IS 300h stolen using Keyless Entry

Swoxy · January 28, 2018

A friend of a friend had his IS 300h stolen in London a couple of nights ago via thieves amplifying the keyless entry signal and someone else has told me of the same occurring recently with another IS 300h in Hatfield.

I knew this was prevalent in BMW and Mercedes but didn't think Lexus' would be targeted since they are less popular - I have ordered some Faraday cage key pouches from eBay.

matt8 · January 28, 2018

Thanks for sharing. Any further details? Police found the vehicle?

I'll need to put my disc lock back on then now.

For those that don't know, there's a key fob combination detailed in the manual to disable the spare fob broadcasting it's signal. You can then save your Faraday cage bag for the key you use day to day.

You could disable the broadcasting signal between each use of the car but that may be too inconvenient for people.

ganzoom · January 28, 2018

Awful news, thanks for the update. Been keeping our keys in a metal box a few rooms away from the front door for a while now. Shame people rather resort to stealing things they like than actually work :(.

Bluesman · January 28, 2018

Bad news. Manufacturers are going to have to get this sorted. It's all very nice having these wonderful gadgets but no good if scum bags can use them for their own ends. I feel the manufacturers should be held responsible for the loss of your properties and made to pay up. It's them who have sold you these gadgets and if they don't work then its time they paid. That way they might not put useless gadgets in the cars and when they do they make sure they cant be hacked and work as they say they do.

steve2006 · January 29, 2018

Good point Mike, not fit for purpose comes immediately to mind,no doubt if we were in the USA there would have been a class action suit ongoing.

Maybe those PPI people could be reassigned “Had you car stolen recently? Keyless Entry system? Call us now and get thousands in compensation!

bluenose1940 · January 29, 2018

"For those that don't know, there's a key fob combination detailed in the manual to disable the spare fob broadcasting it's signal. You can then save your Faraday cage bag for the key you use day to day" This is very useful bit of information, thank you Matt, I will be making use of this.

I have purchased one of them there pouches and so will use that for my everyday key.

route66 · January 29, 2018

Here is the excerpt from the manual on how to disable the keyfob broadcasting it's signal. I have broadcasting disabled on my spare key to help preserve the Battery, but it can of course be used on the main key as well - easy to disable and to reenable:

Bluesman · January 29, 2018

1 minute ago, route66 said:

Here is the excerpt from the manual on how to disable the keyfob broadcasting it's signal. I have broadcasting disabled on my spare key to help preserve the battery, but it can of course be used on the main key as well - easy to disable and to reenable:

I bet you never thought you would have to go through all this when you paid all that money for a high-end car.

dutchie01 · January 29, 2018

before the keyless entry became common on most cars thieves would enter your house in the middle of the night and steal the keys then drive off. Or Carjackings for top end cars in upmarket area's. did happen. Some scumbags nowadays dont steal the entire car but strip it empty. Thieves will be thieves.

I will likely be illegal but installing a flame thrower with remote control is very tempting indeed...

x_shaun · January 29, 2018

This happened to my brothers neighbours a couple weeks ago luckly his gs450 was at my house while having the wheels powedercoated. But his neighbours is300h and a range rover in there close where both left with the doors open and items left on the front lawn. They must of been disturbed but it makes you think twice about your pride and joy.😞

Kaffeh · February 1, 2018

This happend to a guy in Sweden who had a new BMW 520D some months ago, they had the keys near the car which was parked on the driveway.

Thiefs stole the signal, joy rode the car. Then dumped it in a river near the house at like 2am. Police came knocking on the door at 3am asking if anyone was still in it.

Insurance company denied claims, saying it was stolen with the keys (they read the cars computer). BMW have no intentions to help the guy out either, they're on the same trail as the insurance company. This will probably go to court later this year, poor guy.

Bluesman · February 1, 2018

10 hours ago, Kaffeh said:

This happend to a guy in Sweden who had a new BMW 520D some months ago, they had the keys near the car which was parked on the driveway.

Thiefs stole the signal, joy rode the car. Then dumped it in a river near the house at like 2am. Police came knocking on the door at 3am asking if anyone was still in it.

Insurance company denied claims, saying it was stolen with the keys (they read the cars computer). BMW have no intentions to help the guy out either, they're on the same trail as the insurance company. This will probably go to court later this year, poor guy.

It's an absolute disgrace and it's about time something was done to these companies that peddle all this useless and sometimes dangerous kit.

ganzoom · February 1, 2018

27 minutes ago, Bluesman said:

It's an absolute disgrace and it's about time something was done to these companies that peddle all this useless and sometimes dangerous kit.

Keyless entry isn't dangerous or useless, I wouldn't buy a car without it these days, having to press a button to open the car is just too much effort . But the potential for relay attacks has been know since at least 2010, infact a group in Swizz publish pretty good write up on how to carry out the attacks in a scientific paper!!

Virtually every single passive keyless entry system is prone to this attack, it doesn't matter what RF tech you use its vulnerable. The only way to stop this attack is to build in some kind of timing switch that can detect changes in time frame down to the millisecond, but as far as I know no car on the market today has a keyless entry system that uses a timer code as part of the verification process.

bluenose1940 · February 1, 2018

I was discussing this with a friend of mine the other day and he reckons it couldn't happen to his Volvo. He says that the other day he started his car up and then went indoors whilst the car was warming up. When he was ready to go he got into his car and before he was on the road the engine stopped. He couldn't understand why and the he realised that he had left the key in the house. It didn't cross my mind at the time but I'm almost certain that when I am in his car, there is a key in the ignition. I must check this the next time that he picks me up.

Anyone have any knowledge of the Volvo system?

Kaffeh · February 1, 2018

3 hours ago, bluenose1940 said:

I was discussing this with a friend of mine the other day and he reckons it couldn't happen to his Volvo. He says that the other day he started his car up and then went indoors whilst the car was warming up. When he was ready to go he got into his car and before he was on the road the engine stopped. He couldn't understand why and the he realised that he had left the key in the house. It didn't cross my mind at the time but I'm almost certain that when I am in his car, there is a key in the ignition. I must check this the next time that he picks me up.

Anyone have any knowledge of the Volvo system?

As a Swede, and from Göteborg: No, you don't have to put the key in. You can have it in your pocket and still start the car/drive it.

bluenose1940 · February 2, 2018

10 hours ago, Kaffeh said:

As a Swede, and from Göteborg: No, you don't have to put the key in. You can have it in your pocket and still start the car/drive it.

That's very interesting. In that case, does anyone know what technology Volvo use that stops the car after a short distance if the key is not in the car? As far as I know with my Lexus, you could drive the car until it either stalled or ran out of petrol, by which time you could be many miles away.

I will ask my friend to demonstrate for me the next time we use his car.

Texas · February 2, 2018

On 29 January 2018 at 11:35 AM, route66 said:

Here is the excerpt from the manual on how to disable the keyfob broadcasting it's signal. I have broadcasting disabled on my spare key to help preserve the battery, but it can of course be used on the main key as well - easy to disable and to reenable:

I have just tried this feature using the fob for my 2007 IS and alas it does not seem to work! I was more interested in the Battery saving feature than than the theft problem to be honest! I guess it was a feature added to the gen 3 IS or can anyone tell be different?

paul m.

ISJason · February 5, 2018

I always put on my old crook lock on the steering wheel to act as a visual deterrent.. hopefully the thief will move on.

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Thackeray · February 6, 2018

On 01/02/2018 at 6:41 PM, bluenose1940 said:

I was discussing this with a friend of mine the other day and he reckons it couldn't happen to his Volvo. He says that the other day he started his car up and then went indoors whilst the car was warming up. When he was ready to go he got into his car and before he was on the road the engine stopped. He couldn't understand why and the he realised that he had left the key in the house.

Does anyone know what the IS300h does in this situation? You start the car. Then you get out and leave the key in the house. You get back in the car, where the engine is presumably still runnning, or at least the "ready" light on. You try to drive off. What happens?

Does it let you shift into Drive?

If you can, does the engine stop after a short distance, when it's out of range of the key?

If no-one knows, I'll have to try it out some time.

NemesisUK · February 6, 2018

It'll keep driving normally until you switch off, then obviously it won't restart.

February 6, 2018

51 minutes ago, Thackeray said:

If you can, does the engine stop after a short distance, when it's out of range of the key?

It just flashes key not detected and I think it will only run in normal mode.

Otherwise you would just come to a stop if your key ran out of Battery mid-journey.

I keep a spare Battery in my glove box (just in case).

paulrnx · February 13, 2018

I've got into the habit of disabling the keyfob transmitting signal when I lock the car outside the house at night. It's a habit now and no problem. Certainly less hassle than putting the keys into a pouch/tin/cage/etc when I get into the house. When I get back in in the morning I just have to unlock the doors from the keyfob and then the comfort access works ok all day until I turn the keyfob off again at night.

ISJason · February 17, 2018

I've got into the habit of disabling the keyfob transmitting signal when I lock the car outside the house at night. It's a habit now and no problem. Certainly less hassle than putting the keys into a pouch/tin/cage/etc when I get into the house. When I get back in in the morning I just have to unlock the doors from the keyfob and then the comfort access works ok all day until I turn the keyfob off again at night.

Seems like a good idea, as long as you can remember to cancel it out when you go to the car.. I didn’t realise it was so easy to stop it transmitting.. I’ll still use my crook lock as well.

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