CANBUS injector Theft RX450h

[Jaysee]

Hi all

I had the dubious pleasure of having my 2020 RX450h stolen last week from the front of my house, I was at first stumped as to how the thieves managed as I had my keys and they were well out of range of a key cloning device. I phoned the Police and within minutes they were at my house and also another unit was on the tail of my Lexus as it was trying to get away from them. To my surprise the chase was aborted because they went up a one way road leading to a motorway roundabout against the flow of traffic, public safety being the reason. I got my car back the following day and although driveable the passenger skirt and wheel arch liner were well out of place, I thought it was a collision of some sort, but could not find any impact damage. Upon further investigation on YouTube I came across how they had managed to bypass any security the Lexus had by connecting to the vehicle "canbus" behind the passenger headlight unit. I was even more surprised as to how common this method is used and how many Toyota/Lexus models have this same vulnerability (no wonder my insurance is exorbitant).

Great! Not only do now have a car that is a car thieves dream, I have one that need the front skirt and wheel arch protector fitting correctly and a passenger headlight that does not work at all. I have sent a message to my Lexus dealership wanting to know what they are prepared to do about this situation, the car is currently booked in for repairs on the 4th December (that will be an interesting conversation) hopefully to be sorted out and become usable again.

As a help to the Police I downloaded the dashcam footage (front and rear) from the car, I viewed it before I handed it over, it was scary to say the least, the thief ran every red light he went through, drove at speeds of up to 130 mph, drove on the wrong side of the road at junctions to bypass traffic and then dumped the car 15 minutes after stealing it, I assume that was because the Police were at one point on his tail, otherwise it would now be in a container destined for eastern Europe.

I've posted this as a heads up to those that are not already familiar with this method of theft, although, I am pretty sure a lot of you are aware and have fitted immobilisers etc, which I will have done to my car as soon as it is roadworthy again.

One question pertaining to my non functional Passenger headlight, will it need re-coding to the vehicle as I cannot currently see where it has been disconnected.

Many thanks all

John Cunliffe 

 

[Toyota Owner]

2 hours ago, Jaysee said:

I am pretty sure a lot of you are aware and have fitted immobilisers etc, which I will have done to my car as soon as it is roadworthy again.

An alarm / immobiliser is a better investment option as the alarm warn away / full alarm sounding as they attempt to access the vehicle to carry out the theft method should persuade the thieves to go away.

 

While a correctly fitted immobiliser will stop the vehicle being driven away, it doesn't make the thieves aware its fitted until they have already caused damage to the vehicle & got inside wondering why it wont start. 

 

Your Lexus dealer should be able to fit free of charge the vehicle protection plates & a S7 Tracker Retrieve with 3 years free of charge subscription.