[kingbuzzo]

It's not just the kids or chop shops anymore...it's a booming business unfortunately:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...-uae-1.7083615

[The Champ]

Sorry to hear that Jeff. Hope your insurance settlement is fair and trouble free.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Truly very sorry about your wife's car and her belongings.

Shocking how easily these things can be stolen with today's tech that goes into them.
And the tech is their soft spot . UnReal

When did we start asking for push button start cars ?
I wasn't there
The YouTube videos are amazing and fast results.

"The Club" with the front wheels turned all the way to one side will probably make them pass to the next easy prospect.

[59safaricat]

Never leave a car like this unattended or without someone in the passenger seat, probably with a 2nd amendment piece. Drive a 10+ year old econobox for work/errands and leave this in the garage for weekend fun. Can't drive/have anything nice anymore these days.

[camerjeff]

Thanks for all the good thoughts, we might have some good news on the car, the Detroit Police have recovered the car, but all I know about its condition is that the rear window is broken, and the license plate is gone. Fingers crossed that that is the worst of the damages.

[camerjeff]

Well the car was recover in much better condition than I could have hoped for, but it won't start so the drive train condition is unknown. The passenger side rear door window is broken, the interior is dirty, damp, and smells like smoke, the key fobs don't work, and there is damage to the shifter and center console, and some wires are hanging down under the glove box. The plate was actually in the trunk, as was her hand knit shawl.
Actually feeling very lucky, we were able to get the car out of the Detroit city impound 5 minutes before they closed at 3:00pm, and it was towed to our local body shop. Pending the inspection of the chassis, and paint condition. I think it was the best possible outcome! Whew!

[1965gp]

Very sorry to hear this- as you might have seen we just went through this.

If you don’t want to keep the car you can have the car tested for drugs, if they find any residue the car I hear they are scrapped for fear of fentanyl. Most of these thugs ride around smoke weed.

Also ask for an oil analysis and fight for depreciated value.

[maxpowerta]

Drive a stick car, most of these morons doing this today couldn't drive one to save their lives!

[CraigGT37]

Jeff,
Sorry this happened to you guys. I have seen a lot of people talking about
https://www.iglausa.com/igla-anti-theft looks like there is a place in Pontiac that installs them.
Glad that you did at least get it back in somewhat one piece. I have seen videos of shells dropped off in the middle of the road up there.

[keith k]

Glad to hear you got it back, and might be able to get it returned to acceptable condition, Jeff!

[71GP76TA]

Originally Posted by maxpowerta

Drive a stick car, most of these morons doing this today couldn't drive one to save their lives!

My '21 Scat Pack widebody Challenger is a stick. The stick cars do not have remote start but are still a push button start. The stick cars do not have cylinder deactivation(MDS) either.

[camerjeff]

Most of my fun cars are manuals, the Solstice, Firebird, Astre, and even the 73 Lemans wagon. But this is my wife's DD so a Manual trans was not an option. Plus this is the car she wanted and she actually ordered it and paid for most of it. I will have to look into a anti theft system, but it will have to leave the remote start working or she will not go for it.

Here are the promised Pictures, I am still really amazed at the cars condition, at 1st glance it looks like they just took it for a joy ride and ran it until it was out of gas. They went thru everything, and left a bunch of snack wrappers in the car. But dependently not much a old woman considers necessary in her car was of interest. The Battery is still in the car but is dead, evidently the alarm system was going off when it was towed in Thursday afternoon. Next week the show will see if they can reteach the Key fobs, and get it started, they are trying to trickle charge the battery over the weekend. Fingers crossed that nothing was damaged on the drive train. One good thing is the winter tires don't have much grip in the rain so really abusing the engine would have been difficult.
The day consisted of 2 hours on the phone with the Detroit Police Impound Lot to find what location it was at, returning the rental car as my employer was Kind enough to let me use our company Pool car for 2 weeks (my employer does treat us better than any company I have ever worked for) Diving an hour to the Grand River Ave impound Lot, Dealing with the short staffed but actually very friendly lot staff. Waiting 2 hours for our turn in line. Paying the $245 impound fee. (that will be reimbursed by the insurance Co.) Finding out it wouldn't start and getting a roll back truck willing to take it 45 miles to our local repair shop.
I considered we were very luck, it was about 40F out, very warm for late January in S/E Michigan. We were actually the last people to get their car out yesterday before they closed up at 3:00pm, The rain held off until we got the car unloaded at the Body shop, and the Body shop owner who I have known for 30+ years paid the tow bill and said he will just add it to the insurance claim. I think it went as smooth as it could have, with a better than I could have hoped for result.
Thanks for all the support and well wishes everyone!

[b-man]

Looks like after some minor repairs and a good detailing job she’ll be good to go.

You’re lucky considering the circumstances, hope it all turns out well.

[78w72]

Good to see you got the car back, & in pretty decent condition.

Do you know how it was stolen if it was locked & no key fobs in the car? or for the ones commenting that these cars are very easy to steal, how are they being stolen without keys?

Im curious to know just to know, but more so my friend just bought a 2017 SRT 8 black on black challenger, & also has a 2019 SRT8 jeep grand cherokee he added soem trackhawk mods to.... would like to warn him about these cars being so easy to steal.

[RAJ7395]

One way I've read about is that the thieves use an antenna ring to pickup the signal given off by the key fob. They then use a device to emulate the captured key fob signal to unlock and start the car and drive off.

[b-man]

Originally Posted by RAJ7395

One way I've read about is that the thieves use an antenna ring to pickup the signal given off by the key fob. They then use a device to emulate the captured key fob signal to unlock and start the car and drive off.

Putting your fob inside a metal box or something akin to a Faraday cage to block the signal should be done to keep thieves from doing this. I’ve seen special bags being sold that are made to shield them. Too many people hang their keys near their front door and need to be more careful especially with these fobs.

[KS circutguy]

It's just really easy to break into them. I've seen footage of people go through the sunroof, using laptops to reprogram keys while in the driveway, using radio signal boosters to imitate your key while it's in your house to activate Proximity unlocking and remote start.

Dodge put out a "Security mode" that limits the car to 5hp but it's only on 21+ Scats and Hellcats and they didn't tell dealers about it, so they'll be confused when you walk in asking for it. They're allegedly adding a fix for reprogramming keys by January, but I'm skeptical. The security system doesn't go off for broken glass(???) but they're trying to implement that too.

https://www.dodgegarage.com/news/article/showcase/2021/08/dodge-announces-three-new-theft-protection-measures.html

Dodge has developed three new security measures to help protect owners from having their vehicles stolen by thieves. This includes the Enhanced Security Mode, Key Programming Lockdown and the Intrusion Module.

The Enhanced Security Mode allows the owner to enter a 4-digit code to limit engine output to less than 3 horsepower, and it will be available Monday for the 2021 model year Challengers and Chargers. Key Programming Lockdown prevents thieves from programming new keys and it will be available for 2020 and 2021 models as early as October, but the company is committed to having the system in action by January 2022. After the 2020 and 2021 models are handled, Dodge will roll out the same software for 2015 through 2019 model years, with a new year being added every six weeks. As for the Intrusion Module, it senses glass breakage, movement inside the vehicle and vehicle inclination, sounding the alarm if there are any changes. It will be offered for the 2022 model year, standard in cars with the 392 and SRT® Hellcat HEMI® engines and available in V6 and 5.7-liter-powered models.
Basically the best thing you can do right now is move or get a covered garage....

May be of some help,don't know.

[KS circutguy]

Dodge Announces Three New Theft Protection Measures

https://www.dodgegarage.com/news/art...-measures.html

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

They use an app on their android phone - and a USB cable plugged into one of your USB ports in the car.
About 15-20 seconds later your car is gone by-by

It defeats/over rides all the Dodge measures.
Lots of YouTube's on the subject and demonstrations.
It is UnReal

"The Club" on the steering wheel and wheels turned to full lock left or right is said to be the best deterrent .
They see that - and your car gets left alone , they go to the next easy target.

Deleting all your USB ports foils them too.
But they won't know that until after they have gained entry.
You want them to be able to see that your car already knows their game , so that it doesn't get vandalized by their attempt.

13-14 year old kids are even doing this just to see if they can - and then just joyride.
For a cheap thrill .

Doesn't matter if you have a V6 or a Hellcat Demon JailBreak Hemi.
They are all so easy they will take any of them just for the cheap thrill.

Its not just for thieves who intend to make profit off the car.

If you own any of these pushbutton start cars you better start doing your homework and taking the right steps.
Or be next.

[400 4spd.]

The price of "progress". I want the 70's back.