Breaking Into Secure Cars

[Tim Delles]

Ok so when you first read the title of this you think i'm up to no good right. Well i kind of am. How many of you think that your car is safe? By statistics about 84% of people in both the US and Canada believe that there car is safe, however in the US a car is stolen every 23 seconds and in Canada a car is stolen every 25 seconds... totaling billions of dollars in loses to insurance companies a year.

And now to why I am posting lol.. I am currently wondering what people think are some of the most secure cars, so that we can break into them (on camera... of course it would be a car that is owned by the company so it wouldn't be illegal).

I have a poll that I would like everyone to visit and vote. It will end at noon on the 11th.

Thanks in advance guys.

Here is the Link to the Poll

[KathieK]

Originally Posted by Tim Delles

And now to why I am posting lol.. I am currently wondering what people think are some of the most secure cars, so that we can break into them (on camera... of course it would be a car that is owned by the company so it wouldn't be illegal).

Owned by WHAT company? I'm not a lawyer but unless your name is on the title and you are breaking into your own car to retrieve the keys from it, or are a rescue worker trying to save someone's life, I think they'd classify that as illegal behavior... and if you damage the vehicle while trying to show how easy it is to break into, I think the insurance company would contest any claims for repairs...

[Tim Delles]

The company that I am interning for is Boomerang Tracking, based in Montreal, Quebec.

They have broken into a number of cars that are owned by the company (with permission from the executives) to demonstrate such features as there new technology and how some of the old technology that some companies use can not stop crimanals from stealing your vehicle.

These cars are purchased with the exact thought of putting the best technology money can buy into them and breaking into them and stealing them so that we can learn what we can do better to track these thieves down.

But thanks for the voting

[Schnabel]

Ok so I am going to post what I voted for which is the Buick LeSabre. I voted for this because now they come standard with OnStar for the first year. Durring this time, if you report your car stolen, they can track it down via gps and let the police know just where it got off to. Plus you won't ever have to break in yourself as they can just unlock it for you. Also, I do beleive that they can lock the car down to the point where it won't start up if reported missing. I know this because the security system messed up on my family one day and it thought we were stealing it so it shut the fuel off for about two hours until we got contact with OnStar.

[Madison]

Where in North America can you find an Avensis? Are they sold in Canada?

[Tim Delles]

Originally Posted by M. Krass

Where in North America can you find an Avensis? Are they sold in Canada?

It is sold in both in Europe and Canada.. Although they are pretty uncommon in Canada.

[DonRotolo]

Breaking into a car is easy, almost trivial.
Starting the engine is not

It is important to keep these two tasks independent from each other.

ANY* car can be broken into with a brick. It takes maybe 5 minutes to 'break' into a car with a plastic wedge and a wire or strap (think coat hanger, or plastic box strapping), assumung any amount of damage is unacceptable.

On the other hand, starting a modern car with a decent immobilizer is just about impossible. There's just no getitng around the electronics, and hacking isn't a viable option. It may be possible to clip on an independent fuel injection/ignition system, but that'll take considerablt time. Remember, the premise is you're 'stealing' the car and don't have 30 minutes to fool around.

As for 'breaking in', I don't consider it a challenge at all.

I'd like to see you start the engine of a 1998 or later Mercedes equipped with their 'SmartKey".

Don



*non-armoroed, of course

[MrForbes]

tow trucks don't seem to have much trouble hauling off just about any car you can name.

If you're really worried about your car being stolen, there are some things you can do....get good insurance...or get a piece of junk car that you don't care if it gets stolen....other than that, you're pretty much tempting fate whenever you leave it sitting.

[Ashley Weed]

Originally Posted by Don Rotolo

I'd like to see you start the engine of a 1998 or later Mercedes equipped with their 'SmartKey".

Ditto on that same point. I can't imagine how anyone could begin to get around "walking off with" a Prius equipped with a smart key system short of a tow truck. It yells at you enough for not being in close enough proximity of the vehicle with the keys, while it is running.

[Jay H 237]

Originally Posted by squirrel

tow trucks don't seem to have much trouble hauling off just about any car you can name.

Absolutely true, a professional thief will get the vehicle if they really want it. If they really wanted to get a car they would use a flatbed with a winch. If they couldn't get the flatbed or winch right to it then they could use GoJaks or something similar to move the car out of the confined area or building to where the truck could reach it, as long as the ground is relatively flat.


I put my vote in. It would be nice if you could post the results when you're done.

For those of you wondering what a "GoJak" is here's a link. They work very easy, I have a set (6200s) that I use to move the Mustang around in the garage when I work on it and need more space. I have even used them on my Caprice Classic wagon and was able to push the full size wagon around the driveway by myself ...............just don't EVER get the car on a hill with them!

[Grant Cox]

Originally Posted by Jay H 237

For those of you wondering what a "GoJak" is here's a link. They work very easy, I have a set (6200s) that I use to move the Mustang around in the garage when I work on it and need more space. I have even used them on my Caprice Classic wagon and was able to push the full size wagon around the driveway by myself ...............just don't EVER get the car on a hill with them!

A friend of mine's dad made something extremely similar to that for hauling around their snowmobiles. Using the device, she (17 year old high school girl) could easily jack up a full snowmobile, wheel it around, and get it onto a flatbed. I could definitely see something like that being scaled up to a car size.

Oh yeah. On topic stuff. Uh, stealing cars is bad. Someone broke into my Jeep (by the way, the most unsecure car on the face of the planet) and stole a $6000 saxophone. Bad stuff.

[Tim Delles]

Currently overall the Audi A8 leads the overall polls with about 25% of the vote but the Lexus IS200 is close behind the overall polls with about 20%...

And for those that think stealing a car is so hard here is a quick question.

why are over 1.2 million cars (1 car per minute) stolen in the US every year. (it equals around $20 billion worth of theft...)

In Canada there are around 170,000 car thefts every year (1 in every 30 minutes) which figures to be around $2.8 billion.

Even the most advanced technology (i.e. immobilizers) can't even stop 95% of theifs.

Just a little information for everyone to sit on until next wednesday when the full results come in

[DonRotolo]

In this world, there are lies, $@#$@#$@#$@# lies, and statistics.

How many of thise 1.2 million were equipped with immobilizers? How many had the keys in the ignition? With the engine running?

Without the whole story, a biased view can result.

My comment still stands: 98 or later MB with SmartKey. I'll give you 2 hours.

Don

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by Don Rotolo

In this world, there are lies, $@#$@#$@#$@# lies, and statistics.

And false statistics. How many minutes are there in a year?

[Tim Delles]

Originally Posted by GaryV1188

And false statistics. How many minutes are there in a year?

lol wow i didn't even notice... ok so its 1 in every 30 minutes... hmmm

anyways the stats break down a lot... when I'm in the office Monday (if i remember) i will post the break down of it.

But you would be suprised at how many cars have immobilzers installed on them that are still stolen (I believe the percentage is around 50% of the cars stolen have immobilizers on them... could be off a little but i doubt a lot...)

Very few had keys in the ignition... (only about 7% i believe)

here are a few more things to think about...

do you leave your keys in the same place when you get home every day?
do you think immobilizers completely stop thieves from taking your car?