Keyless-Go: Car theft on the supermarket parking lot - ADAC criticizes manufacturer - "Want to sit out the problem" 

According to ADAC, even cars with the latest keyless go systems are easy prey for thieves.

Of the 390 current models examined, just seven are theft-proof.

But the manufacturers are declining.

• Keyless go

  systems are considered convenient.

• But according to

  ADAC

  , the radio keys have

  had massive security gaps for years.

• Modern chipsets have long since offered a remedy.

  But most manufacturers are not deterred by this.

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Munich -

ADAC

technology expert

Arnulf Thiemel

is actually a quiet man.

But when it comes to

keyless go

and theft protection, the specialist in vehicle technology quickly reaches operating temperature.

Thiemel complains that car manufacturers have had nine years to make their remote control key systems theft-proof.

But “little has happened to date.

Apparently, ”the

ADAC

man speculates,“ many manufacturers just wanted to sit out the problem ”.

Keyless Go

systems are essentially radio keys in which a chip establishes a connection with the car and unlocks it as soon as one approaches the vehicle.

The key can remain in the pocket.

Many drivers find this practical.

The manufacturers pay well for the collective gain in convenience.

Depending on the vehicle, the comfort keys cost several 100 euros; the premium manufacturers also drop the 1000 euros mark in no time at all.

ADAC: Keyless-Go - Convenient yes, theft-proof no

The remote control keys may be convenient, but they are not secure.

Time and again, thieves quietly hack the vehicle's radio signal, extend it and then simply roar away.

It wasn't until the beginning of November that a wave of car thefts hit the headlines in the greater Munich area.

Within a few weeks, thieves stole five cars via radio attack, all of them

BMW

models with Keyless Go.

According to the police, the corresponding damage was 500,000 euros.

Shortly thereafter, the Thüringer Allgemeine reported on comparable cases.

The thieves' sights were once again on expensive

BMW

X models

, also with

Keyless Go

. 

The examples prove: The radio attacks on luxury cars are by no means isolated cases.

There is no separate statistical record of

keyless go

theft in this country.

But in the past year alone, according to data from the General Association of the German Insurance Industry (

GDV

), around 14,230 vehicles with a damage amount of almost 280 million euros were stolen across Germany, many of them via the radio hack.

Right at the top of the hit list of the most stolen cars: the

BMW

X6.

ADAC: Autoknacker hardware from the web shop

According to the police, the necessary hardware for the car hackers is available on the Internet.

Anyone who knows a little about electronics can solder a corresponding device together, says

ADAC

specialist Thiemel.

The corresponding components hardly cost 100 euros.

In addition, the direction finder transmitters are also available ready-made on the web.

In order to prevent possible customer disappointment, individual providers also publish an overview of the vehicles that can be opened with their tools on their websites.

"The device", writes one manufacturer as a precaution, is "not intended for illegal use".

"Warning: The device is not intended for illegal use!"

Note in the web shop of an Internet hardware supplier, with which car hackers can effortlessly open countless vehicles from different manufacturers.

The security gaps in Keyless Go have long been known to manufacturers.

In order to "increase theft protection", new series have been equipped with a revised generation of radio remote controls since March 2018, a 

BMW

spokesman said on request.

(Merkur.de *).

The new keyless go systems have an integrated sensor that switches off the radio signal as soon as the key is not moved for more than two minutes.

In this way, the system is “no longer vulnerable to radio wave extension,” assures the car manufacturer.

At the

ADAC

you see it very differently.

The car club also considers the revised version with sensor technology, which is

installed by many other manufacturers in

addition to

BMW

, to be "poor".

"If the attack occurs within the two-minute period, a thief can still steal the car," complains technology specialist Thiemel.

Even when parking, for example to quickly do the after-work shopping in the supermarket, the technology does not protect.

“The sensor in the keyless go system continuously registers vibrations while the driver wanders through the aisles,” says Thiemel.

This means that the radio signal remains switched on and can be "easily levered out" via radio technology.

ADAC: Car thieves are now also attacking supermarket parking lots

Car thieves have long been prepared for this.

In the past there have been numerous cases in which gangs cracked vehicles in parking lots.

The drivers then stood there with a full car but without a car.

According to a current evaluation by the

ADAC

, of around 390 vehicles examined, just seven cars cannot be hacked.

The theft-proof vehicles include the Land Rover Discovery (built in 2018), the Range Rover and the Range Rover Sport as well as the new

VW

Golf 8 and the new

VW

ID.3.

According to

ADAC

, the manufacturers of these vehicles rely

on keyless go connections in the ultra-broadband range (ultra-wideband, UWB).

The corresponding chips from manufacturers such as the Dutch specialist

NXP

Semiconductors

or

3db

from

Zurich

are able to measure even the smallest time delays in the data exchange between the key and the vehicle on board.

If the radio signal takes longer than usual, for example because it is sent via a radio extender, the car remains closed.

ADAC expert Thiemel knows from his own tests that thieves “don't stand a chance”.

Keyless-Go: That's the advice of the ADAC

• “As a buyer, you should carefully consider ordering a vehicle with an optional keyless system. 

• Park the vehicle overnight if possible in a locked room (garage). 

• When inside buildings, do not keep the remote control key near external doors and windows.

• If you already have a vehicle with a keyless locking system: Check the operating instructions (or ask your workshop) whether it can be deactivated.

  Then it is usually not crackable with the method shown here - but it only works without the (often expensive) keyless convenience.

• Wrapping aluminum foil around the key is not a reliable remedy, because the foil does not always shield reliably and can be damaged by the prongs of other keys.

  In addition: If a vehicle is stolen anyway, the owner may be “partly to blame” because he may not have wrapped the film tightly enough.

  This also applies to tin cans or shielding cases, but some of them let the radio waves through anyway - for example if a slightly larger key prevents the case from closing. "