MG4 broken into

[Ciaranire]

Hi Everyone,

Just wondering if anyone could shed any light on this.

Last night a large number of cars were broken into, almost all of which had a window smashed.....except our MG4 which they just managed to open the driver's door without the alarm going off. No damage done to the car at all.

The key fob is stored in a room about 6 metres+ from the front door. I'm not sure if a relay would work at that distance or not.

We at first thought we must have somehow left the car unlocked, but after some testing, the headlights remain on, and from where the car is parked they would shine in the front window and throughout the house. You would be very aware of it.

We also tested if we hit the unlock button by mistake but again the headlights come on and the car locks again after 30 seconds or so.

The thieves appeared to be only looking for valuables so I don't think they would be all that sophisticated and given the number of cars done in such a short amount of time, they couldn't have spent long at ours. Presumably if they had used a relay they could have taken the car.

I'm considering asking the dealership if they can check the logs to see how the car was unlocked if possible, but thought I'd ask here first if anybody was aware of any issues?

Thanks

 

[fnegroni]

Is the key in a faraday box?

 

[GameZone]

Did you receive a warning trough the app when it happened?

 

[Ciaranire]

Is the key in a faraday box?

No, it was just stored out of sight away from the front door. I’ve ordered one today.

 

[Ciaranire]

Did you receive a warning trough the app when it happened?

No warning through the app. The internet had gone down over night but I checked this morning and the only message in the app was a tire pressure warning.

 

[Ian Key]

No, it was just stored out of sight away from the front door. I’ve ordered one today.

They will have used a signal booster to trick the car into thinking the key was near enough to open the door. Until the Faraday box arrives keep your key in the microwave as that will block the signal as they might have a go at taking the car before it arrives.

 

[Kithmo]

The only way to leave the car unlocked is to unlock it then open and close a door then walk away.
I've done it once when I went out to get something out of the car and forgot to lock it after.
I think what @Ian Key said is the most likely scenario.
On the bright side, if nothing valuable was taken, then at least they didn't break your window.

 

[fnegroni]

Does anyone know if the mg key goes to sleep if left untouched for a long time?

 

[JonnyG]

Anyone with CCTV ?

 

[tsedge]

They will have used a signal booster to trick the car into thinking the key was near enough to open the door. Until the Faraday box arrives keep your key in the microwave as that will block the signal as they might have a go at taking the car before it arrives.

And don't turn the microwave on!!

 

[Ciaranire]

Thanks for all the replies.

I didn't think they could read a fob from that sort of distance and I would have thought there was a bit of an expense and expertise required in using a relay attack. Anyway, I've ordered a faraday box and a steering lock for now.

There is CCTV from other houses (and they caught 'a guy' within the hour), but no footage of them at my car. I have a video doorbell/cameras, but as mentioned above my internet went down (unrelated, switching providers and just bad timing) and it saves to the cloud. I'll order local storage for that this month.

The only way to leave the car unlocked is to unlock it then open and close a door then walk away.
I've done it once when I went out to get something out of the car and forgot to lock it after.

I'll test this later and see if the headlights stay on. I'm kind of leaning on the thieves being a bit more low tech as they were just smashing windows to get into other cars. They did 10 cars on my road and I've heard another 3 or 4 roads were done too, so I get the impression they weren't using anything too advanced and it was just a smash and grab but I just want to cover all angles!

On the bright side, if nothing valuable was taken, then at least they didn't break your window.

That was the first thing I said to my partner when we found out

 

[Ciaranire]

And don't turn the microwave on!!

Funny, I ordered the faraday box on Amazon and it won't arrive until Tuesday, but I have a new microwave arriving today!

 

[Rolfe]

If you get out and just walk away without locking, the car stays awake with parking lights and heating and radio and so on functioning. I think it may shut all that down after a while, maybe half an hour, but it doesn't lock itself.

If you get out and lock the car, then unlock it again without getting in, I think it stays unlocked, but without anything else running.

 

[DenisG]

I have also found that if you get out of the car and just plug the charger in the car will power down and wait for a charge. It will not lock the doors.

 

[Ekips]

Another way to leave it accidentally unlocked
If u have the door buttons set to open drivers door only, use the button to open the door, get in, you can even drive as long as you don’t go above the auto door lock speed, then when u get out pushing the button will not lock the doors but open all the doors instead, but again the lights etc will still be on

 

[hewguy]

No, it was just stored out of sight away from the front door. I’ve ordered one today.

or any tin will do, try it.

 

[grahamwalker]

When we bought our ZS the dealer said something about having the keys far enough away from the car, or it could be opened by anyone. A faraday box will effectively break contact between key and car.
The good news is that the car will only move for about 10 meters unless the key is INSIDE the car

 

[fnegroni]

The protocol to unlock the car and start the car I don’t think are the same. So you can unlock a car but not necessarily start it.

 

[Alan]

When we bought our ZS the dealer said something about having the keys far enough away from the car, or it could be opened by anyone. A faraday box will effectively break contact between key and car.
The good news is that the car will only move for about 10 meters unless the key is INSIDE the car

I drove mine to the vets without the key once, that's about 6 miles away!

 

[STJ73]

I've not used the physical key since I picked the car up and only use my phone. Both my 'keys' are in a Faraday Pouch that I got from Amazon ( 2 pouches for £6 ) the phone 'key' works well enough and I put the phone on the wireless charger so it's always topped up. If someone wants something they will and your lucky they didn't smash a window to get in. My mate has a Focus RS and a professional car thief once showed him how easy it was to get into his car! It took seconds!