Thieves scoping Taycan

[DavidUK]

I had a Taycan on an extended test drive for a few days. One of the night times a neighbour reported on the street WhatsApp group, that someone has been loitering outside the house in the early hours. They managed to disturb them so it was all okay in the end. But it was pretty obvious that they were scoping the Porsche out. Have other people have this happening to them too?

I presume it also means someone followed Us at some point. We live in a secluded cul-de-sac, so it was purposeful. It’s made my wife uneasy about having one.

Then I also heard a rumour that people can sit outside your house and track where the key is whether it’s upstairs downstairs or nearby?

Is it a common thing?

Is this all only if you have comfort access? Or possible even if that’s not present?

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[David Baldwino]

Only person I personally know who lost one was when he left it at the airport meet and greet, Manchester! ….they said it went from their secure yard…with the keys. Note - wheels are £5k min so best not leave it for too long on a street me thinks

 

[WuffvonTrips]

Could it not "just" be random street scum wandering around looking for easy pickings from unlocked cars, or taking the presence of a fancy car as promise of high value goods in the house? Were your house and car the only ones being cased?

 

[BigBob]

I opted out of comfort/keyless access. Sales guy said he'd had a few customers lose stuff out of their boots. Didn't mention cars being stolen though. So if you have comfort access you can disable it pretty easily. I've done that on our other car.

Scanning for smart keys is definitely a thing which can happen when you're out and about (think car getting stolen at a shopping centre etc), but most likely (I'd guess) is the relay theft from your home at night - a guy with a scanner by your front door and his chum by your car with a cloned key. So disable/don't option the feature and it removes this line of attack.

Get yourself a steering lock and consider buying a Land rover as well - As they'll just come and steal that instead.

Final thought, they may just have followed a nice car on the basis you'll probably have a nice house that's worth a look. Doubt that's a Porsche thing specifically, so unless you want to drive a clunker....

Or maybe random street scum!

 

[Fish Fingers]

I wouldn't get Comfort Access in the UK. Relay theft is a dream come true for thieves.

I am keen on security following a previous incident and can say that there are very, very few cases of Taycans being targeted as far as I can tell.

No great market for parts (yet) and the car needs to work with the 'mother ship' really. So it's not much use as a stolen 'ringer'.
So that takes away the 2 main reasons leaving JoyRide, getaway car and theft from car.

I have mine plugged into the charger (charger is an extra thing for thieves to worry about) most nights and the Ring cams on 'person alert' overnight. The Ring doorbell cam covers the car.

I worry far less now than when I had Golf R / Audi S / BMW M etc.

 

[Fish Fingers]

Previous thread....
https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/how-attractive-is-the-taycan-really-to-car-thieves.14513/

 

[Midlifecrisis]

Don’t worry about relay theft. It is easy to disable in the car if you want and the key is very easily turned off by pressing the open and lock buttons together for 2 seconds. Perhaps get some CCTV cameras fitted. They are easy to fit yourself if you are practically minded

 

[Porsche-Guru]

The relay theft issue was fixed by most manufacturers few years back (including VW, Merc, BMW).
Most modern key fobs do not transmit any signals once stationary for a while - so there is nothing to relay. Key fobs will open transmission when they detect movement. So a keyfob lying on a shelf is as good as dead.
Relay theft happening in shopping centres, etc… is because the key is in your pocket/ handbag - so there is movement and it’s signals can be amplified and relayed…

At home, If you are still concerned, put the keys in a faraday pouch…

 

[Midlifecrisis]

The relay theft issue was fixed by most manufacturers few years back (including VW, Merc, BMW).
Most modern key fobs do not transmit any signals once stationary for a while - so there is nothing to relay. Key fobs will open transmission when they detect movement. So a keyfob lying on a shelf is as good as dead.
Relay theft happening in shopping centres, etc… is because the key is in your pocket/ handbag - so there is movement and it’s signals can be amplified and relayed…

At home, If you are still concerned, put the keys in a faraday pouch…

The Porsche key doesn’t have a movement sensor. Turn it off as above if you want it to stop transmitting

 

[Porsche-Guru]

The Porsche key doesn’t have a movement sensor. Turn it off as above if you want it to stop transmitting

Honestly, that is quite poor from Porsche … this was the first fix done by a lot of manufacturers (as soon as relay theft started to become an issue) quickly followed by changing security keys on each lock/ unlock… so a previously sniffed (man in the middle) signal packet could not be used to open the car later…

 

[tchavei]

Don’t worry about relay theft. It is easy to disable in the car if you want and the key is very easily turned off by pressing the open and lock buttons together for 2 seconds. Perhaps get some CCTV cameras fitted. They are easy to fit yourself if you are practically minded

This.

Not only is it great when you're washing your car (prevents unwanted boot opening etc) but I also disable the keys whenever I'm at a mall or similar and I'm afraid I'll inadvertently unlock the car or open the boot (or god forbid a relay attack). It's 2 seconds.

My secondary Key is at home disabled with the same method to save the battery.

 

[Leverage]

Bought a faraday box and overnight I put all the keys in it.

 

[satchurator]

The Porsche key doesn’t have a movement sensor. Turn it off as above if you want it to stop transmitting

I believe it does have a motion sensor. Thatcham Research rated the MY20 Taycan's Security as 'Superior'. Do you have definitive information that the Taycan key does not have motion sensor relay attack mitigation?
https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/are-the-keys-safe-from-relay-theft.6636/

 

[Midlifecrisis]

I believe it does have a motion sensor. Thatcham Research rated the MY20 Taycan's Security as 'Superior'. Do you have definitive information that the Taycan key does not have motion sensor relay attack mitigation?
https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/are-the-keys-safe-from-relay-theft.6636/

I have never read anywhere that it does have a motion sensor… do you have any definitive information that it does? I don’t have anything to prove it doesn’t. I suppose it wouldn’t be too difficult to test it though

 

[satchurator]

I have never read anywhere that it does have a motion sensor… do you have any definitive information that it does? I don’t have anything to prove it doesn’t. I suppose it wouldn’t be too difficult to test it though

Not specific to the Taycan, but as of 2019 here is a Porsche PR piece noting Thatcham's upgrading of the Macan's security assessment to Superior, specifically on account of "a motion sensor function on the key fob".

I would suggest that it's reasonable to assume that this is standard on all Porsche keys since then, rather than specific to the Macan.

https://press.porsche.co.uk/prod/pr...nsf/Content?ReadForm&languageversionid=958305

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