owners-we're screwed
 

its all good, as long as i stay away from newark, my car will be fine. my neighborhood is suburbs and nothing ever happens here.

knock on wood- but what happens when ur away from the ur neighborhood

What a fine thing for a University to do. Allow students time to increase theft. :rolleyes:

well, at least they did report that to TI

I love it how they aren't finding cancer cures or global warming... let's steal sh**. Ignorant. Johns Hopkins should be ashamed of itself.

big whoop.....I've known only one person in my 29year lifetime who's had their car stolen - and 99% of those cars did not have any immobilizer....the one car that was stolen was my uncle's new 911 Turbo (in 1994) in Manhattan....

by the way, there has...for years...been an easy, inexpensive "immobilizer" for any car. It's called a battery cutoff switch, and essentially what it does is cut off the connection between the ignition and the battery. You can hide them anywhere on the car, disguise them as defrost buttons, whatever. And guess what? Assuming the thief can't find it, he can't turn on the car, immobilizer, key, or hotwire will not work...

On my cousin's car back in the day, he had his battery cutoff switch hooked up to one of his map lights (there were 2)...so to turn on the car, you had to flip the map light switch first. I mean, what theif would think to check that?

haha, yea i agree with Irish on this one. I have seen a VW GTI with a device like this that you had to put on your left blinker in order for the car to start - no theif would think of that one!

Professional thieves could easily figure the battery cut-off switch out. How long would it take for a thief to try all possible buttons and knobs before they can start the car? A minute, two? What would be cool is to have two of them installed with two different buttons...say set the blower fan speed to 3 and turn the wiper blades to fast. Hmmm, I wonder if that can be done....

This is too awesome... Imagine how frustrated the thief would get...
Anyhow, I am more scared fo thiefs taking my headlights than the actual car... =(

A couple of my friends have the seatbelt wired as the "switch"...What thief would put on the seatbelt when stealing a car? LOL

I park my car all over Newark, no problem (no hids though). I think this method is more for the "Gone in 60 Seconds" crews.

holy ****.. this takes the cake.... it's engenious :p

how could they "easily figure it out?" Sit there for 10 minutes trying every button in the car, looking under the seats, under the dash, inside every compartment (glove box, center console) Hell...you can put a switch anywhere...hide it under the door sill where the gas/trunk release levers are.....

if a thief jumps in a car and can't start it, they're not going to sit there for several minutes trying to figure out why. They're just gonna jump out and go try to steal a different car. A maxima is not so rare that they can't find another one :grinno:

Anyone have a link to buy a switch like this? Google only came up with giant ones you put under the hood when I looked.

Thanks in advance.
Kevin

For a starter cut-out, any little switch should work, or use an existing switch (or map light). You just need to intercept the low amp starter wire at some point, and splice in a wire loop with whatever switch in the circuit.

A battery cut-out will require a big relay, since you are switching a high amperage circuit. That's probably the big relay or switch you saw from Google.

I know I could wire up a relay to do it to the starter wire, I was asking because if a theif breaks into my car and under my dash...if he gives the starter wire 12v its still gonna start. Where does the starter wire go, what other places could I tap into it or cut it that would be impossible for a theif to find.

Thanks
Kevin

Somebody do a write-up, please!!!!

Their research wasn't specifically "how to steal a car" it probably just applied to that kind of security/encryption, and was probably funded by a bank or credit card company.

I'm not worried and 99.9% of us shouldn't either.




Ironic :rofl:

The problem isnt necessarily parking in Newark. Rather it's parking someplace that has a direct route to Newark: Woodbridge Center Mall (Routes 1 & 9), Menlo Park Mall (Route 1), Bridgewater Commons (Route 22) and Short Hills Mall (Route 24) are all straight shots right into Newark, though not necessarily near Newark. All of them have had their share of auto theft in the past decade or two, with cars usually winding up in Newark. :nervous:

FROM WHAT I UNDERSTOOD, FROM A DIFFERENT ARCTICLE, IT TOOK THIS PERSON AN HOUR TO BREAK THE CODE w/ the software hooked up.... who is gonna sit there for an hour

Look, if some master criminal uses the encryption crack and special hardware to overcome transponder keys, he's going to go after brand new BMWs, Lexus, Porsches, Mercedes and so on. Not used Maximas.

Biggest theft risk to Maximas are low tech scum with screwdrivers for HIDs, lug wrenches for wheels, and a rock to bust your window and steal your stereo and cds.

If I were going to steal any cars, I'd buy (or steal) a 25 year old POS tow truck and paint "Frank's Repo" on the door. Then I'd repo to my heart's content. Most alarms shut off when car is tilted! One or two whoops from alarm and car is gone.

I am not worried about somebody stealing my car - I'd actually prefer it to the damage and problems more commonly seen. But its just not going to happen.

That's why year in, year out, the most stolen cars have been Accords, Civics and Camrys...

As for inmobilizers, cutoff switches and high end cars, they just take them in flatbeds or just carjack the owners.

This transponder chip in the key also needed to be read by the theif.... No one is going to go through all this trouble (like mhadford said) for a maxima, payoff is half as much prob for same EXACT trouble, maybe even more than a bmw or porsche..... seeing as though the'd NEED TO FOLLOW YOU AROUND WITH A FREQUENCY MULTIPLIER and then spend an hour in your car before it moves.... loing way away,

Plus... retired theives work for security firms and they know what to do to prevent theft as quick as they can figure out how to accomplish it ;)

face it, if someone wants your car and is dedicated in obtaining it, whats to stop them? if they can't outright steal it, they will get a couple of friends and tow it. nothing is impossible.

+1. My roomate has this stupid viper alarm that talks and makes all sorts of noise. His truck is only worth 15K. Who cares. I wish somebody would steal my car so I can collect on my insurance money. This is why we have insurance. I will never and have never bought a car alarm. It is completely useless. I laugh at people who waste their money on useless alarms. We have a NISSAN. IT IS NOT AN EXPENSIVE CAR. When you buy an 75K dollar car you can talk, but that car will come with a security system and you will not live in a neighborhood where you would have to worry. Useless thread.

Just for fun, I emailed this Prof. Rubin up at Hopkins to see what the hell he's talking about with this 'metal box' around the transponder. Maybe he'll have something simple to fix it, even if it is a remote chance that anyone will steal a $15k used car. :jeffy:

Sure, Maxima is low on the list, but this effects ANY vehicle that uses this technology. There are people out there who spend tons of times writing a virus for no profit. You think a potential thief would not sit around for an hour or so trying to crack the code? In certain situations, the answer is yes.

Dude, people steal early 80's Buick Regals and Olds '88's and Cutlass's. There is no limit to what people will attempt to steal.

Do you give a sh!t at all about your car? Are you retarded? wtf?
And +1 look at the list of the most stolen cars, tell me whats on top.

Anyone know where the starter wire can be tapped into, besides under the dash?

TheBigDu let me know what you want to push to activate yours, what year your car is, and I can tell you how to wire up a relay and all the wiring colors youll need for under your dash.

Kevin

That does not make me feel too good, but I will be getting a better security system soon... plus... I don't have a 2k2 or 2k3 max with HIDs... :D


~Wolf

i can just see it now... a bunch of research geeks huddled together, scratching their heads, trying to come up with a cure for cancer when all of a sudden they say screw it, we give up... lets see if we can steal cars....

Good article.... if I lived in a big city I "might" be worried, but here in my little po-dunk town thieves aren't that bright. :gapteeth: