BMW key

[Jon D]

I was recently speaking with a BMW salesman and I raised the issue of keys being cloned by a signal reader from outside the house - so called 'relay theft'.
He told me that, provided that your key is lying flat on a horizontal surface, it does not emit a signal and is therefore undetectable.
I suspect that this is yet another example of BMW sales guff but I'd be interested to know if anyone's heard anything similar...

[Flying Ace]

haha, I'm sure there's some type of science to it, but that it's been distorted and misconstrued by people who don't understand it.

Ultimately, it's a security flaw in BMW's coding. BMW needs to do something about it.

[wolverine566]

I spoke to BMW technical head office recently about this exact same issue, they advised to get a steering wheel lock!

Never mentioned anything about laying key flat........ I suspect this is BS.

From research, the only way to prevent is to build a Farraday Cage and put your keys inside that. You can do it with a cookies tin and an anti-static bag.

The other option is to leave your keys in the microwave - however I do not recommend that unless you fancy melted plastic for dinner..........

[Mark333032]

This is about the Comfort Access feature. The one that unlocks the driver's door as you approach the car. Cool but pointless. After hearing about thefts of this nature, I had comfort access disabled by a local coder for £40. It's not as straightforward as it should be. I can cope with the extra strain of pressing the unlock button on my key as I approach the car knowing the car is now much more secure and it's far less bother than sliding the key in and out of those shield pouches

[Havy]

If you use those shield pouches you can also press the unlock bottom as Mark said. Otherwise it is pointless to have the keyless go.

[NINJA59]

For cars built from March 2018 the keys now feature a motion sensor.

After 5 minutes of inactivity they switch off.

Faraday bag or tin foil will block the signal against relay attack.

You really need to layer home and car security as most of them will break eurolocks etc. And toughened glass these days so replace that with laminate.

[NINJA59]

Originally Posted by Mark333032

This is about the Comfort Access feature. The one that unlocks the driver's door as you approach the car. Cool but pointless. After hearing about thefts of this nature, I had comfort access disabled by a local coder for £40. It's not as straightforward as it should be. I can cope with the extra strain of pressing the unlock button on my key as I approach the car knowing the car is now much more secure and it's far less bother than sliding the key in and out of those shield pouches

Technically speaking even those without CA are at risk as they only need to make entry to utilise the relay attack to start the car

[Qsilver7]

If I'm understanding this correctly...it requires two people....one standing near the vehicle...while the other has to zero in on where the remote key is located inside the building, right?

This makes me think that it really depends on multiple scenarios for this to be an issue. If your car is parked inside a garage or another secure building...then there isn't a problem.

If the car is parked on the street or outside in a drive, then the other person needs to find the location of the key that is not protected by "tin foil" or a faraday box/bag. What is the distance that their equipment has to retrieve the signal from the remote key...20ft, 40ft, 60ft?

If you are out in public (restaurant, work, mall, movie, etc)...is this really an issue? I ask because although they may see your vehicle...unless they are following you...how will they know where your remote will be located when your inside the building and they can't see you or your location? Plus how deep are you within the structure...which goes back to the previous question as to the range of the equipment to retrieve the data from the remote.

I'm not sure if disabling CA is the easier way to go about this vs placing your remote in a faraday box/bag/etc for those times that you're parked on the street and the remote is inside a building that could easily be probed an the key fob info stolen. It really depends on where you live...like in a densely populated area where there's only street parking and your remote key is stored near an exterior wall in your living/working quarters.

Or am I missing something.

[FBMWWINS]

I got myself a shield pouch . Since at night cars sleep in a garage and can neither be seen nor accessed - unless the garage is broken into I limit the use of such pouches to long trips when I park the car on busy highway recreational areas (e.g. in summer) during fuel and food/drink stops. Especially in Italy this is an issue as there are organized groups spying on people and accomplices working their way through. At least with these pouches one feels somewhat more "secure" when the car is left unattended for a longer period of time - as this when one is more likely to get targeted.