Car Thefts via Headlights, Other Wiring
Wed, 10/04/2023 - 3:27pm
14 years
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Not to detract from the other thread about car thefts via key fob cloning, here's yet another high tech method available and in use by thieves.
https://www.kbb.com/car-news/thieves-stealing-cars-through-h...
puzzling
Not to detract from the other thread about car thefts via key fob cloning, here's yet another high tech method available and in use by thieves.
https://www.kbb.com/car-news/thieves-stealing-cars-through-headlight-hack/
Many modern cars, where the turn and marker lamps are integrated into the headlight, and pre LED (as LED rarely requires individual replacement of bulbs, rather the unit fails instead), have extensive labor associated with simply replacing a bulb. So how is it that thieves have access to the underlying wiring, is what I would wonder.
imho, my .02, ymmv, this is yet another one of those types of writings designed to alarm folks maybe into buying a new car lol
"Headlight Wires Provide Easy Access" doesn't pass muster
I found a YouTube showing this process, and the channel had all of 156 subscribers, and there was no way to tell if it were simply staged (hooded guys around a Toyota Rav 4, and they drive away in < 2 min.)
Possible? Why not. Likely? I'm not worried and I doubt anyone should be. If someone wants your vehicle, they can physically take it using a wrecker, they don't need to hack it.
Can be done, using the CAN bus
This type of hack can be done and accomplished through any access to the vehicle wiring which yields access to the vehicle Controller Area Network ('CAN bus") . On many cars, simply the removal of the grill gets you into an area with multiple harnesses.
For an interesting read on the subject, see https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/to-steal-todays-c...
John from PA
More a CAN Bus Security Vulnerability
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imho, my .02, ymmv, this is yet another one of those types of writings designed to alarm folks maybe into buying a new car lol
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In the market for a new car myself, I came away with the opposite impression--that it was a disincentive.