Car broken in to - how?

[lander99]

MG4 Car broken in to - how?

Hi - our MG4 Long range was broken into recently, locked and in an open off street car park. Car wasn't taken but back seat down, glove box open - looking for something valuable to take. They did take the Octopus charging card which has credit on, but haven't used it yet so I can cancel and get a new one.

Any idea on how they did this? Cloned key/app?

all thoughts welcome

 

[siteguru]

A window went down unexpectedly? (The window switches are quite easy to catch, especially the rear switches as you open the driver door to get out).

 

[lander99]

A window went down unexpectedly? (The window switches are quite easy to catch, especially the rear switches as you open the driver door to get out).

nope - all locked up as normal

 

[Silver estate]

Very easy with keyless entry etc
Alll they need is a lap top and other bits then sit in another car nearby and when you lock the car they hijack the signal code and reopen the car ,
They can even fool the. Immobiliser
Best deterrent now is the good old steering wheel lock

 

[lander99]

Very easy with keyless entry etc
Alll they need is a lap top and other bits then sit in another car nearby and when you lock the car they hijack the signal code and reopen the car ,
They can even fool the. Immobiliser
Best deterrent now is the good old steering wheel lock

Thank you for taking the trouble to reply and very interesting. BUT

• they didn't steal the car
• that seems an awful lot of trouble just to rummage around looking for stuff (unless of course they were disturbed in the act)
• should have said, it's a small 10-space car park by a small block of flats surrounded by hedges - not like it was in a giant Tesco card park

 

[webhiker]

Given the above extra details, most likely the car was actually not locked. Sorry

 

[siteguru]

Was the spare key inside the car (e.g. in a bag in the boot)? That would prevent the car actually locking.

 

[OriginalBigAl]

Maybe you locked it, then accidentally pressed the unlock button as you walked away hidden from view by the hedges? and the culprits got lucky.

 

[Martinonline]

Sorry to hear about the break-in and glad the car's ok. The experts will know this, but does not the key fob locking/unlocking function use a different protocol/mechanism than that used to put the car into Ready mode?

@lander99,did you lock the car using the key fob or the door button?

 

[bedsev]

Sorry to hear this, my tought would be that maybe you locked it and it didn't lock. If anything is open a bit then it won't lock and does a horn beep. If you walked into the house then clicked the fob it's possible you didn't hear it?

 

[Ian Key]

If you keep both keys in Faraday pouches then it wasn't opened by a relay attack, and if there is no damage to the locks or doors then it's starting to look like the car wasn't locked or a window was left open.

 

[tsedge]

There has been the odd report of some MG4s not locking all the doors correctly. Might be an idea for members to test this (without the key nearby) to be sure this is rare.

 

[siteguru]

Something's nagging the back of my mind that someone else here had an issue with doors not locking reliably - they had to press the fob button twice as I recall. I think it was linked to the setting for unlocking doors being set to Driver's Door Only rather than All Doors; changing to All Doors resolved the issue.

(I may be doing a Hilary Clinton and "misremembering" but the above rings a bell).

 

[STG]

Did you get a notification from iSmart app?

 

[stevesos]

In South Africa the boot/glove box thieves use a signal blocking device, they hide in a neighboring car as the owner leaves they jam the signal when you lock the car wait for the owner to go to the shops and clear the boot and glove box.

 

[DixieTGS]

The SE with whatever software versions I have only notifies on the car starting to move or on faults, so even if it had been locked I'm not sure a notification would have been sent.

 

[fnegroni]

The SE with whatever software versions I have only notifies on the car starting to move or on faults, so even if it had been locked I'm not sure a notification would have been sent.

Yes it would have been.

 

[Ekips]

Something's nagging the back of my mind that someone else here had an issue with doors not locking reliably - they had to press the fob button twice as I recall. I think it was linked to the setting for unlocking doors being set to Driver's Door Only rather than All Doors; changing to All Doors resolved the issue.

(I may be doing a Hilary Clinton and "misremembering" but the above rings a bell).

If you set the door button to drivers door only and you unlock the car with the door button then drive slowly eg moving to put the bins out or let another car out etc and don't go above the speed for the doors to auto lock then when you exit and press the door button it will do the 2nd press action and open all doors not lock and you expect

I now always watch the wing mirrors when locking, if they fold the car is locked.

There have been thieves that use jammers, so u press the lock and walk away and the signal is blocked so the car does not lock then the thieve can go up after ur gone and take what they want but not drive it.

 

[GameZone]

Did you get a notification from iSmart app?

You only get that if someone tried to open the locked car from the inside.

 

[tsedge]

I always check by looking at the mirrors, but this doesn't help SE owners.