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A surprisingly simple way to foil car thieves

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Re: A surprisingly simple way to foil car thieves

#511

Post by rmbyrro »

mikestew wrote: post #304
pavel_lishin wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My car in high school had a similar system. The radiator fan didn't turn on automatically, so my dad wired it directly into the AC controller. (The AC also did not work. It was not a great car.) If you got in the car, and did not specifically turn the AC to the correct setting, the car would overheat about a mile down the road. Luckily for me, I never had a chance to put this into practice, because nobody stole my ca…

The radiator fan didn't turn on automatically, so my dad wired it directly into the AC controller. All that trouble, rather than run to NAPA to spend $12 on the thermo-switch that would be easier to install than hacking into the A/C controller. Yeah, I've known some dads like that.

But then you have no story to tell! What a boring thermo sensor lol

Re: A surprisingly simple way to foil car thieves

#512

Post by theonething »

unsupp0rted wrote: post #56

Couldn't they just make the car blare non-stop alternating sirens for 10 minutes at a time, 4 times an hour for 12 hours, loud enough to get through drywall and double-paned windows, at the slightest perturbation? Although I don't own a car, I'm happy when I hear throughout the day and night that my neighbor's cars are well protected.

It also conveniently doubles as a fireworks detector!

Re: A surprisingly simple way to foil car thieves

#513

Post by gorkish »

the__alchemist wrote: post #138
gorkish wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our local police department had a guy get his squad car stolen TWICE during traffic stops, and they installed an ignition interlock switch on their entire flee to prevent it happening again. Also they relegated the guy to motorcycle duty after that. Another story is once my friend called me for help because his car would't start. I looked it over; tested his battery etc, but it wouldn't turn over. I asked him if he h…

Wow! Who steals a police car, and with the cop nearby? Would love to hear more.

It's not as exciting as you might expect-- group of meth heads on the street he was attending to, and one insane lady just hopped in and drove off.

Re: A surprisingly simple way to foil car thieves

#514

Post by callalex »

EGreg wrote: post #403
seabird wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if you put the locks on, they would never be used. If you need it you need it right now, and it's usually life or death. If somebody is trying to steal it, you shoot them. The last thing you want to be doing in a gunfight is fucking with a lock.

This is a strawman All you have to do is have every soldier who is authorized to use your equipment unlock the vehicle through an affirmative phrase — and the vehicle can check their voice for instance, or other biometrics like their fingerprint. Or each of them can wear a beacon or smartphone which does that. Cars today open with you just getting into the car. This is easy stuff man

“This is easy stuff man”

Let’s assume for the sake of argument that electronics are perfect, and never fail for any reason (including but not limited to battery drain, battery overcharging, battery age, heat, cold, sudden change between heat and cold, vibration, shock, moisture, dryness, flooding, corrosion, UV degradation, rodent infiltration, wind, wind containing abrasives such as sand and dirt, chemical exposure, fire smoke exposure, fire heat exposure, sabotage due to local exploits, sabotage due to remote exploits, etc.).

Ignoring all those possibilities, you are only left with the problem of key management. You can find an overview of those challenges at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_management

Managing secrets at a scale beyond people you know personally is extremely difficult to do correctly.

Re: A surprisingly simple way to foil car thieves

#516

Post by callalex »

phendrenad2 wrote: post #492

I'm surprised no one has resorted to chemical warfare. Add a can of skunk spray under the driver's seat, wired up with a motor to spray it if someone else tries to drive off in your car. Have an audible beep a few times before it goes off, to remind YOU to hit the secret switch to disable it. Car thieves will continue on their merry way, wondering what that beeping is. Of course, you'd probably be sued by the car thi…

Even if the thief abandoned my car after that, I still lose pretty badly in your described scenario.

Re: A surprisingly simple way to foil car thieves

#519

Post by MostlyStable »

mdorazio wrote: post #400
oxfordmale wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Picking a laser cut key isn't trivial. Even picking a standard house lock isn't trivial, especially not in the dark. They don't clone the key, they use an antenna to amplify the signal from your key fob and then drive off. In principle you can do this by following someone, but much safer to do this at 2am at night. Similar to a one time password, the signal is only valid for a short period of time.

Bypassing the door locks is not as difficult as you think with the proper tools. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLy65ASXuEQ Standard house locks don't require picking at all - you can bump them in a few seconds in any light conditions.

The fact that the LPL does it, with or without a special tool, doesn't really say much about how easy it is. He is an _extremely_ skilled lockpicker, and the vast majority of thieves, even those with some lockpicking skills/experience, are not going to be able to do what he does, as fast as he does it.

I have no idea how hard it is to do with that tool. I myself have as close to zero lockpicking skills as it's possible to have while still having picked a lock (I messed with a friends clear practice lock one time). But just seeing the LPL do it gives almost no indication of how hard it is to replicate what he is doing.

Re: A surprisingly simple way to foil car thieves

#520

Post by StillBored »

rkagerer wrote: post #209
postmortembees wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Raking house locks is a) not difficult and b) not expensive. You don't need to be a professional to do that. But also, bricks through windows are equally not difficult and not expensive, though they do leave a bit more evidence. When my neighbors have been burgled, this is the preferred method of entry I've seen.

It's funny, I have the opposite problem. I have a particular door lock for which three different locksmiths have all failed to cut usable keys. The originals work fine, but the copies don't. The last set barely works, if you wiggle it around a lot and ram to get it in, but then it gets stuck in there and is nearly impossible to remove. They've tried various blanks, and I've never gotten a satisfactory explanation fro…

Its just a schlage or kwickset?

The pins in new locks have pretty tight tolerances for the first couple years until they wear a bit. Its likely they are just using older equipment which isn't sufficiently precise to cut them. Get a key that is exactly right, and works with a bit of wiggling, use it as your primary key for a couple months and it will work just as well as the originals. The slight variations in the key ways/etc will knock the edges off the pins with enough use. Assuming the key is cut correctly from the right blank, you might just need a bit of lube/oil on the key. If you can see variations by eye in the ramps/etc its likely the key is just wrong.

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