[stevemdaw]

My 2014 X3 was broken into yesterday morning. It appears that the culprit was able to open the doors using some sort of wireless device.

I got in my car to go to work yesterday morning, and noticed that a drinks can that my son had left in the passenger door storage compartment was on my passenger seat. I thought it a bit strange, but didn't think too much of it. Whilst pulling off the drive, I noticed that the dashboard was telling me that the passenger side door wasn't closed properly. I assumed that either my wife or the kids had been into the car for some reason before I got in, and didn't think anything more of it.

anyway last night on Facebook, there was a posting in the local area group I'm a member of. The posting was of a CCTV camera, and it showed an individual breaking into an Audi A6 on the same night, 2 streets away. This individual walked up to the car door at 3am, and put his hand in his jacket pocket, as he did this the interior lights on the car came on, and he was able to open the door. Responses to the post from other people told me that a number of cars had been broken into in the same manner. This made me ask my family if they had been into my car, and they hadn't and surely enough a search of my car revealed that I'd had a number of small value items stolen. Nothing major, a very old PSP that my son used to pass the time on journeys, and a book.

I rang the police, and they said they were aware of a number of incidents where individuals were using a wireless device to gain access. I spoke to my dealer this morning, and they told me that they hadn't heard of this before, and that a more normal method was to block the signal when you lock the car, so you think it's locked but the doors remain unlocked. This definitely had not happened to me as I make a habit of checking the door when I lock it.

I just wondered if anyone else had heard of this, there was no damage - so I suppose it's better than someone smashing a window to gain access, but still it's a worry. The dealer told me that if they got into the car, they wouldn't be able to start the engine without the key. I'm not sure if that's the case. From what I can tell from the facebook thread, the other car types that had been broken into were Audis and Mercedes', I did wonder if they maybe shared some circuitry components which made it easier to get into this type of car. anyway, I just wanted to share my experience and see if others had any similar.

[nyalpine90]

[Peter_R]

Thanks for sharing.

[Tjalle]

Transmitter or transponder i.e. "comfort opening"?

[gullyg]

There's a number of issues with wireless keys - VAG sued researchers to keep remote key vulnerabilities secret for years. E.g. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...orts-cars.html
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.tel...rough-the/amp/

There's also apparently a trick of having emitters to jam your key when you go to lock it so it looks like it's locked and it's not. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.man...?client=safari

It's also quite possible for cars to be stolen by attacking through the odb2 port. E.g. https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/...w-in-3-minutes

Wireless connected cars such as BMW, tesla etc are also at risk of remote hack attacks as well. https://www.scmagazineuk.com/bmw-con...rticle/537581/

Until the car manufacturers get their act together and stop legally attacking researchers and actually work with them this sort of thing is going to become more and more common.

I have cctv covering my car at home but it still wouldn't surprise me if it was broken in to and or nicked. The best I can hope for is the insurance pays out if I can provide evidence of the theft.

[Peter_R]

Originally Posted by gullyg

h
I have cctv covering my car at home but it still wouldn't surprise me if it was broken in to and or nicked. The best I can hope for is the insurance pays out if I can provide evidence of the theft.

I am the same. In fact I am on vocation for 2 months in the Dominican Republic and check it every day whilst browsing. Not much I can do if it disappears. Get neighbors to talk with Police.

[CalCarNut]

An Audi A5 in my area was taken recently...without a key. A member on the F3x page here also had his car taken in Orange County,CA without a key. Seems like it's on the rise.....

Time for steering wheel locks again?

[Smithy2014]

Would comfort access be more secure than using the fob to lock the car? I can imagine using the fob some distance away could mean that someone could block or even clone the signal so you think its locked when its not but with the comfort access you are right by the car and can physically see it lock.

[MichiganMike]

Originally Posted by Smithy2014

Would comfort access be more secure than using the fob to lock the car? I can imagine using the fob some distance away could mean that someone could block or even clone the signal so you think its locked when its not but with the comfort access you are right by the car and can physically see it lock.

A thread in another forum made a similar point.

http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1051738

"Surely the irony here is actually those with comfort access are safer as I never use the remote to lock the car so couldn't be jammed/signal read - I only ever press the top of the handle to lock and back of handle to open. The range of the key signal responding to signal from car to ensure I've got key in my pocket is a matter of about a foot so someone would have to be right next to me."

[gullyg]

I don't see why a signal for comfort unlock couldn't be blocked / read with a sufficiently powerful or sensitive radio.

But I think you'd be a lot more likely to notice.

[MichiganMike]

Originally Posted by gullyg

I don't see why a signal for comfort unlock couldn't be blocked / read with a sufficiently powerful or sensitive radio.

But I think you'd be a lot more likely to notice.

I always watch that the lock has closed and often try the handle after locking my X3 out of habit. I agree it is much more likely you will notice if the vehicle does not lock using comfort access.

Also consider that signal strength generally drops with the square of the distance. If my comfort access key is 1 foot away, a jamming transmitter 100 feet away may need a signal 10,000 times as powerful to match the signal strength. It may be technically feasible, but not very likely.

The comfort access signal is difficult to receive clearly at a distance, because of the relatively low signal strength. In the typical parking lot there may be multiple keys complicating reception of any single signal. Finally, even if one can unlock the car by mimicking the comfort access signal, I understand the proximity of the key required to start the engine has additional safeguards in modern BMWs.

[hoho_leung]

It would be great if we can disable comfort access so that we can park the car in an unsecured neighborhood or during vacation time.

[MichiganMike]

Originally Posted by hoho_leung

It would be great if we can disable comfort access so that we can park the car in an unsecured neighborhood or during vacation time.

The owner may be able to pull the fuse for the comfort access system to disable it. A BMW service technician may be able to help identify the correct fuse on the X3.

https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...-location.html

[plymjack]

Originally Posted by gullyg

There's a number of issues with wireless keys - VAG sued researchers to keep remote key vulnerabilities secret for years. E.g. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...orts-cars.html
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.tel...rough-the/amp/

There's also apparently a trick of having emitters to jam your key when you go to lock it so it looks like it's locked and it's not. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.man...?client=safari

It's also quite possible for cars to be stolen by attacking through the odb2 port. E.g. https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/...w-in-3-minutes

Wireless connected cars such as BMW, tesla etc are also at risk of remote hack attacks as well. https://www.scmagazineuk.com/bmw-con...rticle/537581/

Until the car manufacturers get their act together and stop legally attacking researchers and actually work with them this sort of thing is going to become more and more common.

I have cctv covering my car at home but it still wouldn't surprise me if it was broken in to and or nicked. The best I can hope for is the insurance pays out if I can provide evidence of the theft.

A good summary of the faults and possible failures of remote keys - and early versions were also able to be cloned but AFAIK you would need to be in close proximity to the key to "clone" present models.

To be honest the 2 times we have been broken into the first they smashed the side window (subtle) and the second we are sure was user error (thinking the doors are locked!) - on that occasion they only to a USB battery and parking money!

[kev19eg57]

[buggyboy]

Is this still a thing in 2021? Shall we disable comfort access (if possible)?