Stolen RX450 Sport

[Holeintheriver]

I recently purchased my beloved Black RX450h Sport with Mark Levinson sound system in it along with Rosen TV system.

I bought it from Lexus in Tunbridge Wells on 4th August.

It was stolen off of my drive yesterday during 12-1am!!!! 21st September so I've only had it 7 weeks!!!!!!

We didn't hear a thing.

I still have the 2 keys in the house so have no idea how they got into the car and got away with it!!!!!!

Can anyone shed some light on this?

I have read that equipment can be bought on the Net for very little £££££ and they can reprogramme a key?

I am absolutely gutted to say the least :-(

obviously police notified as well as insurance company but police just say its on their system and if the number plate flags up they will notify us.

I'm trying to get in contact with the Lexus Garage who are not returning my calls!!!!!

 

 

[rayaans]

Most likely you either didn't lock it twice which you have to do with all Lexus vehicles otherwise the immobiliser isn't activated or they used a programme to get in.

Either way, there's no much you can do to be honest. If they want a car they'll take it somehow, the good thing being that they didn't have to enter the house

[ChrisKaye]

There must be a way to safeguard against this, can the Ecu be reprogrammed or can a hidden kill switch be fitted? Or even a second alarm/immobiliser?

[ChrisKaye]

Just think of the hassle with police & insurance company!

If the car was on finance, and GAP insurance not taken, you could be out several £k even on a new vehicle..... [emoji853]

[Pablo43]

Sorry to hear this bud.

I know you cant fully stop thieving scumbags but this is getting ridiculous.

What action is lexus or any other car manufacturer taking against this known problem?  

We know its a problem ,  the police know its a problem , the internet knows its a problem,  so i think its fair to say lexus know too! 

 Please do let us know what lexus have to say to you, because in my eyes by doing nothing they are culpable.

Once again sorry to hear your bad news.

 

 

 

 

[rayaans]

17 hours ago, ChrisKaye said:

There must be a way to safeguard against this, can the Ecu be reprogrammed or can a hidden kill switch be fitted? Or even a second alarm/immobiliser?

There is but it involves a locked and alarmed garage (with the silverlox doors not the roller doors), with no other access points into it.

You could also fit a clamp to your car or a steering lock.

My point is - there are a lot of methods to deter or stop thieves, but there has to be a cut off somewhere otherwise you'll end up borderline OCD

16 hours ago, Pablo43 said:

Sorry to hear this bud.

I know you cant fully stop thieving scumbags but this is getting ridiculous.

What action is lexus or any other car manufacturer taking against this known problem?  

We know its a problem ,  the police know its a problem , the internet knows its a problem,  so i think its fair to say lexus know too! 

 Please do let us know what lexus have to say to you, because in my eyes by doing nothing they are culpable.

Once again sorry to hear your bad news.

 

There's only so much a manufacturer can do though. They provide alarms, immobilisers, locking systems and unique keys but there'll always be someone who knows how to crack them.

When these things happen, you just have to pass it off as a bad day and forget about it.

[Pablo43]

8 hours ago, rayaans said:

 

There's only so much a manufacturer can do though. They provide alarms, immobilisers, locking systems and unique keys but there'll always be someone who knows how to crack them.

When these things happen, you just have to pass it off as a bad day and forget about it.

Well i agree sh.. happens and you move on, but there is a serious security issue here with keyless entry and your reply is just has apathetic has the response from all the major manufacturers .

"Pursuit of perfection"  do me a favour !

The keyless issue could be solved quite easily without "creating" anything too "amazing"

 

[rayaans]

1 hour ago, Pablo43 said:

Well i agree sh.. happens and you move on, but there is a serious security issue here with keyless entry and your reply is just has apathetic has the response from all the major manufacturers .

"Pursuit of perfection"  do me a favour !

The keyless issue could be solved quite easily without "creating" anything too "amazing"

 

Well yes, the keyless issue could be solved very easily. Just go back to physical keys and that's that saga over. 

But if you want to keep keyless go, then I doubt there's much that can be done. Otherwise it would have already been done don't you think? 

You have to understand, it's not a "serious" risk at all. How many cars get stolen compared to crashed? Driving a car is probably more risky than leaving it on the drive

[Pablo43]

10 hours ago, rayaans said:

Well yes, the keyless issue could be solved very easily. Just go back to physical keys and that's that saga over. 

But if you want to keep keyless go, then I doubt there's much that can be done. Otherwise it would have already been done don't you think? 

You have to understand, it's not a "serious" risk at all. How many cars get stolen compared to crashed? Driving a car is probably more risky than leaving it on the drive

Well yes i do doubt they are doing anything about it  thats my point.

Its widely reported that over a 1000 cars  with keyless entry are stolen per month just in London alone. 

I  would say thats quite a serious security issue that needs resolving.

Lexus have a duty here and if they cant fix it and keep your car safe from a simple hack then they should admit it or fix it .

 

[DanD]

I think it would be naïve to assume that manufacturers are not doing anything about this: they have a lot to loose by ignoring such a problem. The issue is to keep ahead of the fraudsters.

One key issue here, is that while your car's security may be  up-to-date when it comes out of the factory, it remains largely unchanged from that point on and soon becomes obsolete, while in the meantime the fraudsters' knowledge increases and they have access to more and more sophisticated (and often cheap!) tools. Keeping a car's security systems up to date would require constant updates and be uneconomical - if indeed possible.

Assuming it is possible, maybe car owners should be given the option to pay for upgrades... like they do for satnav updates. It would be interesting to see just how many people would be willing to pay for these, as opposed to how many people would just... take the chance.

[ChrisKaye]

But seriously guys, the biggest pain of losing your car this way is GAP insurance on finance. If insurance pays 20k on a 1yr old car you originally paid £30k to finance, you are out £10k - especially with Lexus finance and the massive markup Lexus put on approved used cars versus Glass's guide, for example!

You know which figure the insurance company will be using for the settlement and damn sure it won't be Lexus's!

Sent from my Iphone using Tapatalk

[ISJason]

What I have always done is use a visible sturdy crook lock on the steering wheel. I think it is a visible deterrent to the would be thief.. making them think they would be better going onto the next car.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Holeintheriver]

Thank you All for your feedback

Quick update

The car has not been found and I've not had any contact with the police since!

The Insurance company were very good and have just notified me that they will pay out the full amount that I paid for the car which is great. Less excess! but that's ok.

I wont get a refund on the insurance even though I only used 7 weeks! they will however let me insure whatever new car we get  on that policy. I'm not too sure if it will increase but we shall see.

Haven't a clue what car to get. I still really want another Lexus RX450 but cant go through this again. I will have to get some serious security installed and maybe get a steering lock!

I'm just so dubious about all this keyless technology now!

I've now also written to Lexus

Dear Paul/Matt

On the 21st September we woke up to find that our car had been stolen off of our drive!!!!

We obviously didn't hear a thing. Our dogs didn't even hear anything.

I notified the police who proceeded to tell us that it had probably been stolen to order and that a couple of inexpensive small pieces of computer equipment were used to get the information from the key.

We sat in disbelief as to what we were hearing.

They also said it takes seconds for the thieves to relay the information from the key to gain entry to the car and to even look it up on the internet and you tube!!!

So we looked it up and to our dismay it was all true.

 

I feel quite cheated and so upset that this has happened.

 

Why is the technology so poor?

Why hasn't Lexus done something about this?

 

I am going to be so out of pocket with a huge motor insurance policy now too and I have had to claim on my home insurance for personal possessions which were in the car. But low and behold the dogs guards, boot buddy etc. isn't covered so I definitely wont be getting the £700 back either.

 

I have liaised with Geoffrey with regards to the vehicle and about maybe purchasing another car but with better security.

I am still waiting for him to come back to me which has been over a week now.

 

I would love to hear your thoughts on this and what you are doing to rectify this problem.

 

Kind Regards

 

I have since received a reply from one of his team who are reviewing the content of my communication and will respond in full in due course.

 

Lets see what they respond with.

 

[rayaans]

42 minutes ago, Holeintheriver said:

Thank you All for your feedback

Quick update

The car has not been found and I've not had any contact with the police since!

The Insurance company were very good and have just notified me that they will pay out the full amount that I paid for the car which is great. Less excess! but that's ok.

I wont get a refund on the insurance even though I only used 7 weeks! they will however let me insure whatever new car we get  on that policy. I'm not too sure if it will increase but we shall see.

Haven't a clue what car to get. I still really want another Lexus RX450 but cant go through this again. I will have to get some serious security installed and maybe get a steering lock!

And I've been told not to get 'Gangsta Black' lol

I'm just so dubious about all this keyless technology now!

I've now also written to Lexus

Dear Paul/Matt

On the 21st September we woke up to find that our car had been stolen off of our drive!!!!

We obviously didn't hear a thing. Our dogs didn't even hear anything.

I notified the police who proceeded to tell us that it had probably been stolen to order and that a couple of inexpensive small pieces of computer equipment were used to get the information from the key.

We sat in disbelief as to what we were hearing.

They also said it takes seconds for the thieves to relay the information from the key to gain entry to the car and to even look it up on the internet and you tube!!!

So we looked it up and to our dismay it was all true.

 

I feel quite cheated and so upset that this has happened.

 

Why is the technology so poor?

Why hasn't Lexus done something about this?

 

I am going to be so out of pocket with a huge motor insurance policy now too and I have had to claim on my home insurance for personal possessions which were in the car. But low and behold the dogs guards, boot buddy etc. isn't covered so I definitely wont be getting the £700 back either.

 

I have liaised with Geoffrey with regards to the vehicle and about maybe purchasing another car but with better security.

I am still waiting for him to come back to me which has been over a week now.

 

I would love to hear your thoughts on this and what you are doing to rectify this problem.

 

Kind Regards

 

I have since received a reply from one of his team who are reviewing the content of my communication and will respond in full in due course.

 

Lets see what they respond with.

 

Well simply put, you can't get out of this issue.

If you buy a desirable car, it'll have a higher chance of getting nicked.

Look at the amount of BMW's getting taken, Range Rover Sport's and especially the Golf R which seems to be a huge hit at the minute. Even the Audi Q7 is being nicked and they're the older shaped ones.

 

[Pablo43]

Hi there, 

Thanks for your update.

However you dress it up,Its not right you buy a premium desirable car with modern technology and its easier to Twok than a 2bob motor with standard key and imobiliser .

What happens if and when its impossible to get insurance for keyless because any 10yr old can crack it .do we all buy steering locks and hope ! 

Sorry i  still dont believe lexus are doing anything . Happy to be proved wrong though ! 

Very Happy to hear you are getting paid by the insurance company !!

 

 

[ISJason]

Consider a tracker and use a steering lock too.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[rayaans]

On 10/12/2016 at 5:38 PM, Pablo43 said:

Hi there, 

Thanks for your update.

However you dress it up,Its not right you buy a premium desirable car with modern technology and its easier to Twok than a 2bob motor with standard key and imobiliser .

What happens if and when its impossible to get insurance for keyless because any 10yr old can crack it .do we all buy steering locks and hope ! 

Sorry i  still dont believe lexus are doing anything . Happy to be proved wrong though ! 

Very Happy to hear you are getting paid by the insurance company !!

 

 

Whatever the media makes you believe, its not exactly easy to crack these things. The guys who do this have been doing it for years, steal to order and only deal with high end motors.

The keys run on a rolling code system with an algorithm changing the code each time. You cant just copy a code and then use it to open the car as the code is constantly changing.  

The RX also has an immobiliser so technically the car shouldn't have started even if they got into it in the first place. 

[Verbout]

What's Twok?

 It amazes me how much people know about cars stolen to order and cheap technology that thieves use to steal cars. Its also appalling that police officers feed some of these myths when they respond to calls where people's cars are stolen.

Reassurance is what people want, not scaremongering and being told to read up on the web about the alleged myths.

[NemesisUK]

TWOK (more correctly twoc but generally spelt with the k. More 'street' I guess) means  Take Without Owner's Consent

[Verbout]

I think it's theft of motorcar rather than twoc.

Twoc means "no intention to permanently deprive" i.e. Joyriders.

[Beejay]

When in the RAF we used to test high output aircraft radios inside a Faraday Cage - so no transmissions would be picked up.   One idiot transmitted "MayDay MayDay" without checking the cage and a large enough hole had previously been made which caused a ship in the Atlantic ocean to pick up the emergency call. A Shackleton aircraft was launched and spent hours looking for the non existing  MayDay aircraft.  Why don't Lexus make radio proof key bags so no crooks can detect the dormant keys in the owners home. Nullifying any piggyback key info to third party car thieves?

I keep my debit/credit swipe cards in little mylar wallets to stop any cloning whilst in public places.  Should stop the majority of thefts......

Lexus needs to step up and offer a solution to RX450h keyless go car snatchings.  Better still make the apple thumbprint security on the drivers door available......

[ChrisKaye]

Lol, tinfoil hats people, tinfoil hats!!!

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[Verbout]

14 hours ago, Beejay said:

When in the RAF we used to test high output aircraft radios inside a Faraday Cage - so no transmissions would be picked up.   One idiot transmitted "MayDay MayDay" without checking the cage and a large enough hole had previously been made which caused a ship in the Atlantic ocean to pick up the emergency call. A Shackleton aircraft was launched and spent hours looking for the non existing  MayDay aircraft.  Why don't Lexus make radio proof key bags so no crooks can detect the dormant keys in the owners home. Nullifying any piggyback key info to third party car thieves?

I keep my debit/credit swipe cards in little mylar wallets to stop any cloning whilst in public places.  Should stop the majority of thefts......

Lexus needs to step up and offer a solution to RX450h keyless go car snatchings.  Better still make the Apple thumbprint security on the drivers door available......

Buy a Faraday bag to put your keys in, obviously to match your Faraday hat so they can't read your mind

https://www.amazon.com/Faraday-EMP-Bags-FULLY-SPECCED-Electro-shielding/dp/B00WLI5G7G/ref=sr_1_5/164-9961378-6894002?ie=UTF8&qid=1476568060&sr=8-5&keywords=faraday+bag

[rayaans]

On 15/10/2016 at 8:04 AM, Beejay said:

When in the RAF we used to test high output aircraft radios inside a Faraday Cage - so no transmissions would be picked up.   One idiot transmitted "MayDay MayDay" without checking the cage and a large enough hole had previously been made which caused a ship in the Atlantic ocean to pick up the emergency call. A Shackleton aircraft was launched and spent hours looking for the non existing  MayDay aircraft.  Why don't Lexus make radio proof key bags so no crooks can detect the dormant keys in the owners home. Nullifying any piggyback key info to third party car thieves?

I keep my debit/credit swipe cards in little mylar wallets to stop any cloning whilst in public places.  Should stop the majority of thefts......

Lexus needs to step up and offer a solution to RX450h keyless go car snatchings.  Better still make the Apple thumbprint security on the drivers door available......

Id definitely be interested to see how many RX450h's have been stolen compared to other cars though.

Id be more concerned if I had a Golf R, especially with how many of those get stolen per week or some kind of BMW. I believe the vast majority of these dont even have keyless go

[doog442]

6 hours ago, rayaans said:

Id definitely be interested to see how many RX450h's have been stolen compared to other cars though.

Id be more concerned if I had a Golf R, especially with how many of those get stolen per week or some kind of BMW. I believe the vast majority of these dont even have keyless go

Most modern cars are nicked by people snaffling keys from the kitchen via a side door or simply screwing the house.

Nowadays vehicle crime isn't a priority so getting accurate figures on makes and numbers from any individual Police force is virtually impossible. The figures do exist however and trust me in the big scheme of things its not enough to lose sleep over.