A guy who lives down the street has had  a red mk3 Octavia up until last week, when the car got stolen from in front of his house... the car was parked on the street, his wife woke up at 3am to some "beepy noises", then she heard a car door being shut, and then engine howling, tires screaming as the ****** took off with the car.

No broken glass, no sign of any damage done to the car.

 

Apparently the built-in factory protection isn't worth much - they guy swears he's never left his keys out of sight since they had the car, still they just opened and started the car apparently without any issue.

 

So this got me thinking - fortunately I can park my car overnight in the locked front yard, but I'd still like to have some kind of additional protection.

I gave the dealer a call and I was told they'd install some kind of Skoda-approved gear lever lock. (after what happened to the neighbour, I don't trust any dealer-installed electronic anti-theft solution, and since the car is under warranty, I don't want anyone 3rd party mess with the electronics).

 

They said it looks really aesthetic and the key hole is not in sight.

Do any of you guys have the lock installed ? Any thoughts, experiences ? I'd be most interested in a picture - where the keyhole is and how the thing looks.

 

thanks,

Tiv

 

 

Did he have kessy?

Gear lock is mechanic protection, not electronic, and if you dont have a dsg, this isnt much of a help, because the clutch can be pressed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcIkO4igOdM

It's probably something like a defendlock.

Very common in Czech Republic.

Its a lock bolt for the gear linkage. But as said, the car can still be rolled away clutch down.

My friend who had just got the new Focus RS is paranoid after seeing how easy it is for people to steal the car using the OBD port.

 

He is using one of those 'Disclock' things that fit over the steering wheel. I'm not sure how good they are but I suppose its a bit of a deterrent and would slow them in their tracks. 

 

The only thing is that its a pain in the arse messing about with it every morning and night and its always clogging up the foot well when the car is in use

http://www.defendautomotive.cz/en/products/vehicle-security/mechanical-gearshift-lock.html

 

 

 

I would be very surprised, if they stole it without a key!

Kessy case or non-kessy case?

Thanks for the pic.

 

The car did not have keyless entry.

Keys would have been needed to start it on a non keyless car (there are vulnerabilities with some keyless systems). Period. Unless there is something new in town that can replicate the key code. And even then the ecu is paired to that barrel and that key only?

Edited 19 July, 20169 yr by Mallettsmallett

Also, how does he know there's no sign of damage to the car, did he get it back?

Well, I wasn't there so I cannot tell you what exactly has happened, but: they did not smash the windows (no broken glass), so they must have had a method to open the car cleanly and silently. Mechanical method or electronic - who knows.

Many aftermarket car alarm/anti-theft installers tell 1st line of defense is disabling the OBD connector. I don't know how these things work, but when I took my last  car (a 2003 one!) to the mechanic a few years back, I saw them plugging in a test computer and initiating a diag sequence which included a lots of wizardry I did not think was possible just by a computer wired to the car.

I guess with a modern car much more is possible, esp. if you have physical access to all the wiring and parts.

Of course they still could have had a mole in the dealership making a copy of the key when the car was serviced - those things are not unheard of either.

 

And no, the car was not recovered - even with calling the police practically in the minute the car was stolen.

I'm wondering now if it makes any sense to have a mechanical lock on a DSG. It's a purely electronic being and the "shifter" is not much more than a controller, probably easily bypassed by software / OBD...

Is this a mk 3? I would like to know how they got past the deadlocks. Once locked, you can't open the doors from inside or out, in theory.

If he hasn't seen the car since its all speculation.

Back in the simple days, I had an Astra GTE and even though I had a fricking expensive Clifford in it, the only thing that let me sleep at night was a hidden kill switch I wired in line on the ign feed so even hot wiring it wouldn't work.

Edited 20 July, 20169 yr by Mallettsmallett