I ran across an advertisement for a Faraday bag (which is insulated to stop thieves from copying your fob signal)- after a short web search I discovered that one can de-activate Toyota and Lexus fobs by pressing and holding the lock button while twice pressing the unlock button on the fob. To re-activate, simply press the unlock button to enter the car (when locked, the door will not open by grabbing the handle). Of course, this may be mentioned in the owner’s manual as well, this is for those who haven’t read the whole thing like me.
We use a little faraday box (countless varieties of them sold on amazon), that is far easier to open and close than a bag. And that's where the fob always sits when our gen5 is in the driveway. Because deactivating the fob with button pushes after every car trip would be a huge pain, or so l would think.
I bought these a while back. Keep my keys in them when I am not using them. Don't think those type of attacks are very common where I live but only $13 and pretty easy to use. amazon
I walk in the door, keys go into an old tin someone gave me cookies in. I confirmed its sufficient Faraday-ness by walking it right out to the car with the fob inside and trying to get in.
We’ve been doing that since we bought our ‘22 new and still haven’t had to change the batteries. Easier for us than having to stop and put them in a separate container all the time and the fob that isn’t in use when we travel is still asleep.
I think an added bonus could be extending the life of the battery in your spare fob, should you have one.
Is this, like a city problem? I don't really understand,someone copies your fob while you're walking around then goes to your car and steals it?
The proximity "smart key" behavior is more of a vulnerability than some might realize. The car lets you get in and start it as long as the 'ping' from the car gets a reply from the right fob. Normally, this only works within tight ranges near the car, thanks to the low transmit power of the fob. So, normally, nobody can walk up and drive your car away just because the fob is inside the house with you. But the person who walks up with an amplified antenna/repeater can do just that. The signals are amplified to cover the greater distance, and the thief gets in the car and drives away. Once they arrive at their chop shop or flatbed and turn the car off, they can't turn it on again, but at that point they don't care.
That's the main reason I do it every time I leave the car. As a matter of fact, strictly as a preventative maintenance item, I just replaced the batteries on my two fobs today, after 3-1/2 years. The old batteries still worked, but I have noticed the leds getting slightly dimmer, or maybe my eyesight is failing with age.
Cloning someone's key fob while the target is walking around is technically easy, but that would have to be a targeted action. More problematic is when thieves with a cloning device are just driving up and down random streets because, with the right equipment, they can ping key fobs that are sitting unprotected in people's houses, receive the return signal from the fob, and then copy the fob code to create a perfect electonic clone of your key fob. If your car is parked on your driveway, then they can drive it away as if they have the factory key fob. And they can start and restart your car as many times as they want.
Do both the fob trick and use a Faraday cage at home. Seel on Amazon for ~$6 - $12US... and have tested it works just fine (tho may have to see about a tin can -- that's essentially free once you've eaten whatever was inside it... tho unless it's a paint can... RF can still leak out an open top, can't it? My Faraday keybox has a lid with an overlap of 1" around the rim, and whilst closed can be inches from the car and not be detected. May have to check to see how well it protects with the lid open, to test the can method (also concerning, as using your fob behind your chin and opening your mouth towards your car, essentially dbls the range of the signal, due to RF bouncing around and using your skull as a focused antenna. The curve of the inside of the can is very similar, an amplifier? Looking forward to seeing what the results of testing show
What?! This I gotta try. I've noticed that my 5th gen fob needs to be much closer to the car for the buttons to work than my 3rd gen fob did. So, the 5th gen fob is less useful for finding the car with the emergency horn button; by the time you're close enough for the button to work you can already see the car. If this open mouth megaphone trick works, it'd be great! Or, where do I buy one of these key fob amplifiers that the thieves use? (They're not cloners. If it were that easy to clone a fob, replacement fobs would be much cheaper and more easily available).
Yeah, this most definitely not "just a city problem". Maybe not so in middle-of-nowhere, rural Montana, but fob cloning thefts like this have been reported in many, many suburbs.
