Keyless stuff

[Sarah Johnson]

Hi, I'm taking delivery of my new Touring Sports next week and I'm starting to get really anxious about security with the keyless doodah. How can I stop it from getting nicked? What do other owners do?

Thanks

 

Sarah J. 

[Mike J.]

I think it only occurs with cars that unlock automatically as you approach …..

 

…. but what happens if they break into a 'normal' keyless car (with a start button) and use the same key signal boosting system - will our cars start even though the doors have been 'breeched' - windows broken for example?

[Heidfirst]

38 minutes ago, Sarah Johnson said:

Hi, I'm taking delivery of my new Touring Sports next week and I'm starting to get really anxious about security with the keyless doodah. How can I stop it from getting nicked? What do other owners do?

as far as I know current Toyota Smartfobs can disable their transmissions via button presses so that you can have it sitting in the house & there is no signal for thieves to boost. Or you could get a Faraday bag and/or a good old-fashioned steering wheel disklock.

or indeed if you so wished you can switch off the smart system via the menu system on the infotainment head unit.

[PeteB]

There's been a lot of chatter about this on the Prius group here (and another on Yahoo Chat), and a number of owners (including me) have bought one of these "Faraday cage" pouches that are claimed to block the signals from a key stored inside.

Some say their car won't unlock with the pouch/key held next to the car (although mine still does) so without a thief proving they don't work (if they do work you're unlikely to know if a thief has tried to access your car and failed) there's no obvious way of testing it.

Switching the keyless option off via the Infotainment screen will stop the doors working (you'd have to press the buttons on the key instead - or use the emergency key) and you'd actually have to hold the key next to the start button instead of just having it somewhere in the front of the car.  If someone has got inside the car (a faff if you've deadlocked, and even harder on the Gen 4 Prius which has laminated front side windows) and holds their relay equipment right up against the button I'm not sure if that would still work.

[Jonmartin]

I bought a Faraday pouch, which worked for a while, then stopped and all I’ve read about them, this is normal. One guaranteed method is to wrap your key in ali foil, it works, but this is daft. So I lined an old biscuit tin with ali foil and it works. No idea how to disable the key fob with button presses. 

[furtula]

You have to be really close to the car for it to unlock, you can easily test this at night, because the car inside is light up when it senses the key, around 1-1.5m from the front door.

If you are worried about someone stealing  it, get a small Faraday cage, and just drop keys inside when you are at home.

 

To disable the keyfob, check the owners manual, it's explain in there.

[Graham47]

I recently bought this ...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07BMBN65X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

which I’ve tested as regards “smart start” and verified it works (my icon tech has ‘normal’ remote locking.

Another product I bought (Auto Express “best buy”) didn’t, as I found out when on a w/end away, with spare fob in overnight bag, I got a warning when I tried to lock the car with bag still in boot.  “Key still in car”....

[eygo]

a Faraday bag is the way to go we use then with both of our cars

i tested the bags by going up to the car and as said before the car

interior lights dont come on, with regards to the pouch not working

there is a thin lining at the back of the pouch and you need to put the

keys behind this lining and then close the top over, without the top

closed the signals can still get out.

[olddriver]

Some people keep their keys in the micrwave, but that sounds a bit dodgy to me in case it gets turned on.

[furtula]

I wonder what is the possibility to reprogram the car not to drive if the key is not in the car. Currently you can drive it fine until it's shut off, if this can be changed to let's say 100m, then you might not need the the fancy boxes.

 

[alan333]

58 minutes ago, furtula said:

I wonder what is the possibility to reprogram the car not to drive if the key is not in the car. Currently you can drive it fine until it's shut off, if this can be changed to let's say 100m, then you might not need the the fancy boxes.

 

I'm pretty sure that could be easily classed as dangerous.  Consider starting the car with the key in your jacket pocket, then giving the jacket to your cold daughter on the driveway, then driving to the extrememly busy road end, hypothetically 99 yards from home, then pulling out into fast moving traffic just as the engine shuts down.

[furtula]

Even my 1st generation beeps pretty loudly inside and out when key is removed, and it also says on the dash there is no key. 

If one can modify the car not to drive more than 100m without the key, then for sure they can extend the beeping signals or similar, to make it more obvious if needed.

Add on top the max speed of let's say 20 mph, it can be a pretty safe option.

[PeteB]

I wouldn't be surprised if there was legislation that required it to work the way it does.  Every car I've driven, from various manufacturers, that have keyless entry and start have worked this way.  A 2003 3rd generation Micra that had this also had a habit of flashing the key not present warning periodically during a journey, which might have cause it to react if the car had been designed to shut/slow down under such conditions.

Personally, I'd rather have my car stolen than be faced with it shutting down or reducing performance just at the wrong time (but preferably neither!).

[Chriss27]

It’s in your car manual how to disable keyless fob, works on my Rav 4. Only thing is you need to disable it every time you lock the car as it reactivates once you unlock the car.