Theft risk?

[kleake]

How hard are these newer superdutys to steal? I've heard of 2 of them nearby stolen within the last week. I thought with the fob, and the newer tech on these things it would be harder to steal? One of these was caught on camera and it looked like they were in the truck about 30 seconds or so before it started and drove away. Is it really that easy?

 

[silent64]

357 soles that problem

 

[J98]

Dunno about actually stealing the whole truck, but their easy to break into.. With the keyhole on the ds handle, all they have to do is pull out the handle which exposes the lock cylinder. Bust off the lock cylinder with vise grips and your in.

Simplest fix is to install a passenger side handle.

 

[kleake]

These people left their doors unlocked. There has been a string of checking for unlocked doors in neighborhoods, if locked they move on, but 2 of these they got in, dug around inside the truck for a minute or so and then drove off with it. The owners 'say' they still have all of their fobs. It's been teenagers, or at least early 20's group of about 5 running around doing this. Basically they have been caught on several peoples security cameras, but nobody has identified them yet. Seeing the superduties drive off got me concerned about how easy these might be to steal. My 2008 I had added the Ford Gold alarm system which worked well on it, but I thought the factory setup on these would be reasonable. Maybe it isn't...

 

[Racer71]

Fob trucks and cars are easier to steal especially if you have a bit of time. Jim the doors get in with laptop and new fob, they’re not vin specific, takes 10 mins and away you go. Chrysler doesn’t even take that long, all you need is the PIN number and a decent scanner. Dealer will give you the PIN number if you call with vin and ask.

 

[kleake]

Fob trucks and cars are easier to steal especially if you have a bit of time. Jim the doors get in with laptop and new fob, they’re not vin specific, takes 10 mins and away you go. Chrysler doesn’t even take that long, all you need is the PIN number and a decent scanner. Dealer will give you the PIN number if you call with vin and ask.

But don't you have to power the truck on for the laptop to connect via OBD port? And you have to have the vin ahead of time to get the pin from the dealer? I would have thought the dealers would have to have proof of ownership before turning over the pin, or at least that is what they did several years back when I needed to make a second key.

So the easiest way to prevent this would be to relocate, or disable the OBD port somehow so they can't connect to it?

 

[Racer71]

On a dodge you have to vin to get pin or a Chrysler log in. Ford gm Honda etc. the obd port I always powered as is the vehicle when you go to do the procedure the laptop commands the various modules to do their thing, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to do it when there are no fobs present. You can order a fob online simple and just perform a replace all keys and program new procedure. Gm and ford make you wait 10 minutes, so not a terribly big inconvienence. We get new dmax at sister shop to build from wrecks on a regular basis with no fobs, so I do this on regular basis for them as well as other shops who call something needs programmed.

 

[kleake]

Interesting.... Do you have to have a login with Ford to get them? i would think so.

From the sounds of it, and simple hidden disable switch of some sort on the OBD port might be an easy prevention measure. I'm assuming the old method of jumping a few wires under the dash is long gone with everything computer driven? I'm just brainstorming of the best way to prevent it from walking away. At least prevent the most common and easy methods.

 

[Racer71]

A nastf Id on the really new stuff my snap on scanner will 99% without one though. Have to use passthru and fdrs for the really new ones. I did a 18 edge with my snappy scanner last week no problem. Nastf Id is a bit cumbersome to acquire have to prove that you are a technician and carry x amount of liability insurance etc to get approved for one. It’s mostly a racket to make money, very little actual vetting goes into the process. It’s supposed to help make things accountable, although I seriously wonder how often authorities actually look into it to figure out what ID number did the programming. Many these days are able to be done with the various scanners with no ID code required. I’ll take a key any day of the inconvenience and lack of security of fobs. I absolutely despise them.

 

[kleake]

Yea I hear ya, most authorities now days just take a report and let your insurance deal with it. It's a sad world these days with everything 'throw away' and nothing really has value to anyone except the person who paid for it.

So if say I put a kill switch in-line with the 12v wire feeding the OBD port, would that pretty much put a stop to the ability to re-program a fob? It sounds like without that port being powered, it would pretty much shut it down?

 

[Racer71]

That would most likely suffice. Just switch it to an ignition powered circuit instead of being hot at all times.

 

[kleake]

That would most likely suffice. Just switch it to an ignition powered circuit instead of being hot at all times.

That would be a pretty simple solution. I was actually thinking of hiding a connector, or switch under the dash somewhere. Power it when I want, disconnect it the rest of the time. I'll see what I can come up with. Thank you for the info, that does help understand how so many are easily taken.

 

[Racer71]

Switching source would be easiest especially if you install a monitor in the future, would keep things simple and be one less thing to remember.

 

[kleake]

Switching source would be easiest especially if you install a monitor in the future, would keep things simple and be one less thing to remember.

Good point..... :thumbsup:

 

[Sixfoh]

Not a bad idea but a matter of time before they jump the obd power. Who knows though, it may deter them enough.

 

[Bugman]

All you can do is slow the crooks down.

If they really want your truck they'll show up with a rollback

Sent from my SM-J737V using Tapatalk

 

[kleake]

Agree with all. There is no way to be absolutely certain to stop them, but if you slow them down and make yourself lesser of a target, you might luck out. I just prefer not to be the easy target.

 

[dsberman94]

Let them have it. They better chop it up cause I don’t want it back. Keep it insured for more than owed or make sure your aftermarket parts are on there too.

 

[kleake]

Let them have it. They better chop it up cause I don’t want it back. Keep it insured for more than owed or make sure your aftermarket parts are on there too.

I don't like those games.... Too much time shopping for the right one, too much time getting everything setup the way I want, and everyones insurance rates go up with that kind of crap. I would prefer theft penalties be much steeper to stop this kind of stuff because whether you see it up front or not, it costs everyone. These people will get a slap on the wrist and released to do it again. 10 cars stolen, insurance pays out ~$500k for those 10,,,, whos pocket does that actually come out of??? ALL of that insurance companies customers. My insurance is too high already. But I am with you, that once they have it, I really don't want it back because I'm sure they drove the crap out of it. But ultimately, if I can keep them from getting it, it saves me a LOT of headaches.

 

[kleake]

So interesting enough, I looked at the back of the OBD port and realized there is a connector on the back side of it. I thought that is simple enough, just unplug that and tuck the end up under the dash so when someone plugs into the port, it's just basically dead. Funny thing, if I unplug that port on the back side, I can still start the truck, but none of the dash comes on. When I connected it back up, the dash came on and I got a wrench icon on the dash until the next restart. There must be more going on in there than I thought.