Why New Cars are EASIER to Steal

So it turns out car thefts are going up? And is it because the cars are easier to steal? Well it turns out, it kinda is.

Look at this - it’s a graph of - from 1990 to last year. It’s been coming down - but then what’s happened in the last 5 or 6 years? It’s increased?
So what’s happened? Are new cars easier to steal? Or is something else going on?

I’m no detective, but there could be a number of reasons for that recent uptick in car thefts. Covid definitely hasn’t helped when a considerable amount of people began working from home - leaving their cars parked for days and weeks on end without using them. Thieves were able to pick and choose their targets like they were shopping in a supermarket.

Due to new car shortages, many used cars have also seen a dramatic increase in value over the last 18 months, making them hugely popular among criminals looking to make a fast buck.
Whilst increased security with modern systems caused the initial drop in thefts, could it [now] be making modern cars easier to steal?

⭕ Where do all the stolen cars go?

⭕ Why New Cars Keep Failing the Moose Test

#StolenCars #Automotive #Cars

[theov]

1:44 "expect it PROBABLY won't be Nicolas cage doing it"
Remember the chances of Nicolas cage stealing your car are low BUT NEVER ZERO

[Stuntzii]

haha best theft prevention on my car ... manual transmission

[stims]

Lol watching this from South Africa and had a good laugh. Here in South Africa, it is very common to have your car stolen, but instead of breaking into it, they highjack you at an intersection and then drive off with your car. These days it happening more often where the highjackers will take the drive/passengers with them, scary stuff.

[charliemaybe]

Honestly putting a tracker in your car is probably the easiest way to get your car back or to have a kill switch and the obd hidden somewhere

[SpadajSpadaj]

You show the typical misconception about how keyless systems work and how relay attack works.
If the relay metod were to work as you describe, the key fob would have to constantly emit the "here I am" signal, effectively draining the battery in a very short time.

In reality, there are two different signals at play here and they both have to be properly handled by thieves for the method to work (and therefore the equipment is usually paired to the typical set of frequencies used by both methods in a car). The key fob is normally just listening for an incoming radio signal. Only when the door handle is pulled or the trunk cover is manipulated the car responds by sending a signal "are you there?" on one frequency to the fob. If the fob receives the signal (which by design should designate that the fob is within a short range from the car) it responds - often on another frequency - "hey, here I am". This signal in turn is received by the car which concludes that the owner (or any other authorized person holding the proper key fob) is nearby and unlocks the door. Some cars can then send more of those query/response messages to check when the signal comes from inside of the car (not allowing you, for example, to turn on ignition if the car is outside).

So the relay attack works both ways - firstly it relays the signal from the car to the near vicinity of the key fob (and amplifies it so that it can be received by the fob, possibly being behind a door or somewhere within the house). Then it receives a response from the fob and relays it to the car. After the car has been started, the key is no longer needed since the car, due to road security concerns, will not stop and turn itself off even if the key fob is no longer "present". It will signal an error, it might sound some alarm, but it will not stop going.

This type of attack is either a pre-planned theft indeed but can also be an opportunistic one (for example in my neighbourhood there was lately a wave of Toyota/Lexus thefts apparently because some gang bought equipment working well for Toyota-manufactured cars).

The OBD attack, luckily, with modern cars is way harder because the OBD interface simply won't work without proper key/fob present. So it's no longer as weak spot as it used to be. It's also worth noting that due to the CAN-BUS architecture it's not strictly necessary to attach to OBD port. The thieves can attach themselves into any point where the CAN-BUS is present. Which resulted in some interesting points of entry like external mirrors in some older Mazdas if memory serves me right (the mirrors were electronically controlled so the CAN-BUS endpoint was in the external part of the car and it was way easier and less conspicuous to break a mirror than to smash a window.

[damionlee]

Will anything beat the old Vauxhall Nova/Corsa/Astra "Remove the hazard light button, put it back in upside down, and bump start the car" for ease of stealing?

[K_Mag]

Imagine not taking the injectors out of your engine when leaving your car alone🤡🤡🤡

[bbuny]

My car was stolen a few years ago, it was a 95 Accord wagon
I did have a steering wheel club. I had just dropped off some groceries at my house: I was in and out, and I did lock the car
Everyone told me it was already in pieces
The police found it a few days after it was stolen

They didn’t actually tell me they found my car
This led to me having to pay impound fines to get my stolen car back. I did get it back

Sadly someone lost control on the highway and slid across 3 lanes and t boned me which led to me hitting the median head on, going across the highway and back over to the shoulder and my wagon being totaled

[demonwolfey]

I'm Surprised a Kill switch wasn't mentioned.. just hook it up to cut power or fuel from the system in a discreet/hidden place within the vehicle

[ReardedHoon]

I have GPS trackers in all my cars. Had my 86 f350 stolen but the tracker did its job and I found the truck being driven by a crackhead. I followed my truck till he parked at a Walmart and I called the cops. He was arrested the second the grabbed the door handle to my truck on his way out.

[christophermorales]

I remember my teacher in auto school unlocked and started my brand new car with his laptop…..he never taught us how to do it but it’s not hard if you have the tools

[johngaltline]

Dear whoever stole my rusted out, falling apart old truck in Detroit, I'm not even mad, I just want to know why and what happened to it. It never turned up 3 years later, and wasn't worth it's weight in scrap. I'm just confused. Like I get it, if it had turned up after being used in some crime or something, but just straight up vanishing?

[grndzro]

If you are really worried about theft you take the fuel pump fuse with you, and have as many different security lugs as lugnuts.

[alexp]

Some thieves use tow trucks and straight up drive away with them. Once the car reaches a specific angle the alarm shuts off.

[opencarry]

I always install a spring loaded toggle kill switch hidden under the dash to prevent theft. If you don't hold the switch down while trying to start the vehicle, the vehicle will not start. Old school tech solving new tech problems.

[AGwolf]

Imagine owning a car that someone wants to steal.

[danieljryba]

MX5 came with factory installed rust direct from Mazda 🤣

[strahinjakerezovic]

If you remember Wartburg, old car from East Germany, they were almost not stolen at all. It is because it had manual locking for all doors, but it was made so when caps are up, car was actualy locked, not unlocked. When caps were down, then car was unlocked. Thath is the reason why Wartburg was stolen very rare.

[Gourmondise]

The cheapest way to put an immobiliser on the car is a hidden switch connected to the fuel pump. It's a bit finicky to wire it, but once done and hidden it will be in detectable to anyone who does not know about it.

[salovila]

I hot-wired my 1980s car when I was in college and lost the keys at the beach, took me 10 minutes without knowing what I was doing. When the steering wheel locked I had to call the tow truck.

I saw Javier Bardem brake a steering wheel lock in a movie with his arms. No way in hell you can pull that off!