Poor security on keyless entry - Please be careful!

[flowrider]

Our insurance company has informed me that they won't insure us on a high value car again unless we have a Cat 5 tracker installed now...

You can see their point. All keyless vehicles will have to have trackers one day unless the security issues are sorted out. Having said that I don't think I would want a car back that someone had stolen from me so a tracker would be useless to me.

 

[Plasmadaddy]

I'm thinking of getting this fitted with the immobiliser option:

https://www.autodefence.co.uk/meta-trak-vts.html

Would that actually work?

I didn't bother going for tracking. As I understand it they're easily disabled these days.

I just figure it's simpler for the car to just not be driveable in the first place!
The Ghost is wired into the existing loom somewhere in the engine bay. They don't show you where it's wired in (I gather it can be in many different places)
They showed me the device itself which is smaller than my little finger and it's wired in and covered in the same Mercedes tape that the factory uses so nobody other than the installer would be able to locate it.

Only way they're getting the car would be by picking it up and loading it onto a transporter!!

 

[star]

Just wait, the insurance co's will start to load premiums for cars with keyless and anyone can go systems.

 

[LostKiwi]

They've already refused to cover some cars with keyless go - most notably Range Rovers.

 

[John Laidlaw]

Really? Didn't know that! I know a colleague here with a Range Rover Sport had to have a tracker fitted otherwise none of the insurers would touch it

 

[umblecumbuz]

As I've mentioned I have the Autowatch Ghost fitted and I've tested it also and it absolutely works. Even with the actual key on your person or inside the car, unless you press your preset dash/steering wheel sequence you cannot drive the car. It will start up, but as soon as you select a gear it stalls and will not restart until you have the correct sequence.

... and I thought the keyless go idea was to avoid pressing buttons!

One step forward, and ...!

(Wonder if Mercedes secretly market the Autowatch Ghost).

Umble

 

[John Laidlaw]

^ nah, more to avoid shoving keys in things, you still have to press a button to stop and start!

 

[LostKiwi]

Really? Didn't know that! I know a colleague here with a Range Rover Sport had to have a tracker fitted otherwise none of the insurers would touch it

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/lond...n-unless-you-have-secure-parking-9820186.html

That article was written 3 years ago but I don't think much has changed.

 

[Plasmadaddy]

... and I thought the keyless go idea was to avoid pressing buttons!

One step forward, and ...!

(Wonder if Mercedes secretly market the Autowatch Ghost).

Umble

Use it with the phone app and still no buttons to press!

 

[JBell]

you still have to press a button to stop and start!

Well that is just ridiculous!!!!!!

 

[John Laidlaw]

Use it with the phone app and still no buttons to press!

Yip, I do that too, it's individually encrypted

 

[Wolverine]

Doesn't it just cheer you up how you get punished due to inadequate security on a car you bought in good faith!!!

Haha that made me laugh! 3 years of raised premiums too for making a claim. Last time I made a claim on insurance was 2002...

 

[Wolverine]

Has anyone used the Magna Volt system? Really looks like something I could be into...

 

[turbopete]

Yip, I do that too, it's individually encrypted

and great till your phone etc gets hacked.

why do we need internet in cars? if kids want films etc in the car, download to a memory stick and use in a tablet or buy a dvd player! im sorry but if you cant last a few hours without an internet connection, something is seriously wrong with your life.

these connections are wireless. yes its convenient BUT they can be intercepted/manipulated increasingly easily. and with 'driverless' cars coming, i think its only going to get worse. as for the ghost thing, yes it may bring peace of mind but when the cars are as expensive as they are, id expect one supplied and fitted FREE, ESPECIALLY after the OPs experience, and i think that MB should at least fit that and the appropriate tracker as compensation for the loss of the OPs vehicle (loss of use etc as a minimum) and the associated inconvenience caused. that or vote with your feet and buy another brand. IMO if the manufacturers cant produce something better than an aftermarket system and are not willing to supply/fit it as necessary, then they are not worth giving custom to. sorry, but thats what i would be doing. loss of vehicle and possessions, baby due/just been born, insurance issues with replacement of the same model of car, id be putting some serious pressure onto the manufacturer and, failing that, trading standards or WHICH (or similar) as the security clearly isnt up to spec and therefore the car isnt as you were led to believe it was (and still are led to believe it is ie as secure as is reasonably possible)

 

[John Laidlaw]

Yip, didn't mention anything about internet in cars though!
I agree, don't need any of that junk really
It seems that the public wants all that stuff though or alternatively being sold to them to ensure obsolescence of the current model, you decide which !

 

[Craiglxviii]

Customer clinics have been asking for better & better internet connection in cars since at least 2013...

 

[Yugguy]

Does the public really want it or is it told it does?

 

[Craiglxviii]

Does the public really want it or is it told it does?

The public ask for it. Like I said in my previous post, customer clinics (where customers are invited for a day's jolly at the technical design centre) have been quite insistent for years on it.

 

[John Laidlaw]

The public ask for it. Like I said in my previous post, customer clinics (where customers are invited for a day's jolly at the technical design centre) have been quite insistent for years on it.

How and where do these customer clinics take place Craig..?

 

[television]

What is spoiled , a only the way they do manage. We would a very good some years back.