Car stolen and recovered

Relay attacks on the rise – what to do, who to call

What to do in case of a relay attack occurrence that ultimately results in having the car stolen and subsequently recovered. Well, that was the question that our customer had when its own Mercedes Benz E-Class had been stolen. Fortunately, the vehicle was recovered. The keyless car thefts are on the rise in the UK. Because of it, the security of the keyless cars needs to be boosted to always be one step ahead of the criminals. Whether 5th, 8th or 10th place, depending on who’s statistic one may read, the unfortunate news is that Mercedes Benz C Class made the top ten list. A top ten list of most desired vehicles to be stolen in the UK.

According to an article from www.confused.com, here is a list with top 10 cars that are prone to be stolen as of 2019:

• Range Rover Sport
• BMW X5
• Mercedes-Benz C-Class
• Range Rover Vogue
• Land Rover Discovery
• BMW X6
• Range Rover Evoque
• BMW 3 Series
• Range Rover Autobiography
• Mercedes-Benz E-Class

Can I avoid a relay attack?

The internet is filled with all kinds of information in regards to how to protect the keyless fob. While some may prove to be right, most may not. Regardless, whether a relay attack occurs or not, making the vehicle undrivable is what may save the day. This can be attained by having an immobiliser system installed. We will talk about how the immobiliser works later in this article. This may be vital since not every car owner will their car recovered after being stolen.

How do I stop my keyless car going theft?

One way would be signal blocking which, if done correctly and persistently, will prevent a relay attack. One way to achieve this is by having the key stored in a keyless protector pouch or also known as a Faraday pouch. Of course, due diligence is required. Not all keyless protector pouches found over the internet are blocking the signal. But, further steps should be taken to decrease the chances of theft of keyless cars. These steps would be:

• Remove all the valuables from sight and consider having a steering wheel lock installed. While it may not be 100% secure but it will serve as a deterrent for wannabe thieves. They do not want to spend more time than they have to, trying to steal a vehicle. Also, consider keeping the car tidy. Avoid making the most common mistakes that other car owners make and that is leaving phones, briefcases, handbags or anything else that would potentially reveal a full name, address or any other personal information. That could put one’s safety at risk. It can also possibly put one’s identity at risk of theft as well. 

  

   

• As we said earlier, one of the ways to improve the vehicle’s security is to have an extra immobiliser installed as Ghost II immobiliser. Even if a thief manages to successfully steal the signal from the keyless fob in order to start the vehicle, the vehicle at this point is undrivable. That means the car would not start unless the pin code is entered prior to starting the car. This pin code is made up of a combination of buttons that are pressed in a particular sequence. These buttons can be located on the dashboard or the driver side door, and the sequence is impossible to be guessed.

Keyless car stolen then recovered, what to do next?

Not many car owners are as lucky as our customer to have the vehicle recovered, but some do. When the car is recovered the first thing to do is to restore the security of the keyless car against theft. At Car Keys Solutions, we suggest that in the scenario where the vehicle is recovered, the following steps should be taken when calling an auto locksmith company:

• Whether you have one keyless fob or two or whatever the number is, all keyless fobs need to be erased from the vehicle’s memory and reprogram to the car immobiliser only the car keys that are in your possession.
• Have the car door lock and boot lock re-coded whenever possible. When re-coding is not an option, have the locks replaced. Having the locks re-coded or replaced will prevent any future unauthorised access to the vehicle by someone that has your emergency key blade or the ignition key.
• If there is an unfortunate event where keyless fobs are stolen, then additional steps are required beyond the above steps. Those would be, cutting new car key and program the new keyless fob.

Should you ever be in the position of not knowing how to restore the security of your recovered Mercedes Benz E – Class, call Car Keys Solutions, an auto locksmith company, based in London on 0203 393 5669 or 0203 627 1771. We always have the answer. You can also come to our shop in East Finchley – Car Keys Solutions, 142-144 East End Road, London, N2 0RZ.

You may also be interested in reading about our other services.

• Ghost 2 Immobiliser. The immobiliser system may be the ultimate security feature that could be added to the vehicle’s security. Being that in order to start the car, it requires a pin code to be entered which is made up of a series of buttons to be pressed in a certain sequence, making the vehicle undrivable. This is true whether any keyless fob or any other type of keys are present or not. About how to add and improve the security of the vehicle, you can watch a video here.
• Van security and safety. Tradespeople in the UK pay tens of thousands of pounds every year to replace the stolen tools. Interested in increasing van security? You can watch a video here, or you can read our blog article about how one of our customers was saved by the added security locks. You can read more here
• Vehicle tracking. Having a tracker device installed may prove to be instrumental in the vehicle recovery, should that be the case. While there are several types of car trackers, we have explained each one of them in our blog article. You can read more here.
• Common fault fixing. You may also be interested in learning more about common faults such as steering column lock, that Mercedes Benz E-Class models 2008-2013 has. You can read more on our blog article here or you can also watch the video about how we fix the Mercedes Benz C – Class and E – Class steering column lock here.
• Spare car key.
• Car key replacement.