Did anyone see the story today on National CTV News with Lisa Laflame on the Toronto owners of 2017 and 2018 RX-350's? One very discouraged owner has already has had 3 vehicles stolen even though the cars were locked up and the keys were in their houses!! Apparently the thieves somehow use devices that connect wirelessly to the Key Fobs in the locked Houses then they drive the RX 350's away.The vehicles were locked. Four other people were interviewed, another owner and his wife had Both their RX 350's taken that were parked & locked in their driveways. The guy that had 3 RX 350's stolden over the last 2 years wants Lexus to get him off his lease. This is very troubling as I was just test driving a new 2018 RX 350 to trade up to for my 9 year old Venza.

Lexus Canada in the CTV news story video clip said they are looking into the problem - they said they were always striving to improve their Vehicles?? Not very comforting! Anyone else heard about these RX 350 theft problems?

 

It's not only Lexus.

 

Let me tell you that it is not only Lexus that has this problem, but all the cars that start with a push button.

What you can do is buy a small metal box (like the ones sold to store petty cash) and put you key fobs in it, which will create a Faraday cage which will prevent electromagnetic signals to come in or out.

The equipment that thieves use to "talk" to the key fob and relay it to their box that is in proximity of the vehicle to let them unlock and start the vehicle wont be able to by blocking the signal.

 

Read this on several other forums. Is it a standard petty cash box that will work?

 

Any box that is made of iron (tin, steel).

You can even use a losange box that is made of metal.

 

I see they make pouches as well that serve the same purpose.

 

Yep, it's 2018, the crooks are getting smarter and target the higher end vehicles to make it worth their trouble, Mercs, Bms, Audi, all the same.

 

This situation was aggravated by the owner NOT parking in the garage, but out there for every thief to see. All no key starters have the same problem, it's that Lexus is in higher demand.

 

This problem his dumb. Remember way back in the day when people in cities had their cell numbers scraped by people driving by or walking by you with the units in their pocket? Not a problem now. I don't understand why this is an issue.

Anyway, if you have an EZPass you can use that bag. The Faraday bags on Amazon are a ripoff. Go and buy any internal piece of computer equipment and it should come in a faraday bag. And yes, any metal container should work also.

 

Thanks guys yes that Faraday Cage idea is great info. Maybe even put the keys inside an old Altoids Box! But with my Venza I got 2 Key Fobs so I guess Both would have to fi,t that is if Lexus supplies 2 Key Fobs.

 

if only 1 fob is used, the other can be put to sleep, i also do this when staying in hotels/motels.
hold lock and hit unlock twice ?? some combination like that and the red light blinks 4 times.

 

Inreresting feature! I did not know about it!

 

Nice find. However it relies on people actually remembering to do this.

But, that aside, I was curious about this subject so i did some poking around. Found this: http://www.lessemf.com/cellphon.html
Check that site out. All things EMF.

 

I'll spend $2 on a new battery every year before I bother with this every time I park the car.

 

What Lexus needs to do is stop letting the car run and drive forever until you shut the car off if the key is not detected.... I dont care how good the thief transmitter is cause its not going to pick up the receiving end of your key if its like 1mile away. Some car manufacturers have put a safety feature to have the car shut off when you put it in park and will not let you start the car unless the key is detected and some will cut off the power if you put it in drive from park mode if key is not detected and i know audi have something like if the key is not detected you can drive only up to 15mph anything over the engine will kill itself.