Car remote jamming

H

HavocXphere

Honorary Master
Joined
Oct 19, 2007
Messages
33,153
Reaction score
1,297
Location
Europe
Quick heads-up

That trick where the tsotsis block the signal of your car's remote...its becoming more prevalent. Friends recently got their car raided that way.

Make sure you either hear the locking sounds or see the lights flashing when walking away.
 
Yea - I always double check.

I heard it was gate/garages remotes, so I tried locking my car while trying all the gate remotes - but nothing happened. Guess it's not that simple ...
 
It could still be gate/garage remotes, just not the ones you tested. It all depends on how the remotes operate. From what I understand, some remotes have a wide-spectrum output, effectively spamming the air with all frequencies, causing electronic noise to all but the intended 'recipient'. This results is the car receiver not picking up the 'lock' signal in all this noise, and therefore not locking the car.

Best practice would be to lock the car while standing next to it, and as the OP stated, make sure the car is actually locked before walking away.
 
The way it is done is to jamm the frequency , normally 2.4 G .Transmit a frequency stronger than your remote so no code can get to your car , gate what ever
 
2.4?

The say in the article the spectrum is 433mhz ...
 
I always brushed this off as an urban legend till a few weeks ago. Went for lunch to a local Spar with a colleague and her car would not lock at first, then when we returned it would not unlock - another owner was having a problem with his cars remote as well.

Took a while before we could unlock my friends car and had to place her remote near her sensor (her husband was able to tell us where).

As soon as she got back to the office, her remote was working 100%.

I confirmed with someone that worked on military radar projects that jamming is not only possible but a reality.
 
I've done this myself.

Keep the gate remote button pressed in, the car sensor effectively spends all its time analyzing and rejecting the gate remote signal and cannot read the car remote signal.

We tested it with Opel and Toyota remotes, An Audi remote seemed to not be affected by it.
 
Not all remotes work. Stupidly the other way around is pretty universal: Seems like most if not all car types are affected.

cbrunsdonza said:
had to place her remote near her sensor (her husband was able to tell us where).
Click to expand...
Yeah the car manufacturers can't make the cars accept "close enough" signals...so it doesn't even have to be properly jammed....just disrupting it a bit is good enough.

Apparently Mercs are particularly popular for this tactic because they don't make a noise.
 
HavocXphere said:
Not all remotes work. Stupidly the other way around is pretty universal: Seems like most if not all car types are affected.


Yeah the car manufacturers can't make the cars accept "close enough" signals...so it doesn't even have to be properly jammed....just disrupting it a bit is good enough.

Apparently Mercs are particularly popular for this tactic because they don't make a noise.
Click to expand...

Don't make a noise? You mean I'm just imagining that parrot-like "tweet-tweet" when I lock mine? Or the 3 hooter beeps from the newer models? Egads, I've gone mental.
 
TJ99 said:
Don't make a noise? You mean I'm just imagining that parrot-like "tweet-tweet" when I lock mine? Or the 3 hooter beeps from the newer models? Egads, I've gone mental.
Click to expand...
Not an expert on Mercs so I'll take your word for it. The no noise part is what I was told...maybe it was intended as "if jammed they don't make a noise" or perhaps only some models do. Pretty sure they keyless ones for example don't.
 
cbrunsdonza said:
Took a while before we could unlock my friends car and had to place her remote near her sensor (her husband was able to tell us where).

As soon as she got back to the office, her remote was working 100%.
Click to expand...

You do realise that you could have then just unlocked the car using the key o.O
or do some of the fancy cars just not have the conventional key at all any more?
 
Well yes obviously if the signal was jammed they wouldn't make a sound. But that goes for any car because it's not locked.

The keyless ones might not make a sound, but they lock as soon as they stop sensing the key fob. So interference would only make the car lock. Also the article refers to a 2008 C200. The C-Class only started having that option in 2010 iirc.
 
My point was simply that not all of them chirp just because yours does.

Google the damn merc chirp. It depends on regional settings and model. Some chirp others don't. Your dealer can enable & disable it via DAS.
 
I tested this on a BMW and a SAAB, it worked 100% with the remote that I was using.

The car remotes were completely disabled !!!

So beware, this is not a myth !
 
Riot2 said:
You do realise that you could have then just unlocked the car using the key o.O
or do some of the fancy cars just not have the conventional key at all any more?
Click to expand...

My colleague did not want to set off her car alarm as she was afraid she might not be able to disable it. The other motorist ended up having the problem of his alarm not being able to be switched off.
 
They can also do it for other cars. Point is they normally don't. Also there was another article about this a few years ago saying some of the crooks have devices that makes the sound as well. Always check the indicators are flashing when locking.
 
Seriously? Who walks away from their car without checking it first? Talk about the height of laziness!
 
Twista said:
You will be surprised! :-)
Click to expand...

I sometimes walk away, and click while i'm walking. Always close enough to hear the "bloop bloop" of the vw. If I don't hear it, I turn back, and watch for the lights.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X