My Sonata is a 2011 so it's not vulnerable according to the article. Plus I lock it up.

We're having many more thefts locally with newer SUV's that use the keyless fob with the start button.. Thieves can program it using an app on their phone and the car will unlock and start.

A lot of cars now work this way. How would anyone know how to program it?

Did that give you the chills? My hair would be on end. cigarette smoke can be a tip off as well, Cologne too.

Thanks, I'll make sure DH knows. He drives a Hyundai, and doesnt always lock it at home.

Yes to locking your car anywhere, always.

Year's back, they were just looking for valuables, or to see if your garage remote was in the car so they could get in your home.

Now, they want to steal your car.

Petalique, the thief stands near the front door of the house and pulls out a device that captures the signal being emitted from the keyless fob, which is somewhere near the entrance inside the house.

The device, a radio frequency amplifier, captures the fob’s signal from inside the house and extends it so that it can reach the car.

The boosted signal then unlocks the car and also starts the vehicle's engine.

The thieves then simply drive away with the vehicle. Cars are often shipped abroad, taken apart for parts, or re-sold using false documents.

Police also issued a number of tips that can help owners keep vehicles with keyless entry safe. They include:

• Do not leave keyless FOBs near the front door of your home overnight; rather leave the keys as far away from the front door as possible
• Park in a garage, if possible
• Consider leaving keys in a container that will block the keyless FOBs signal, such as a Faraday bag
• Consider purchasing a secondary vehicle alarm system
• Consider adding a tracking device to your vehicle
• Consider any deterrent that will prevent thieves from targeting your vehicle, such as a steering wheel club.

I suppose if they are standing outside the Starbucks or sidewalk cafe where you are enjoying a latte, they could access your fob that way, too. Ugh.

Thanks, Jasdip. I’m confused about something, however. How would a would be thief be able to pick up a signal from an electronic key fob near a front door (hung on a hook, say, or in a basket)? Are you saying that the fob is constantly or frequently signalling the car, even when not presses by the owner?

I have heard of RF signals being captured (mall parking lots, say) but the signal first must be generated by someone/owner initiating a signal with the fob (for example, if they use the fob to lock their car). And I believe this didn’t require that the car to have a button ignition.

My DH is away this weekend in upstate NY and I'm alone on rural outer Cape Cod. We have been advised by our police department to lock our cars because of break-ins. I have a Honda CRV. It's locked, and my garage door opener is out of it and in my house. I live with two Australian Shepherds and they're my early warning system so I'm not afraid to be alone here down a long, shaded driveway. We live very close to the police station and they are incredibly responsive for such a small town. I love them.

That "Kia Boys" Youtube video in the article was one of the most disturbing things I've seen in a long time. The car itself is the least of the problem.

My car had keyless entry and remote start...but if you get more than a block from my fob it will shut the car down. Not sure I am buying this 'worry'.

I began thread because I am curious. It’s often taken for worry.

Petalique the fob is always active. Depending on what you drive and how the manufacturer configured it some will automatically unlock your door as you approach. Others you must press the button. If like in my house I can lock the car doors from the other end of the house or from the bottom of my driveway 90 feet away by pushing the button anyone within a certain distance with a reader could activate a car. This is really no different than the stories circulating a couple of years ago about people driving around with devices trying to see whose garage door responds.

I know car theft happens along with breaking and entering but you can only do so much to prevent both of them. This area is having a rash of cars being broken into with the contents taken including the garage door opener. Too many either do not have a locking door between the garage or the rest of the house or it is never locked.

I just realized that I am as bad as they are. I had my car connected to the garage door so that all I need to do is press a button on the rear view mirror. However, there is a garage door opener on the visor. I hope that in removing it from the car when I am going places and carry it with me does not disconnect it from the car. This is the first time I have had a garage that had room in it to park.

Thanks, Maifleur. I had no idea. Last year, in height of pandemic and supply chaos, we had to ger a replacement car. I had been trying to communicate that to DH, but he often doesn’t listen (and it can cost $). So we got a used car for a fortune. I looked at reviews and carfax and maintenance history, somerimes staying up all night while DH slept. I found what looked like a good one, considering my needs (heated, fully articulating seat) and the market pressures. To get the seat I needed, I had to buy a high trim line ($). Thus, it came with a lot of features and niceties, including the passive entry or whatever you call it. Nice not having to dig for my keys. I opted to NOT program the garage door opener buttons on the visor. And I don’t carry the clunky boy remogte in my car or purse. So, when I arrive hom, I have to exit the car, walk ro the garage and turn a tiny key on the house trim to have the garage door open. Sun or rain. Fortunately, the electricity is usually on.

Between the garage and cellar there is a large heavy door with a dead bolt.

We live out of the way on a small road with little traffic. Maybe that’s a benefit. The driveway is sort of long, so the car isn’t right close to the little road.

The car looks okay, but is not a late model, so maybe that will deter any thieves that stumble onto it.

I imagine that drug appetites fuel a lot of theft all over, but I don’t know.

Should anyone w a fob get a metal box or one of those lead “pigs” that are used to lug radioactive medicine? B*tch it it land on your toe. (Kidding about the lead canister.) Maybe a mint gum box? Or I could adopt vicious pit bulls and load up on guns and surveillance gear.

Never leave anything of value in your car, try to always park it in a visible area when in public, always lock it when you walk away from it, and go on with your normal life. Should you encounter a rare occurrence and inconvenience, that's why you have car insurance.

Long before keyless fobs, cars had keys and hoods generally didn't have latches with a release from the interior. It was simple to put on a jumper wire and then use a screwdriver to bridge the starter terminals to start the car. I learned this essential technique at about age 15 in high school auto shop.

I always have programmed the signaling buttons inside. A zero risk proposition and a convenience that there's no reason to do without.

The sky isn't falling.

Thanks for the reassurance about the garage door opener signal buttons. A friend told me it was not wise to do this so I stopped. But for years before that, with various cars, I had a separate visor remote left on the visor or I programmed the buttons. In those days I was working and commuting, parking at malls and so on. Now, retired and the pandemic, I don’t use the car much.

No one’s ever messed with my cars but for once. Decades ago. I was in college, in the city, around one of those medical areas that are built up and often nested close to rough or semi rough areas. Parking was always hard to find, but years before I had rented a place not far from that busy area, so I knew of a street where I could park, nearly all day ( back then). At around 3:30 pm on a nice sunny day, I’m walking up the hill towards where I had parked my VW bug. I could hear the cheap alarm screeching as I approached. There were about 3 or 4 youngish guys standing around it and the engine compartment door was cocked up. I’m not sure what they were going to do. Maybe steal it but first shush that alarm (easy, just yank). I can’t recall what I might have said to them (I was under 5’3’ and not big). I wish I could recall what the body language and interaction were. Maybe they saw that the owner had arrived and closed the engine door. I had no problem getting in, fastening my seatbelt and driving away.

Another day (probably later) around the same area, across from project housing, but just a block or two from the big intersection, I parked my VW and began walking down the hill to the intersection and college. I was in my own world. A young man came up to me and said something I couldn’t make out. (Maybe duh me?). I asked what, and he repeated, ”Mame, could I have your purse?” As he said this, he moved the front of his jacket aside to reveal a good-sized hunting knife tucked into his belt. That was unnerving. I had a chemistry exam that day or the next and knew I needed my Hewlett-Packard calculator in my purse. That just zipped through my head, I wasn’t aware that I was calculating anything. But perhaps the entire gestalt of the scene — noon, sunny, lots of people a block or two away, my not wanting to be hurt or robbed and that he had good manners, had said mame and please (new to armed robbery). And his lanky hand was not holding the 7” knife. It happened so quickly, and in an instant I realized that somehow I’d gotten on the downhill side of him. I took off screaming and running. Noon, sun, city, trolleys, traffic, people here and there and I could have been bleeding and screaming. No one paid any attention. But I was free of him and had my purse, calculator and keys.

My husband and I both use steering wheel locks. my only worry is someone cutting the cataytic converter off.

The Kia Boyz have been active in my community, and they're usually 13-16 years old! Hundreds of Kias have been stolen this summer, usually from apartment building parking lots - an average of 4 stolen every day. They're not starting them by connecting with the key fob in any way, but rather, after gaining access to the car, they dismantle the steering column, override the ingition system by force, and then drive away. They use the cars in committing crimes or just joyride/trash them and leave them somewhere. Local police are saying the best way to stop it is to put a physical lock across the steering wheel, like The Club.

I guess we need to drag out our old Club. Not sure if it will fit over all the steering wheel controls though?

I think a club would be my choice, too. It would be easily seen by the perps *before* they broke into the car.

Today's Chicago Tribune reports that thefts of these cars in Cook County totaled about 70 last year and more that 600 so far this year. Do these children have parents?

I have a Hyundai SUV, but a 2014 model made before keyless fobs. I don't always lock it at home - out in the middle of nowhere. But probably I should. Will change that.

My brother leaves a garage door opener on his visor all the time, but I keep mine in the glove compartment. We do not lock our vehicles when they are parked inside the garage, since the garage is locked.

When I had an Isuzu Amigo (open at the back), I used a red club to lock the steering wheel to the brake pedal. When I would drive to work, I would put the club on the car but not lock it - it required being locked with a key - since I thought that the sight of the club would be deterrence enough. Plus warehouse workers had a view of my car from the warehouse at all times, and the parking area was nowhere near a street.

Anyway, one day I went back to my car to drive home, and I noticed that the club was locked, and so I had to use the key to unlock it. I thought maybe I had unconsciously locked it and did not think too much about it until this happened again. After that, I made a point of putting my keys in my pocket before putting the club on the car, and I would still go back to find it locked.

The warehouse had a reputation of being haunted, and in the past, it was the site of a crematorium. Lots of strange things happened there. Also, sometimes when I would turn the engine of my car off and take out the keys, the cassette player would continue playing, and I could not stop it. This happened several times in this parking lot but never anywhere else. That gave me the creeps.

I won't be buying another car until we sell our house in L.A. and move to Palm Springs, and that will not be for another four years or so, providing Kevin can still get early retirement.

I agree that using a club is a good way to protect your car, but make sure that you do not use it around unfriendly spirits! For me, the spirits were only trying to protect me, I think, but if they could lock it, they could unlock it. They moved things in the warehouse and played with the radios.

In my area, neither locking the car nor using a Club stops them. They break out windows, and use a power drill to drill out the Club's key lock.