This story may be a bit long, so bear with me.

So last night, my coworker locked his keys in his corrolla for the second time this year.

My other coworker called AAA for him and the guy came over to open up his car. The first guy that came was drunk off his ass. He couldn't do anything and he just left. I guess he called someone else to come and do the job for him because his boss came and got the door open.

He used a wedge to create a slight crack between the door and the body. He then proceeded with a long metal rod that was bendable to pull up the lock on his door. He also ended up putting a nice chip in his window.

After all that, he looks at my TL, and says that those are even easier to open. He says he could do it the same way he just did the corrolla. He said that the alarm wouldn't even go off.

Now that scared me but not that much. Someone could get in the car easily but could they take the car? How good is our immobilizer? Are our cars well protected?

 

The lock on the doors of the TL is a round shaft with no protrusions, so I doubt if a long bendable metal rod would have anything to grasp, so they couldn't do it that way.

I cannot even begin to picture how you could use a wedge to bend the door away from the body enough to get the long metal rod in. Of course it is possible, but do you think it is going to spring right back to its original shape and not be noticeable?

Maybe I don't have the right picture in my mind about what happened, but it is not that easy to get into cars these days. They used to use a "slim jim", which was a flat piece of metal they slid down between the window and the door frame, and hooked on the latch mechanism, but modern cars are made so this is pretty hard to do.

The immobilizer will prevent them from starting the car unless they have the key, or they are a professional thief, in which case they can do whatever they want.

 

It works I do it all the time. The tool is called the Big Easy and usually Pink in color however there are different manufacturers of the same style tool. Its easy on the TL because all you have to do is hit the unlock button.

 

so... If I had the window down, and lock my car doors, and pull the pin up, it will ont make any sound?

 

I forgot about the button switch. I was thinking about pulling up the lock rod like he said, but didn't think about how easy it would be to push the switch. Can you do it with the windows closed and the doors locked? How do you get it through from the outside?

 

I have done this by accident before. Had the window down and hit the lock button twice to make sure the door was locked, until I heard the beep. Pumped my gas and went in to pay. When I was done paying, I pulled up the door lock instead of using the key fob and opened the door, which triggered the alarm. Needed the remote to shut off the alarm, unless there is another way. My dad's Accord does the same thing.

 

I have done exactly the same thing as ensley. I try not to worry about this too much....a professional who REALLY wants my car is going to get it. The immobilizer should keep the car from being stolen by amateurs (who make up the majority of attempted car thefts anyway, don't they?)

 

What the well dressed thief is wearing these days :ghey:

Any self respecting car thief in my neighborhood would get it in a more masculine color!!

Here's the pic from their website on how the tool works...





by the way ... here's the disclaimer.. "For sale to registered locksmiths, police, and bonafide automotive repair professionals only."

 

at least we hope so!!!!

 

seeing this picture clears it up... the door will have some give at the top half, ever slam fingers in the door? i have and the frame gave enough until i got it open

 

Don't you hate that .. there's that moment of panic while you're trying to get the keys with your free hand so you can unlock the door ....

Completely unrelated ... I knew a cop .. responding to a bar fight .. he was second on scene after a K-9. He's walking past the first car and the dog leans out and grabs his arm. He had to radio back to dispatch to have the K-9 officer come out and release the dog. Said he would've shot the dog but was afraid he'd take his own arm off .... The visual on that one is classic

 

I remember playing around with the alarm with my Wife's TL. IIRC, I think if you unlock the door from the inside, it disarms the alarm, which I found disconcerting/irritating.

 

There has to be a way to trip the button from the inside of the door if thats the way he claims he is doing it. If he is using the wedge I mean. You can not get to the indside of the car from the inside of the door with a wire, unless it was one trippy wire.

You can do that through the window though, but what car can't you do that on? and thats not what this guy said he is doing.

Plus it would make sense that if you could trip it from the inside of the door that it would be 'so easy' and it would also make sense that it wouldn't trip the alarm.

My car (Honda Prelude) only trips the alarm when you lock the doors, and then maunally open the door from the inside (or manually from the outside with some tricks of the theif trade) and open it... which is the whole point of the alarm going off then. If you hit the unlock button then most cars wont go off, even if security has timed out and you are left inside the car.

 

Oh I thought he was going to the inside of the door like the slim jim does, but now that I saw the picture it makes mroe sense.

 

If a thief really wanted to get in your car wouldnt they just break the window?

 

if a theif wanted in they can do anything they want to get the car

 

How do you open the door from the inside, after you arm the alarm? You need to unlock the door. That's what I did in my wife's TL. Even if you don't use the power lock button. I just pulled up the little mechanical lock, and once I did that, the alarm disarmed.

It's been a while since I played around with it, but that's what I remember it doing.

That's why I like the alarm in my Pontiac better. Once it's armed, there is nothing you can do to prevent the alarm from going off without using the keyfob to disarm the alarm. (That is, if you program it that way. The default setting it to disarm with the key tumbler).

 

It's not a matter of if the thief wants in your car or not. The point was that if the thief can get into your car without setting off the alarm, that is what they'll do. The only time they'll break your window, is if they see something they want.

The silent entry technique is if they just want to fumble through the inside of your car to see if you have anything of interest.

 

Isnt the cars security system sensative enough that if someone is moving around inside it will go off?

 

i forgot..how much is lojack? you guys are making me scared..

 

The TL's alarm doesn't have a motion/shock sensor.

However, (you can search for it), a while ago, there was a thread about how you could buy a shock sensor for like $19.00, and splice it into your trunk/hood light, such that you can easily add a shock/motion sensor to the factory alarm.

 

Would the dealer be willing to install one, if I bought one of coarse. What about those microphone glass break sensors on home security systems? Does the security system go off after a certain amount of time? Also, how hard is it to splice in a 6 tone siren?

 

i dropped all my window hitting the unlock button twice.... then i went away for a min or 2 then i went back to the car and pulled up the lock tab and the alarm sounded right away

needed to use the remote to shut it off

havent tried to open the windows and then lock the door and see what happens yet... i'll get to it one of these days

 

Not true... found out tonight.

then again I also upgraded by alarm, so who knows if that changed anything

 

Don't ever lock your keys in the car...it was the worst mistake that had happened to my mom. She had a GMC van and had locked herself out of the car. She called one of those locksmith guys and they used all those crap to open the door; it was dark so she thought it was all right. Next morning, I drove the van somewhere and I started to hear a wind sound everytieme I got onto the highway. I went outside and realized those fuckers literally pried one corner of my mom's van door out. The van is scarred for life and makes those wind noises everytime we drive. So basically you pay $60 dollars for a guy to vandalize/ruin one of the most important parts of your car. I can't imagine what they'll do if they did that to a TL.

 

I had a similar story.

Me and a couple of buddies were headed to Vegas for a weekend and on the way we stopped @ barstow for some food. I ended up locking my eyes in the trunk and the car was locked to begin with. My friend called AAA and they arrived in 15 min, suprisingly quick for the middle of nowhere. The "technician" rolled through and told me the same thing "oh these acura cars will be no trouble, they are easy to open" and tried using the wedge and long rod on the drivers side, no luck; after 3 more tries and more damage to my window panel, he decides to try the passengers side. He tries to open, fail, however on the 2nd try he finally opened up my car.

Bottom line:
Acuras are so safe, you cant even break into your own car.

 

that doesnt sound fun at all =(

 

Seems like on my 05 TL, with all windows down, doors locked and alarm enabled, if I reach in and press the unlock button it sounds the alarm :srhug:

 

just get a GPS system for the car, I currently have lojack but they are quite easy too find if you have an experienced thief coming for your car because they just break down the whole car and look the known places where lojack is installed - GPS is much more reliable and more "stealth" and much easier to locate the car with than with lojack

 

Holy revival.

If someone really wanted to steal your car, they can.

The TL security is better than average, but certainly not the best either.

 

I remember go inside to the gas station, leaving my car unlocked but I have the timer at 30 or 60 seconds so it auto locked with the windows down. I reached inside hit the unlock button and the alarm went off.

 

i think i'll just get a viper system.....

 

just put a car bomb on the subframe with a cell phone trigger

if your car gets stolen call the bomb

 

seems like the most effective way, just gotta make sure you dont dial it on accident...

 

I've reached in through the open windows and pressed the unlock button and the alarm went off.

 

I've accidentally rotated the tires with the alarm on. It obviously doesn't have a motion sensor.

If someone wants in, they're going to get in, most likely without triggering the alarm. Getting it started and stealing the whole car may be a bit harder.

 

Just don't park in shady areas, especially at night, problem solved.

Many cars around where I live are nicer than mine so I never worry that someone would want to break into it. Who would break into a 04 TL when there's an E63 AMG right next to it.

 

when you buy any car install this, problem solved.

 

Want.

 

Viper alarm? You got to be kidding me. These if anything are the easiest to avoid because everything is color coded and sensors are always placed within the same spot. If you wanted to get crazy get 3 battery back ups which I did with my subaru, but my friend had the same set up and car was gone. That thing is useless.

If you are worried about your car getting stolen get a immobilizer kill switch chip or that new alarm that is about $400 and when the car is broken into it fills up the car with a non toxic gas in less than 3 seconds and lasts for 4 minutes out of your air vents. Thieves will not see anything.