Stolen to order - beware
 

Hi All. Here's the CCTV footage of my BMW 1M stolen without any keys in 3 minutes!
I know this isn't a BMW forum, but this is interesting for anyone with a high end car attractive to thieves or indeed anyone with this type of key.

This is my £43,000 BMW 1M Stolen at 3 am in under 3 minutes. They accessed the car's OBD port in the footwell by breaking the glass, reaching in and using a device to reprogram a blank key fob. The car was simply then unlocked and pushed off the drive and driven away. No Alarm went off, and later found out there is a 'void' on the inside of the car, so if you keep your arm close to the inside of the door and the dash, the alarm will not activate. Just enough room to get your arm down to the OBD port where you can re-program a blank key if you have the correct device (which you can buy in the internet!)

BMW don't seem to want to admit they have a problem on their cars. It affects all BMW’s with the electronic fob from 2006-2011. They are still producing cars with the OBD port located in the footwell in the same location, and I assume the same problem with the alarm. Over 300 cars were stolen in March 2012 in the West Midlands alone and apparently the Police told me in one night £250,000 worth of cars were stolen in the region.

So really just to warn you all of the issue and let you know about the new way cars are being stolen. Oh and don’t buy a BMW because they haven’t fixed the problem with their new cars! Enjoy.

Yikes.

Well there is your problem, the steering wheel is on the wrong side.

I do not like all of these proximity keys where you just walk upto the car with the key in your pocket and the doors unlock, climb in and hit the start button and the engine starts.

This is very helpful information because we all own Land Rovers, they don't have proximity keys, and they're all low-tech/minimum of 9 years old. Oh - and at an average value of around $5K, there's a very high theft rate!

Please keep us apprised on this issue, as well as Toyota brake failures, Hyundai MPG questionability and everything else that is completely unrelated to Land Rover

RedAustinIX

:p

I was kinda hoping some one would steal mine.... I'll be able to follow the trail of oil and ATF from the power steering pump...lol.

My LR has been broken into. The aftermath was as follows:

Broken scissor-type jack in my driveway, under the LR's front axle, passenger side.
No damage to the doors - thankfully. Not 100% sure why.
Instrument bezel and column broken - wiring made rather a mess.
One rounded off wheel nut on the front passenger side.
After all repairs LR still dead as a doornail.

I figure I know what happened. At first, I'm guessing these would-be thieves went after my tires. I'd just put a rather nice set of off-road tires on, and this also happens to be the correct size for your big-three 4x4 3/4 ton truck (depending on year, options etc of course). The vehicle's weight was apparently too much for the scissor jack, which seems to have seen much use before being reduced to scrap metal.

Also they apparently did not have the correct size wrench - I suspect they tried a crescent-style wrench instead! I say this because like most of us I've rounded a nut or two with one before. Not sure why bother with the tires with no jack - maybe they figured to push the vehicle off the wheel somehow - no clue...

Failing to steal tires, it was time to steal the entire vehicle outright. Much splicing and scratching all came to naught, and I can only imagine them leaving in frustration. Even after repair the old lady wouldn't start back up for me.

The battery was in the garage.

I'd find a way to relocate that OBD port if I were a Bimmer owner. If nothing else, make an extension and put the point of union to the original port behind a panel where they can't touch it from the alarm void zone.

Defenders are stolen nearly daily in the UK for the same reason. They are stolen to order and exported all over Europe. we have a website to report them landywatch.co.uk

Man, who do I contact to have one relocated to my driveway?

Call Fed Ex, they will ship you one right over..