SkydotCom

Maybe it was the cop's son and his friends. His dad feels bad so he return the camera. J/K
Or maybe its true. Not all cops are good.

jlin101

it's no fiction--cases have been reported in Europe. The days of car thieves wielding coat hangers and crowbars are long over. Electronic crime is the way of the future. It takes all of 5 sec for the would-be thief to interrogate your fob for codes, using a laptop. Be careful when a stranger accosts you in the cafe and asks you if that's your nice Lexus out there. This is not that dissimilar to home burglars who scan for your garage opener's code.

Bengalfang

I don't think Ken doesn't believe in car thieves with laptops. The other guy just made it seem like the common everyday car thief has laptops and can crack these new keyless entry systems. Sure people can, but by far most are trying to do it the old fashioned way. From what it sounds like, I really doubt this little thug that got caught was using a laptop to break into cars.

jlin101

true, those that crack the code will take the car. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that difficult for someone to pick the lock and lower the windows using the door lock cylinder.

duckduck

wow. interesting. I live in the DB/Walnut area, although I'm in a more secluded part of DB. Car break-ins are getting more common. Seems like they have you marked as a sucker =(. I had a friend in Rowland Heights have his BMW 3 series stolen in his garage. He just got home, got out of his car, only to find himself being held at gunpoint. The guy drove off with the car, and it hasn't been found since. At least the cops found your stuff as well as catch one (better than none) of the thieves. I hope they catch the rest of them.

dana_daen

Man I remember some cats( people), when I was younger who would take a street and check every single car door on it and take what ever they could....... if the door was left unlocked in the middle of the night, especially In a nice quiet neighbourhood.

edslock

A teenager with a laptop .. ha no way . I am a locksmith and unlock these all the time. You left the car unlocked dude. Maybe sat on remote .. whatever, if the car was locked the alarm will sound for about 2 min and reset if someone tries to unlock w/o the key or remote. It is not possible to turn the door lock cylinder with a screwdriver, much less try to turn it with no damage, unless they have a key. If they were that good your car would be gone too. try to remember back if one or all doors were unlocked when you discovered the theft. Although possible to clone some remotes, I have not heard of this on a Lexus since someone has to enable the programming mode with exsisting key and remote. Additionally , for the max security your vehicle has to offer in stock mode, lock the door with the key. This action sets a switch in the door that remains in the locked state until unlocked with your key, no electronic signals are xmited for some teeenager with a laptop or anyone else for that matter to capture. Not to en-flame some that think electronic security means the state of the art , but you should know the US nuclear arsenal is secured by mechanical locking systems with billions of possible combinations and electronic sensors are a backup . Your Lexus is similar, physically secured with hardware to thwart theft some where in the middle of a desert against all comers, and electronic countermeasures to deny use of or confound the use of additional areas of operation of electronic controls embeaded within the ecm. In this state , you see that you are in control of your vehicle security.
Mods! I am sorry for making this long *** post. Maybe use part for a sticky.

ULTiMaX99

iTrader: (5)

i visit ppo's houses for work and you'd be surprised how many minivan doors were left open on accident and how many times ppo left their keys in the front door.

rys

There are plenty of ways to open the vehicle without forcing entry. Most likely it was left unlocked. I've been a lock smith "in a past life" (former job at one point in my life). The Lexus is no different than any other vehicle in that it has a physical lock rod in the door.

The lock rod is connected to the plastic lock switch above the interior pull handle. (The piece that is red when the car is unlocked and hides the red when it is locked.)

All that is required is professional locksmith tools. There are several ways to unlock.

On a frameless door (not our cars), one can use a thin metal rod to manipulate the unlock button on the inside.

On our cars, a gap will be made on the exterior of the vehicle between the window and the body. I haven't checked yet but there are several ways to unlock, either a special tool can be inserted to grab the lock rod that is attached to the plastic bit on the interior. Once the rod is "bound", sliding it to the front or rear of the vehicle will unlock the car. (This is like the slimjim methodof opening the vehicle but it would leave less marks around the window's weather stripping if performed correctly). Also, there is a special tool that is designed to be inserted down into the door, pulled up into the vehicle, and then will touch the lock mechanism (as you would with your fingers). Not sure if it would work for the Lexus. Last, if there is a switch that is touched by the key cylinder (for the unlock by using the physical key), creating a gap, and manipulating the switch manually would cause the vehicle to unlock.

-Brian

onihc

iTrader: (1)

Hey RYS
Would slim jam method work if our door lock actuated by a cable rather than a rod?

thanks

rys

No, the slim jim method would not work if the door lock worked by cable. You'd have to find some way to manipulate the actual cable within the cable's sheath (probably at the end point).

I haven't bothered to look in the IS. Also, for those of you that think you'd like to poke around in there, be very careful. There _may_ be sensors in there for the side air bags.

-Brian

OutlawsX

If it's happened before, it's prolly some kids in your neighborhood checking random vehicles.

I was wondering about the 2IS alarms.. after leaving the car, does it Auto lock the car after a certain time if I don't press the alarm? Because maybe that's what happened to you if it doesn't auto lock it and you merely forgot to press alarm. (* Haven't opened this section in the manual so excuse my ignorance).

kensteele

The car will not automatically lock it's own doors. It will re-lock automatically but it will not lock automatically.

yov6cam

I think the fact you thought it locks automatically after 30 seconds is the problem. Sorry to hear about that, makes me even more wary about locking mine.

knuckles

Since this has been brought up, does anyone know the encryption bit strength of the Smart Access system?