I am a 21 year old Senior at Montclair State University. I picked up my Crystal white IS 250 on December 2nd, and one month later my car has been broken into. For the first and last time I park on campus instead of parking in the garage. I left my car on campus right in front of my dorm building where someone pulled off the key cover and popped the lock causing the car to open all the windows and the moonroof. Then they ran thru my whole car (trunk included) and the alarm never went off!!! They were profesionals because in a matter on a 1/2 hour they broke into nine cars all newer models with the same MO...I guess i am warning all others who purchased the new IS to be careful where u park and also curious as to why the alarm never went off?!?..... I would post pictures but they stole my digital camera and a sweater i left in the trunk maybe $300 worth of $h*t for god knows how much this lock, and whatever else they messed up will cost. I will update this post as i find out more information.

After not being able to sleep last night i called my friend who works for lexus and went to the service area (as lexus is the only place that can code a new locking cylinder for my door) to ask a few questions.

1.Why did my windows roll down?
-- When you place the key in the door and turn it to the left it is like holding the unlock button and all the windows will open...

2. Why didn't the alarm go off?
-- Whoever did this new what they were doing after they popped out the lock the picked and turn the key slot which opened all the windows and made the car believe it was unlocked by the key.

3. Why would they be able to pick the lock? doesn't the key contain a chip?
--No, the chip is in the remote the key is just a rgular key (which sounds stupid to me, to have all this technology protecting the car and leave the back door wide open.)

The thieves stole my digital camera, a sweater and dress pants i had just bought from the mall, maybe $400 dollars worth of things. For the locking cylinder replaced programmed and installed they are charging me $215 dollars for everything, so i am not even going to deal with insurance, but with today being a national holiday they could not order the parts so i have to wait until Wednesday, which sucks because i can not lock my doors so my car is locked in the garage until then.

I guess i got off lucky though as i dont have any body damage to my vechicle and the theif was pretty nice to my car not messing anything up. He was searching for the valet keys or the key code in the manual and in the trunk as most sales men use to place the valet keys in the manuals of the vechicles. There was an infiniti G35 broken into which was pryed open to get the headlights out and had a whole in the door to drop the windows, Out of all nine of the cars that were hit the thieves were suprisingly nice to my car not leaving any interior or exterior damage...

 

Sorry to hear that man. My new IS was keyed the other day. It's just wrong.

 

ouch, sorry to hear that. They must've jimmied the lock and crawled through the window. All oem alarms go off when a door is opened without a key/fob. Although it prevents the ignition from being turned on, the alarm doesn't work if someone breaks the window or tows the car (it's not a motion or sound alarm). The guy was a professional and knew exactly where the keyhole was and how to open it. College campuses can be dangerous, you may want to consider aftermarket alarm system with sound and motion sensors, although it doesn't prevent petty thieves who breaks a window and grabs the goods. Thanks for the warning.

 

Blah lexus needs to put a motion sensor inside the car, like in the BMW 3 series.

 

Sorry to hear about your car. It seems like the closer you park to Newark (car theft capital of the country), the more likely you are to have something like this happen.

 

sorry to hear about it. that really sucks.

 

Man, sorry to hear that, I only been to that campus once and it seemed like a safe area. I guess anything can happen.

 

Sorry to hear about this horrible news. Did they end up taking anything out of your car?

 

Sorry to hear that. I used to go to UMDNJ in the middle of Newark and drove a 1989 Camry, just because I knew that any nice looking new car with anything inside would be broken into. In fact, the first month of our first semester, I had three friends with cars that got broken into.

You gotta love Jersey! I hope all goes well.

 

Sorry to hear that. It sucks being violated like that.

NJ (the unofficial car theft capital of the US) After watching that movie "New Jersey Drive" I'm a bit paranoid to even live there.

 

Newark is the car theft capital, not the entire state of New Jersey. Once you get as far north as Sussex county, or south of the Raritan river, your car is relatively safe.

 

that really sucks..

 

I sent an email to Lexus about why your car did not activate the alarm when they ounched the lock.
I will let you know IF they answer.................

 

Lexus never seems to answer emails. They always want a letter sent to them my USPS.

 

b1ueboy,

That really sucks and I feel your pain. Don't let it detract you from being a proud owner of an IS 250 AWD. (Nice pick by the way, I'm an IS 250 AWD owner too!). I can easily sympathize because about two years ago, my vehicle and 20 others were broken into by a gang of 3 people in under 90 minutes between 3 AM and 4:30 AM. This goes to show you that parking garages give a false sense of security. One unlucky fellow had over $15,000 worth of audio and video equipment stolen from his vehicle. (Cameras showed two people on his vehicle for only 15 minutes before they basically had the entire car stripped). Luckily, he told his insurance company about the aftermarket installs so it was covered. My car ended up suffering a broken driver-side window and an attempt to pull out my aftermarket Pioneer Premier head-unit until they figured it wasn't worth it and moved to the next vehicle.

This was in a locked, gated (electronic key carded), parking garages for a large apartment complex with a security guard and 8 different closed-circuit cameras. They just happened to pick a day when the security guard was off for a week. They got in by breaking a door which leads to the parking garage. (Weakest link in the chain).

These things happen. Don't let it get to you. It sounds like it could of been much worse. (Once, some guy came into the parking garage in a truck, loaded up some tenant's brand new yellow Ducati and drove off).

Needless to say, I don't live there anymore.

Cheers and thanks for sharing your story.

-Kermee