SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the but-they-still-steal-the-contents dept.
The NYT reports that in 1990, New York City had 147,000 reported auto thefts, one for every 50 residents but last year, there were just 7,400, or one per 1,100 for a 96 percent drop in the rate of car theft. There's been a big shift in the economics of auto theft: Stealing cars is harder than it used to be, less lucrative and more likely to land you in jail. As such, people have found other things to do. The most important factor is a technological advance: engine immobilizer systems, adopted by manufacturers in the late 1990s and early 2000s. These make it essentially impossible to start a car without the ignition key, which contains a microchip uniquely programmed by the dealer to match the car. "It's very difficult; not just your average perpetrator on the street is going to be able to steal those cars," says Capt. John Boller, who leads the New York Police Department's auto crime division. Instead, criminals have stuck to stealing older cars.
Now a startup in Chile is working on an unstealable bike by making a lock out of the frame. The only way to steal it is to break the lock, which implies breaking the bike. Or you could try painting your bicycle pink.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 13 2014, @02:25AM
It is pretty rare for a modern car to let you lock a fob inside the car. My 2008 infiniti won't let you lock the car with a fob if there is a fob in the car.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 13 2014, @02:39AM
Shouldn't the presence of a fob in the car allow you to unlock it by proximity?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 13 2014, @03:37AM
> Shouldn't the presence of a fob in the car allow you to unlock it by proximity?
It never lets you go to the point of unlocking since trying to lock with the fob on the inside makes it beep at you instead of locking. If you ignore the error beep and walk away then you've left the car unlocked.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday August 13 2014, @03:44AM
Yes it will. The system can be tricked.
http://www.myg37.com/forums/g37-coupe/215476-trunk-locked-with-keyfob-inside.html [myg37.com]
Most cars won't let you lock a fob in the trunk or inside unless it can "see" another one outside.
Lots of times my wife wants to lock her purse in the car when we go some place, and she can do this as long as I am standing close to the car with my fob in my pocket.
Check your manual. Most of these systems are sourced from only two or three companies and they tend to operate the same.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by sjames on Wednesday August 13 2014, @05:36AM
From reading the link, it sounds like an incredibly buggy implementation to the point where it might be better if it didn't even try (given that it has tricked at least 2 people into relying on it).
I wonder just how reliably the car can determine inside vs outside given that it's RF and a car isn't a Faraday cage.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday August 13 2014, @06:33AM
You can trick the system in my car into believing there is a fob inside the car when you try to lock the door with the door panel buttons, and then close it. If you put the fob in your shirt pocket, it will read it through the window glass stronger than via the outside antenna.
But its fail safe, in that it won't lock, it will beep, and your keys are safely in your pocket.
Other than that it has never failed in any way. Even if the battery in the fob fails, there is a backup key lock (and a physical key hidden in the fob), and a RFID chip built into the other end of the fob that the start button can read. (Dodge/Chrysler models are all basically similar).
Locking the fob in the trunk was an Infinity problem. Since corrected in later model years.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.