My Scirroco GT was broken into...

[LewisSellers]

Hi Everyone,

I left my car just outside my house (on the side of the road) last night and when I got up at 7am this morning, the media unit (which I believe was the RCD 510) had been stolen and someone had jammed something into the glove box to try and get it oven. They've damaged the glovebox and the section of dash just above it.... Just the start to the day I wanted!! It's a 2.0 Scirocco GT TSI that was purchased on the 1st of March 2012. I'm gutted!

There was no sign of forced entry into the car, no smashed windows or damage as far as that goes and the centre console has been removed perfectly. They've left two screws in the car, but it's obviously a professional job. They even broke into the car which was parked underneath a street lamp! No alarm so they had all the time in the world.

I'm 99.9% sure that I locked the car, as when I get out and walk towards the house, I continually press the lock button just out of habbit. I couldn't figure out how they'd managed to get into the car, but after calling VW, they alerted me to the fact that there is a 'black box' available on the market which apparently can be left nearby the car. When you lock / unlock your car, it intercepts the signal and makes a copy of the code / signal. They can then just walk over to your car and open it without the key... Has anyone heard anything about this before and is there anyway to detect anything like this?

I've spoken to VW again since and they've said that the car doesn't log when the car is locked and unlocked (not very helpful). Forensics have been down this morning and got a few prints so I'm hoping they'll get something, but it worries me that my car could potentially have a lock on it that can be bypassed by the same people again?! I'm only 21 and my insurance is fairly high anyway with it being the 210bhp version, so I don't really want to claim if I don't have too... I'd prefer to just pay to get it all fixed, but don't want to do that if someone can just break in again the following week.

I don't live in a bad area and it's completely silent around the area which is probably why it's been targeted. Not a good start to the day. Bastards!

[Fifer]

My commiserations. I wonder if an insurance company might try to wriggle out of paying out if no sign of forced entry?

And you've got me slightly paranoid now. About a week ago, we woke in the middle of the night to the sound of a car alarm (fairly low volume, so didn't think it was the 'roc in the drive, but got up to check anyway). Looking out of the window, there was no sign that it was my car as no lights were flashing (other than the normal red door LED) and the sound still seemed distant. Next morning I opened the boot using the remote and then unlocked the driver and passenger doors, as normal. After placing my bag in the boot, I noticed the driver and passenger windows were part down (by different amounts strangely), but assumed that instead of holding the boot button down, I must have held down the unlock button and engaged the convenience opening. Until now ...

[LewisSellers]

My commiserations. I wonder if an insurance company might try to wriggle out of paying out if no sign of forced entry?

And you've got me slightly paranoid now. About a week ago, we woke in the middle of the night to the sound of a car alarm (fairly low volume, so didn't think it was the 'roc in the drive, but got up to check anyway). Looking out of the window, there was no sign that it was my car as no lights were flashing (other than the normal red door LED) and the sound still seemed distant. Next morning I opened the boot using the remote and then unlocked the driver and passenger doors, as normal. After placing my bag in the boot, I noticed the driver and passenger windows were part down (by different amounts strangely), but assumed that instead of holding the boot button down, I must have held down the unlock button and engaged the convenience opening. Until now ...

So far, the insurance company seem ok. I'm waiting for a quote from VW to find out what the damage of the costs are going to be. I'll then have to weight up wether to claim on my insurance or whether to fork out the cash myself. I'm guessing it's going to be about £1000 including labour though for the replacement system, dash and glovebox (minimum!). It's absolutely shocking, chances are, this scum will sell it on for a couple of hundreds pounds and get away with it! I'm then sat here like a mug waiting for my insurance renewal to come through, loosing my no claims bonus (which helps my insurance quite a lot at 21!) and then waiting for the premiums to go up! They've told me all about the claims procedure and at the minute, they haven't even questioned my claim so I'm guessing it's all ok.

It's got me a bit paranoid too to be honest. As far as I'm aware, all this device does it copy the signal sent from your key. Therefore, you'd think that it'd just pop the lock off the doors and let them in. They probably spent about 15-20 mins in the car (again, a guess) but it's all been removed very well. The only part that's been forced is the glove box. They even got into it under a street lamp!! It's ridiculous.

Don't VW have a bit of a responsibility here? You'd think all the keys would be encrypted, or the code used to unlock would be scrambled etc each time it's used? Surely, if a device like this has been used, they can just come back again in two weeks and take my replacement, leaving me to claim again?!

When the police came, they said the same thing had happened recently with Audi's and Skodas. People were convinced they'd locked the doors and people still gained access.. Very strange but I don't really know what to do about it. Really, if they can unlock the door, there's not much you can do but put a camera above your car!! They can be as silent as they want.. :-(

Lewis

[Fifer]

And it's not even as if you could disable remote locking and just use the key ...

Does anyone know what you're meant to do if the battery in your key dies when you're locked out of the car?

[LewisSellers]

And it's not even as if you could disable remote locking and just use the key ...

Does anyone know what you're meant to do if the battery in your key dies when you're locked out of the car?

On the door, if you look underneath there is a little gap on the handle. You can put the key into there and pop off the plastic to reveal a key whole to open the door. Pretty hidden though, I found that out today when I was looking for ways to protect your car!

[RisingRoc]

This is more than a little concerning. Unfortunately, thieves always seem to overcome protection measures within a relatively short period of time after they come to market - not just exclusive to cars.

Hope you manage to get everything resolved quickly and as cheaply as possible.

[Fifer]

And it's not even as if you could disable remote locking and just use the key ...

Does anyone know what you're meant to do if the battery in your key dies when you're locked out of the car?

On the door, if you look underneath there is a little gap on the handle. You can put the key into there and pop off the plastic to reveal a key whole to open the door. Pretty hidden though, I found that out today when I was looking for ways to protect your car!

Thanks! I didn't know that. Every day's a schoolday!

[Philmar]

Yes always lock it with the key as mentioned above,then no code is transmitted & the evil little sods will have to find another motor to clone.

[Gt12]

Sorry to hear about the car break-in and hope you get it sorted relatively hassle free! Made me panic a bit about my own car, so going to look for the key hole as suggested above..

[LewisSellers]

Thanks for all your messages!

Not sure it's going to be that pain free (I have a feeling I'm going to have to pay for some of this out my own pocket!).

The scirroco isn't a particularly good car for using a key with as you have to pop the cover off each time. It's not really practical...

I was trying to find if there was a tamper system I could install into my car. Really, the main thing that needs protecting is the media console in the centre. Does anyone know of any tamper systems you can install? I was thinking it'd be good if you could just stick something to the front plastic bezel that if removed set the car alarm off. That way, even if someone got into the car, by the time they started dismantling things, the car alarm would be off and you'd at least have a fighting chance of running after them lol.

I'm Googling now but I'm not having much success. Really, it would want to plugin to the main alarm system but just be a tamper device... Not sure really how it would work but sounds like a good idea in my head!

Cheers,
Lewis

[Kev]

If you forget to lock the car, I'm pretty sure it locks itself after a minute or so (and flashes the indicators). At petrol stations I always have to unlock it again before I open the door even though I haven't locked it at the time.

[LewisSellers]

If you forget to lock the car, I'm pretty sure it locks itself after a minute or so (and flashes the indicators). At petrol stations I always have to unlock it again before I open the door even though I haven't locked it at the time.

Yeah, you're right.. It does do this. Didn't help me unfortunately though as the car was locked and they still got in

[thecrofter]

Just a thought, if you had the Anti-theft Alarm Confirm (known more affectionately on here as Alarm Beep) enabled, then if the tea leaves do actually use a cloned key then the noise of the beep on unlocking (two beeps) might just be an extra deterrent or indeed alert you that the car's being opened.

[LewisSellers]

Just a thought, if you had the Anti-theft Alarm Confirm (known more affectionately on here as Alarm Beep) enabled, then if the tea leaves do actually use a cloned key then the noise of the beep on unlocking (two beeps) might just be an extra deterrent or indeed alert you that the car's being opened.

Ah right, do you have any idea how I can enable this? Like you say, it'd atleast be a little bit of extra security! I'm going to write to VW today and I'll let everyone know what the outcome was. There was an article on Watchdog last night about BMWs getting stolen via a similar system... Bit of a flaw in Car Security. I actually found one of these devices for sale on the internet for only $103! Shocking!

[LewisSellers]

Hi All,

Just adding onto this thread...

I don't suppose anyone knows of a secondary alarm system I could fit to the car? Either something that stops the Media System getting tampered with, or something that I set independently of the main alarm so that if someone breaks in, it still alerts me even if they have a copy of my key as they won't be able to disable the secondary system?

Not sure if it's a bit overkill, but waiting to hear back from VW regarding their thoughts on the above... Really could do without this! The insurance companies repair company have quoted that it's £3k repair!

Lewis

[thecrofter]

Just a thought, if you had the Anti-theft Alarm Confirm (known more affectionately on here as Alarm Beep) enabled, then if the tea leaves do actually use a cloned key then the noise of the beep on unlocking (two beeps) might just be an extra deterrent or indeed alert you that the car's being opened.

Ah right, do you have any idea how I can enable this? Like you say, it'd atleast be a little bit of extra security! I'm going to write to VW today and I'll let everyone know what the outcome was. There was an article on Watchdog last night about BMWs getting stolen via a similar system... Bit of a flaw in Car Security. I actually found one of these devices for sale on the internet for only $103! Shocking!

It's a VagCom mod I'm afraid - you then have the option to enable/disable this function added to the DIS Convenience Menu

2012-09-11 12.53.06.jpg

[ZephyR]

If the signal is being cloned then this situation is made worse by the remarkably long range of the VW key fob. This means that anyone within 20 - 30 yards (in any direction) might be able to pick up and clone your key fob's signal.
I wonder if there's a way to reduce the range to just a few yards. I mean, do you really need to be able to unlock your car from that sort of distance?

[LewisSellers]

It's a VagCom mod I'm afraid - you then have the option to enable/disable this function added to the DIS Convenience Menu

2012-09-11 12.53.06.jpg

Ahh, I've never had any experience with VagCom but I'd like to learn more about how to use it. Is there any information about what to buy / how to use it on this forum? I had a look in he VagCom section but couldn't see anything to do with the tools / where you buy them from. Obviously wouldn't want to **** up my car but I'll take another look

If the signal is being cloned then this situation is made worse by the remarkably long range of the VW key fob. This means that anyone within 20 - 30 yards (in any direction) might be able to pick up and clone your key fob's signal. I wonder if there's a way to reduce the range to just a few yards. I mean, do you really need to be able to unlock your car from that sort of distance?

Yeah, I've sent a letter to VW last week basically saying what had happened and how it was quite a big flaw in their system. I explained that I'm 21, it's going to put my insurance through the roof and I have no idea if the thief will come back again and take the next media console out!! When I get a response, I'll post it on here... I'll also ask them if it's possible to get the signal reprogrammed and see if they can shorten the range.. That'd be quite useful, but I'm not sure how they would do that... I'm trying to find an alternative tamper system to get installed in the car just to protect myself in future.

Cheers!

[Fifer]

I wonder if it would be possible to reduce the range of the key by attenuating the RF signal physically (a metal shield round the part of the key casing where the antenna is - wherever that migh be? Might even be worth experimenting with some tin foil?

[a4gee]

My car only locks automatically if the engine hasn`t been turned on as it would be silly if it locked all the time as owners would be locked out all the time.

If you press the fob button twice your deactivating the alarm and the deadlocks I believe.
My mate is in the police and hasn`t heard about cloning signals its usually been a oversight by the driver pressing the wrong button I`m afraid. But never say never.