Key Fob Sleep Mode - You're going to LOVE this!

[Tex]

This works for me. Forget those Faraday bags.

Wrap your keys in tin foil and make sure you pinch all the edges tight.

Now, with your vehicle locked, walk up to your door with the key wrapped in tin foil and try to unlock the vehicle by placing your hand inside the door handle. The vehicle will remain locked. The keypad will still function if you have a keypad, but the key fob remains inoperable.

You are welcome forum members.

I went the other route and wrapped my Bronco in tin foil

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[helifino16]

This works for me. Forget those Faraday bags.

Wrap your keys in tin foil and make sure you pinch all the edges tight. I use two plastic bags. An inner bag with tin foil taped to the bag where the key fob is inserted and an outer bag to help protect the inner bag from any tears.

You are welcome forum members.

An elegant solution for your elegant vehicle? LOL #purely_functional

 

[Wings2Wheels]

My wife and I went this route:

Small Key FOB Faraday Case

Fits in a pocket and keeps the scum bags from cloning your key FOB or using a signal booster to start the vehicle without the key FOB present.

We even keep the key FOB in these inside the house. I don't care if it goes inactive after a minute, I work too damn hard to have this vehicle stolen by the dregs of society and this extra piece of mind is worth it.

Just build it into your habit pattern to keep the key FOB in it whenever you're not actively driving the vehicle and you reduce the chances of being victimized.

 

[springer]

An elegant solution for your elegant vehicle? LOL #purely_functional

Thanks for the kind words. I truly appreciate your comments. Maybe someday you can help me out yourself.

 

[springer]

I went the other route and wrapped my Bronco in tin foil

Great idea. You can also wrap your head in tin foil in case the bronco foil doesn't work.

By the way, when is your next comedy club appearance!!!

 

[Jon_chimpo]

Sounds pretty paranoid to me. But to each their own.

 

[Headsong]

Sounds pretty paranoid to me. But to each their own.

I'd say not at all, considering the scarcity of these things and the value. But you do you.

 

[Jon_chimpo]

I'd say not at all, considering the scarcity of these things and the value. But you do you.

Someone steals it, file an insurance claim. Whatever though, I have my own irrational fears as well.

 

[swooshdave]

While the likelihood of that ever happening is really low, I get it.
Just do it in a way that looks unintentional, like a piece of mail or something.
Laws are vague about whether obscuring the VIN constitutes criminal intent, some say it's definitely illegal, others say only actual alteration or removal is, but paper and business cards have a way of finding their way down there unintentionally regardless.
It's happened to me and I didn't realize it (who the hell monitors their VIN visibility?), DPS asked me to move the paper so they could see the VIN, no big deal.

And then what are you going to do when you find out anyone can get your VIN from your license plate in mere seconds?

https://www.kbb.com/whats-my-car-worth/

 

[AZ_Liberty]

It's happened to me and I didn't realize it (who the hell monitors their VIN visibility?), DPS asked me to move the paper so they could see the VIN, no big deal.

I run a dash-mat in most of my vehicles. Keeps the UV from damaging the dash and cuts down on glare.

Always have to pull it up when I get the smog check done.

 

[Tex]

Great idea. You can also wrap your head in tin foil in case the bronco foil doesn't work.

By the way, when is your next comedy club appearance!!!

Is this coming from personal experience, or are you theorizing?

Sorry, all these 5G waves must be making me cynical.

And then what are you going to do when you find out anyone can get your VIN from your license plate in mere seconds?

https://www.kbb.com/whats-my-car-worth/

No desire to cover mine for that reason, among others. There's probably a hundred thousand people by now that have seen my license plate number, a portion of those have seen it parked at my house, and it's been posted on the net so my plates and my VIN will never truly be confidential. Saban was asking about covering up his VIN so I gave him my thoughts about the legality of it.

 

[Figmo]

I wonder how prevalent this kind of theft is. All kinds of bad things happen to good people every day. But I refuse to live my life in fear. I’ll take common sense precautions, but at the end of the day if somebody really wants my Bronco *THAT* bad….they’re gonna get it one way or the other.

I’m not going to wrap myself in tin foil as I stare suspiciously at anybody who gets within 6 feet of me. Life’s shorter than you think. Enjoy it.

But keep the insurance current. Just in case.

 

[Yukon65006]

So far we need at least a faraday bag or a faraday box or aluminum foil to prevent the remote possibility of someone having cloning tech, that is not cheep. And likely not to work for more than one function. If the people that can afford the tech wants the vehicle they will get it.

We also need to cover the vin and remove the plates to prevent a dealership worker from creating a new key. Pretty sure that is how it was done in Gone in 60 Seconds.

What I haven't seen mentioned yet is the easiest way they can steal your Bronco. Just tow it away and disconnect the battery to prevent the app from locating it. Guess it's time to invest in some tire boots along with a few air tags to glue in hidden spots.

I know how faraday cages work since I worked in them for years along with how small of an opening in one it takes for some leaks. I wouldn't trust any cheep amazon ones. I also stopped wearing my foil helmet after reading the MIT students study.

http://web.archive.org/web/20100708230258/http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/

 

[Tex]

I wonder how prevalent this kind of theft is.

From intercepting your key fob signal, merely by having it in your pocket, you're more likely to have you Bronco totaled by a meteorite given how much difficulty surrounds the entire process. The technical challenges involved make it exceedingly unlikely that anyone other than the people that designed it would have much of any chance. You could say they're shady and made a back door or sold information on how to clone fobs and steal cars, but they're on the hook with NDA's, their own pride in their work, and their livelihood, because there's a trail of evidence leading right back to them.

From having a new key fob made with your VIN alone, that would be closer to the realm of possibility, even though it would in itself be exceedingly rare. Having a replacement made requires verification that you're the owner, but the approval is at a local level...if you satisfy their requirements you get a new fob. This also works with third party services that will program fobs for you. Since there's little oversight, the person responsible for vetting your request can choose to make fobs on their own without approval or verification. Either they could make an unauthorized fob for their own use or they could make an unauthorized fob for someone else. And if that's the case, no amount of hiding your VIN is going to work, they already have your VIN and your address. But, there's always a trail of evidence going right back to them...and that's what would make this unlikely. Dealerships would get the codes from a Ford server that keeps all of that on file, so if the vehicle is stolen there's a good chance they'd look to see if a key fob was recently made, and then they'd know where it came from. It's sort of like having a locksmith change out the locks on your door or make a replacement key...the bitting is known by the locksmith and could easily be used to gain access to your house. But, there's evidence there to follow that would tie it back to the locksmith. Are there shady locksmiths? Probably. Are they in jail? Probably.

One other potential vector is via access to your vehicle and/or key fob. Say you're with a group of people somewhere with your vehicle, and someone managed to turn the ignition on either with your fob or because you were close enough to it. At that point they can connect a programmer to the OBDII port and program their own fob when you're not looking. Once they have a valid fob they can wait until you're not around to drive off. Takes about 5-15min to do and it's not the most covert method in the world, but with enough distraction or social engineering I suppose it's possible. Some programmers are able to make use of valid key fobs to replicate another, but they still need to be hooked up to the OBDII port first.

Those are three primary ways you could theoretically gain access to a vehicle without an original key fob, and ultimately none of them are realistic. Certainly not realistic enough for preventative measures to be taken. Dropping your fob into a wad of tin foil or gimmicky bag will work to reduce signal transmission, that's well established, but nobody thinks about the practicality of it or whether it's an effective solution or not. Whatever advantage you gained by doing that is lost the moment you actually have to take the fob out to use it. If you believe that they can swipe everything they need from your fob while you're eating at golden corral, then you should believe that they can do the same while you're standing in front of your bronco trying to remove your fob from its tin foil faraday cage too (which was the ideal time for people to intercept old school wireless remotes that weren't encrypted). They'd also be able to do the same while you're parked with the engine running or while you're camping in the left lane on the highway, as the fob is transmitting any time it's in motion and the Bronco is nothing close to approximating a faraday cage.

 

[tock13]

This works for me. Forget those Faraday bags.

Wrap your keys in tin foil and make sure you pinch all the edges tight. I use two plastic bags. An inner bag with tin foil taped to the bag where the key fob is inserted and an outer bag to help protect the inner bag from any tears.

Now, with your vehicle locked, walk up to your door with the key wrapped in tin foil and try to unlock the vehicle by placing your hand inside the door handle. The vehicle will remain locked. The keypad will still function if you have a keypad, but the key fob remains inoperable. Make sure that the inner bag opening has been folded over a couple times to make sure it is sealed properly. When done, place it in the outer bag and press the seal tight on the outer bag.

You are welcome forum members.

Dang if Buford T. Justice sees that suspicious lookin baggie you may just get a strip search!

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