked. I still do a double check though.
 
[TW]Fox;27936640 said:
Security gates are supposed to stop that. Otherwise they are just 'gates'.
Click to expand...

Well no the term "security gate" is tautologous given all gates are by invention there to add some kind of security, the only question is the level of it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom