At least 3 Kona electric were stolen in Madrid (Spain) The last two had bluelink servives and their owner received a notification "The vehicle has been successfully deactivated" one of the owners only took 2 minutes from the alert and the car was gone
That seems to be unknown at this time but from my minimal research yesterday I believe the Tik Tok referenced USB cable is only used as a tool to turn the ignition lock after breaking its plastic (!) body and disabling the steering lock. The issue seems to only apply to cars without an immobiliser.
That's why they break the window first. To gain access. Not that much more sophisticated than when I used to hot wire my dad's car. Never worked out why his fuel gauge was always lower in the morning. At least that's what he let me think.
This video had some interesting clues. -> VIN provides a key cut pattern and PIN via internet website -> Cut new key and open door. No broken glass required. -> Override alarm and immobiliser security with the PIN and an OBD diagnostic pad -> Drive off.
I could develop a habit of putting my cap over the S/N on the dash after parking, but that would probably just cost me a smashed window given the $ of an EV these days. Guess I will have to hope the "robber" is in stupid mode and goes for that gas guzzling behemoth parked in front
Unbelievably, the VIN of every car on the road here can be looked up in seconds based on the license plate.
Your probably all aware that you can read the VIN through the space in the mask on the bottom left of the windscreen?
I never thought about the security implications of that until now. On my Kona I can slide a piece of paper between the windscreen and dash to hide the VIN. I might think about this as a permanent thing - cut it down, tidy it up, stick a retrieval tag on it for removal when required.
I wish I could fix it that easily in NZ although it's possible that having a visible VIN may be technically required when parked on public roads. I've already penned an email to our Minister of Transportation about this issue and bought a "club" steering wheel lock even though I think the risk is low.
Unless you obscure or remove your rego plates which is illegal, hiding the VIN is probably tilting at windmills. I googled my rego plates. The first hit was a legitimate site where you could search a rego number to find out, for a small fee (AUD$9.90, payable instantly via Paypal), if a used car you intend to buy is free of encumbrance, is not rebirthed, stolen, statutory write-off, rego expiry date etc. It also provides a VIN, so hiding it on the vehicle only provides a short inconvenience to a would be thief if he/she chose to use that database. Maybe enough to make them move on to an easier target, maybe not.
