Anybody hear of any stories about their TL’s being stolen? Do our cars come with immobilizers? Do they work?

 

Yep, our cars have the immobilizers linked to our key fob but a while ago, I read two posts where TL owners got their car stolens by being lifted right flat bed trucks and driven away. When crooks really want something bad, they'll figure out a way. Bastards.

 

There is a way to disable our immobilizer, and someone even posted instructions here over a year ago (Instructions were later deleted by Moderator). And it was pretty easy too. So do not count on OEM system too much.

 

OEM or Aftermarket Alarms are useless, when a theif really wants something. The thief will find a way to get to it and get it. However I have onstar, and that is the only thing that I beleve can't be disabled, which can be used to locate the car. However, Im pretty sure there is somethign that the thief can do about this too.

 

id rather have my tl stolen than have my conversations monitored by onstar. do a search for some crazy stories on this subject

 

There is prob a way to disconnect the onstar antenna so if a thief really wanted to steal your car they could prob found out where this wire is and cut it.

 

it is easy to disable onstar

 

get Boomerang or Lojack. that way if the car is moved, it can be tracked immediately (at least Boomerang does this).

 

I was told by some dealers when thiefs want the car they leave the LoJack in place of the car.... don't know if its true but I go along with if thiefs want something, THEY WILL TAKE IT!

 

the immobilizer thing works by linking a comp chip in your key fob with a chip in the engine. everytime you use it, they generate a code and if you want the engine to start, you have to have both the key fob chip and the engine comp chip to match the code. Otherwise the engine won't start. There are ways to get around it. I think Jaguar was the first to put this system in their cars. If you watch "Gone in 60 seconds" they steal a Jag that has the immobilizer system on it. THat's my 2 cents

 

Not too hard to steal a TL. Just get a copy of the valet key. Open the door, open the hood replace the ECU with one that has the imobilizer taken out and away they go.

I read that somewhere on this forum but can't find it now.

 

Did this really happen in real life because thieves are almost always opportunists. To have this happen, the thief would have to:

1) Know where you put your valet key and appropriate it
2) Possess an ECU specifically for the TL with the Immobilizer disabled

If this happened to anyone, that person wouldn't be the victim of some random crime. It means he pissed off someone really, really bad and is tasting the bitter tang of someone's exacting revenge.

Something like an ex-wife would do...

 

LoJack is hard to disable. They don't disclose the location of the transponder unit even to the owner of the vehicle. Only LoJack knows it. So if the thieves wanted to disable it, they are going to have to spend quite a bit of time.

As for OnStar, just rip out of the antenna and it becomes useless. It's only helpful when an idiot teenager steals your car for a joyride and doesn't know anything about OnStar.

 

I would agree the the majority of thieves :chainsaw: are opportunists. There are professional car theft rings that live and die by the cars they steal. All it would take is a valet working for a theft ring to get ahold of your valet key, he gets your address from your license plate # or something in the car. Show up late one night and away he goes.

Also the remote keyfob works on a FM frequency (very low power). How hard would it be to pick up your paticular frequency sitting in a mall parking lot close to your car and transmit the frequency back after you have walked away. Now the car is completely open. He just can't start it without the chip in the key but the alarm won't go off.

 

That's why our cars have rolling codes. It uses a different code every time, specifically to prevent from happening what you just described. Like our garages -- all the newer ones have rolling codes. What they did in Gone In 60 Seconds would be impossible had the garage opener had a rolling code system.

 

did a search, but could not find? Where do i find the stories about onstar listening to conversations in our cars? That blows my mind. any documentation?

 

Based off of friends who have LoJack (and half-heartedly watch as LoJack is installed) they seem to always put it behind the glove box. I bet you 90-something % of all LoJack installations are in the exact same place, if only to make it easy for the installer. I'm sure real theives know exactly where these locations are, and how to remove it in a min or two...