Got a BMW. Please read -car thieves in the area Post Reply

[FTMummy]

Hello ladies,

I just wanted to share this bit of news with ant fellow BMW owners: there is a professional gang of car thieves now working our area and targeting BMWs. Apparently there is a flaw with the security system of BMWs whereby thieves can sit in wait and ghost your radio signal of your car alarm allowing them to come back late at night, deactivate your car alarm and break into your car. In my case, my X5's alarm signal was cloned (i think last Wednesday evening) then on Thursday night v late they came back, deactivated the alarm, drilled the lock in the drivers door - which caused the windows to open - then with the windows down, got in and took all the sat nav and audio equipment. They couldn't drive the car away but apparently they may be able to on a 1 series.

Apparently BMW are aware of the fault and a modification is available to fix the problem so contact your BMW dealer ASAP to get this fixed! BMW did not ever contact me about this - which I think is pretty poor.

The police said there were 8 of these thefts in Mitcham and now they have obviously moved this way (I'm just off Balham Park Road). In hindsight I could tell about the ghosting of the car alarm radio signal as my car didn't lock properly and the lights stayed on which caused me to lock it again using the key remotely and then I actually went back to check it was locked.

Not what you need around Christmas as obv your car's security is completely shot and will mean the car being in the garage for a good week or so. Total hassle and inconvenience!

[claphamama]

basically this has been going on for a year, http://www.bmwblog.com/2012/07/09/video ... 3-minutes/ (police forces aware and have been warning BMW x5 Drivers) they attempted to take mine at 3am off the drive in june (the main issue is due to BMW and EU legislation and the positioning of the OBD port (live connection to the HD management system) BMW now offer an upgrade to the idrive software update which includes security updates. The fact that the OBD port is positioned in a sensor blackspot means that unless you get a custom secondary alarm you will always be exposed to this risk. i have had a secondary alarm that disables the OBD port and has two sensors that cover the black spot inside and outside the drivers door. happy to give you the contact details.

best of luck

[juliantenniscoach]

Does locking the car manually work? i.e. with the key (sorry if that's a dim question).

[claphamama]

sorry no, the on board cpu and central locking system can still be overridden if they have cloned your key or if they gain access to the OBD down by the drivers footwell (which is easily done due to the alarm sensor black spot as per link i posted). the only way to prevent this is a secondary alarm AND calling BMW and arrange it to go in for a software update (normally takes a day) ref the OBD thefts etc.

failing that go old school and invest in a disk lock pro, its an added deterrent - wont stop them but will slow them a little and act as a hassle factor.

let me know if you have any questions or search google for BMW OBD thefts.

thanks