With all the car theft posts on this board, I thought it would be good to discuss the vulnerabilities, exploitation techniques utilized by thieves, the potential defensive measures, and the expected costs. Unfortunately, I don’t know much about this area so I’m hoping to learn from you all. Please keep this thread positive and productive. I think we all understand that nothing is foolproof but we can certainly share information to help one another.

thanks in advance,
Bill

 

I had my car stolen a few months back. Luckily, I had an Apple AirTag hidden under the carpet in the back. I got the car back in three days.
After some repairs, it was back on the road. I am more diligent about using the car cover. I discovered the steering wheel lock was useless.
I had a kill switch installed and use it. There is no guarantee, but I believe in making it as difficult for these bums as possible. If you have
a garage, then park it in there. Or buy a Yugo. lol

 

Park in a garage or behind a locked gate. That is the single more effective way to prevent theft.

 

Such a Killjoy 😁

 

What makes stealing the IS so easy?

 

Is there a type of killswitch that’s recommended?

And yeah I agree with you on garaging. I am blessed to have a garage and a wife who recognizes that garages are for cars, not for a bunch of crap that doesn’t fit in the house.

oh how well did the air tag end up helping you?

 

Thieves shatter the sunroof which is not connected to the alarm, get the signal from the OBDII reader and drive off.

 

We have no garage. We built an ADU unit behind our house.
I had the local car stereo place install kill switches in our cars. I don't know what the brand is.
The AirTag tells where the car is, then at least you know what city(cities) it is in. If it's a small and responsive
police department, they may actually go out to where it is. My car was in Oakland, so they knew it was there, but
never went looking for it. It turned up abandoned three days after it was stolen. Out of gas, I'm sure.

 

Lock your doors & close all windows/sunroof.

Never park in Driveway / Offstreet / Public Parking.

Use a Car Cover to hide your vehicle (Risk of damage to paint job due to scratch especially if you car is black. Won't stop burglars from lifting the cover to check what's hidden. Actually may attract more attention especially if it's branded expensive covers from CCCC / BH)

Faraday Pouch/Box to prevent Relay Attack.

Keyless-Start / Fuel Pump Kill-Switch (Won't work against CAN BUS attack towing theft. And if you must, make sure it'l well hidden & use the same material, color shape & size as your car interiors. You dun want it to stick out like a thermal nuclear launch button).

ECU Immobilizer (Not available for 2023 & 2024 IS in any country, as of today. If & when it's available Immobilizer of any make is the simplest & most effective passive defense cos it prevent CAN BUS start, OBDII Port Key replication & Relay Attacks. Won't prevent towing. Expensive)

Park a none-towable (unmotorized) heavy/large RV/Rig to block off your DriveWay/Garage (my neighbor protected his GT2RS & GT3RS in last few years with this simple method as it prevent towing. Towing is the latest, fastest, easiest & most efficient vehicle theft method in Bay Area, CA, USA in last 2 years, which can't be defended as your car will be gone in 60sec, even if alarm is blaring at 120dB. Tow burglar are usually armed & are not to be approached not unless you are SWAT/PD with full >Level 3A+ head & chest bullet protections. The RV my neighbor used cost $80K)

Hot-Wired (Always-On in Parking-Mode) Front & Rear DashCam (preferably with LED=On to warm-up/melt the fog/ice off your windscreen on cold nights. While warning potential car burglars they are being recorded, it's also a very good to record all road accidents/incidents. Preferably with Cloud auto-upload when there's motion/vibration/shock, to ensure the record remains even if the DashCam is stolen/ USB Flash is not recovered)

Steering Wheel Lock (Best passive defense & cheapest. Get the Disc-Lock if budget is not issue to prevent Steering Wheel Cutting by $2 Saw)

OBDII Port Lock (2nd Best passive defense & cheapest. Price range from $5-80 depending on lock material. Steel & Carbon Fiber are the best. Plastic & Al are worst)

OBDII Port Relocation (3rd best passive defense. A little hard to implement. Can be combined with OBDII Port Lock to buy you more time)

OBDII Port Driver's Tamper-Resistant Torx Security #14 x 3/4" Button-Head Screw for below steering wheel panel lock (if you already relocate your OBDII port, this measure is highly recommended. This may give you options to retaliate / or not to retaliate as burglars are already inside your vehicle & will waste more time)

Proximity Chime (Very Cheap. Can be placed anywhere on your driveway/garage/car. 1/2mile range. Can't be blocked with WiFi-jammer. Can be operated with/without Sound/LED alarm on both the Detector / Receiver. Receiver can be placed in your bedroom to softly chime to wake you discreetly so that you can all 911)

Wheel Lock (Not to be confused with Steering Lock. WILL RESULT IN FENDER/BUMPER/WHEEL DAMAGE IF YOU FORGET TO REMOVE IT BEFORE DRIVING).

Brake Pedal Lock (not that easy to put-on/remove. not as visible as Steering or Wheel Lock. Will need wheel/disc-cutter to remove. Buy you some time/ make the burglar give up)

Glass-Alarm (Won't stop intruders from smashing your SunRoof/Windows as that is always the 1st thing they will do to test your defenses. At least you may wake up if the garage/driveway/offs street is not too far away. Won't work at theater/ shopping mall / cafe / restaurant as no one gives a rat *** if the alarm goes off, if you're not around to respond. The burglar will continue to get to OBDII / CAN BUS until owner / cops respond)

Tilt-Alarm to prevent towing (like Glass-Alarm, carjackers ain't give any flying rat-*** if the tilt-alarm goes off. Not unless cops arrive / you start unloading leads on them if they are within your property)

Shock/Vibration-Alarm to prevent Wheels-theft & CAN BUS attack (your fender/bumper/LED will still be smashed. At least you may wake-up in time to prevent vehicle theft on your own / call 911)

2-Way Remote (preferably with >3000ft range to confirm unlock/lock/alarm activation)

Alarm antenna Blue-LED illumination to ward off intruder (most burglars knew better when they see blue-LED illumination on the steering wheel/driver's compartment)

Alarm Sticker on Windshield & Windows (Most burglars will still assume it's fake sticker. Some of us prefer not to let the burglars know we installed any alarm cos we want the car burglars to waste more time, so that cops can arrive ontime to arrest them / or I can unload my pieces on them)

GPS-Tracker (the most feared device by carjackers. Make sure it's well hidden / discreetly installed using same OEM-felt cloth cable insulators and hide them in areas which can't be reached without stripping the whole car apart. Will require professional installation & the most expensive passive deterrent as GPS locator/speed/heading will require $ subscription. Always have Air ID# and IMEI# with you when calling 911. This will allow immediate tracking / even start police car chases you see in movies. At the very least have the Air ID# with you at all times. Air ID# is the 1st few question PD will ask after arriving at your home/car/offce)

Metal-Cage/Plating on ECU / LED nest / Bumper / Fender to prevent CAN BUS attack (2nd most expensive deterrent. Not to mention adding weight & potentially kill you / pedestrian upon high velocity impact)

Gap-Insurance (Very cheap. The best protection ever against financial gap vs low insurance payout due to high depreciation/poor CarFax records. Basically you dun care & you dun even want to take any precautions. You dun even lock you car. Actually you want your car to be stolen so that you can buy a new one. You purposely park in Great Mall / Santana Row / Valley Fair to watch late night movies in Bay Area CA for that to happen)

Ring CCTV (no longer work as most car burglars comes prepared with $25 WiFi jammer which will knock-out anything with 1-2,900Mhz RF signal on area the size of basketball court. This jammer is slotted into any USB in their cars. They just park their cars near your home/car.

Level IIIA+ & above BulletProof Hoodies/Jacket/Vest/Shirt & Face Mask (the best active defense any home & car owner could ever have. I like the hoodie as it protects my head. Train yourself to put them on in the dark in <10sec before rushing out to confront anyone. Try wear your protections after dialing 911, & secure all the zip & harness while you are on speaker phone with the emergency responder, to give details of your location & burglars description, other vehicles they came with, & their heading if they took off).

Side-Arm with Hollow-Point Ammo with Laser Sights & Strobe-Light (2nd best active defense. Hollow-Point bullets ensure you dun accidentally kill your neighbors, if you miss. While ensuring maximum tissue damage if you hit any target at all. Most hoods in USA have bullet discharge / firing sensors which will activate PD/SWAT team in <2min. Laser-sight ensure you never miss. Strobe-light ensure no one can see you in the dark. Make sure you always train yourself & your family to safely discharge your firearms & hopefully hit something. Always lock them in places you can reach & arm at night in seconds. Always lock to prevent anyone else from using it on you & your loved ones. I custom my own bullets to go thru everything except Level 4 plates)