How can someone break into a prius?

[annashier]

I parked my prius in SAn Francisco yesterday for a few hours, and when I came back i noticed that the back seat was pushed down and my handheld gps was stolen. There was no evidence of broken windows, scratches, marks, nothing... Even the dust on the car had no prints. Whoever did this did it in broad daylight and it seems they really knew what they were doing. Has this happened to anyone before?

I know for sure that the alarm was activated. PLease email me to otak@westernu.edu with your reply if you can.


Thanks.

[Godiva]

And you're sure you locked it and all of the windows were rolled up?

Very bizarre.

I can't think how they would get in without breaking a window.

You GPS was in plain sight? Not put away?

[pviebey]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Kenanna @ Jul 8 2007, 11:04 PM) [snapback]475302[/snapback]</div>

I parked my prius in SAn Francisco yesterday for a few hours, and when I came back i noticed that the back seat was pushed down and my handheld gps was stolen. There was no evidence of broken windows, scratches, marks, nothing... Even the dust on the car had no prints. Whoever did this did it in broad daylight and it seems they really knew what they were doing. Has this happened to anyone before?

I know for sure that the alarm was activated. PLease email me to otak@westernu.edu with your reply if you can.
Thanks.
[/b]

That sucks! Last time it happened to me, they broke a $300 window to steal a $50 radar detector. Sorry to hear of your loss.

Are you using the remote to lock or unlock, or using the 'keyless' system?

If using the remote, I would wonder if someone couldn't have 'cloned' the remote (I don't think it's encrypted). If using the keyless system, it's possible for someone to get close enough to you to clone the RFID signal (used by the keyless system) without you even knowing it (a known weakness of RFID systems).

Both of these would require a fair amount of technical sophistication (and cool technology), and if they could do this, they could do a whole lot more than just steal your GPS/stuff.

Was the alarm set when you returned? If not, I'd go with Occam's razor and really wonder if maybe you forgot to arm? (I wish the car would auto-arm when the keyless sensor is removed).

There are other technical experts here who can take this further, but thought I'd toss in my 2 cents, FWIW.

oat

[qbee42]

If the back seat was pushed down and nothing was broken, then I suspect your hatch was not locked. They crawled in the back and folded down the seat to get forward.

Tom

[slair]

Thieves do it from behind... hahaha
Ya, either your RFID was cloned or for some reason your hatch was open.
Both very easy.

[Michgal007]

What is RFID?

[TonyPSchaefer]

RFID = Radio Frequency IDentification
The fob and the Prius use radio frequencies to communicate.

I have always been working under the impression that the code used on the Prius is highly encrypted and a rolling code. So not only would they need to duplicate the encryption, they would need to duplicate the rolling code sequence. But I'm no techie by any stretch.

[slair]

encrypted: no
Rolling code: no

car RFID is very easy to hack. Its as basic as it gets.

[Elephanthead]

ouch! I want to put a 7 inch touchscreen in, but theft is a concern, My parking lot attendant is likely to steal it himself, be asleep while its stolen, or not call the cops as he watches it being stolen. Maybe the hatch wasn't all the way closed?

[Starbug]

Maybe it was shaved keys? It's how they broke into my Acura without a single finger print or broken door/glass. Not a scratch on my car! They completely cleaned my car out of everything. Cops caught them and found a whole bunch of shaved keys for all sorts of cars (among many other stollen items/cars).


*shaved keys are keys specific to a certain make of car (Acura, Ford, Chevy, anybody etc) that have been shaved so that they are JUST similar enough to any car model of that make, so that they can stick it in and wiggle it around a little, then poof the door unlocks.