My old mate of nearly 60 years has had his Toyota Rav4 (poor taste I know!) stolen from the B&Q, New Malden car park. He was gone for less than 20 minutes! He reported it to the police straight away and was given a crime number but the police have now informed him that they have dropped the case through "lack of evidence"! That doesn't exactly inspire any confidence that, should you have your "pride and joy" stolen, you have any hope of ever seeing it again. 

That got me thinking about the Scout's security....

I believe that an alarm is set every time the car is locked from the key fob but (fortunately) have never heard it set-off.

Am I correct in this assumption and is there a way to test it (without wrecking the car)?

How difficult is it to steal a Scout and is there any device I can buy to improve security (mine's the automatic version)?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

John 

Open the car window and then double lock with the alarm on an put an arm in the window and wave it about.

Or sit in the car double lock it and set the alarm and see if the interior sensor works.

Lock the car and set the alarm and then give it a bit of a rock on the suspension, not a rock or half brick through the window.

 

If they want your car they will have it.

Old Style Steering Wheel big yellow type locks are as much a deterrent as anything, not stopping anyone getting in the car though, 

or just keying it because they fancy doing that.

Edited 5 November, 20187 yr by Offski

Cheers for that. I usually press the fob lock button twice to make sure I remembered to lock the car but, I must confess I didn't realise that I needed to press it twice to set the alarm! I'll make sure that I do in future! Is there any visible indicator on the car to show that the alarm is set? 

 

Pressing the fob lock button twice, disables the deadlocks and also disables interior alarm sensors.

As Kenny has said, the alarm is armed with a single press.

 

That said, I'm sure you can only disable the interior sensors by pressing the button on the pillar beside the drivers seat. 

 

Double pressing will disable the deadlocks, but should keep the alarm still fully armed.

Sorry to appear a bit thick but......

When leaving the car is it one press on the fob lock button to lock the car AND set the alarm or two?

Is there a visual indication that the alarm is set?

 

 

 

Sorry but my last post overlapped gRoberts reply! So I'll just press once to set all security measures then! 

Reading the manual (https://ws.skoda-auto.com/OwnersManualService/Data/en/Octavia_5E/05-2016/Manual/Octavia/A7_Octavia_OwnersManual.pdf?_ga=2.31008895.1723216336.1541424053-1b4691cf-b83c-4334-92b5-015fc90f0968) suggests:

 

 

To disable the interior sensors:

 

 

Regarding SafeLock (Deadlocks) -

 

 

- In summary,

 

The alarm is always activated upon locking the car (one press or two), however the interior monitors can be disabled by pressing the button beside the drivers seat.

 

SafeLock is also always activated by default, however to disable this, you must press the lock button a second time within a short period of time.

 

If you disable the deadlocks, the alarm will still be activated.

 

HTH

If you're a dab with a soldering iron and splicing wires; you could wire in a switch for one of the CAN lines on the OBD port. 

 

Most security attacks on cars these days are through the OBD port. They break into the car, plug a tool in, turn off any alarm and then they just program a new key. 

 

CAN is made up of a twisted pair of wires, pins 6 and 14 on the OBD port, a single switch on one of the lines will stop a tool from being able to talk to the car. 

Thank you everybody for your help. I'm afraid I'm not much good with electronics so won't be having a go at the OBD port solution in case I muck something up beyond repair! 

 

 

 

As others have said, you can't really stop someone from stealing your car if they "really" want it. 

 

Have good insurance and don't make it easy for them.

 

That said if you're really worried. Look into the autowatch ghost immobiliser. 

Edited 5 November, 20187 yr by gRoberts

22 hours ago, gRoberts said:

Reading the manual (https://ws.skoda-auto.com/OwnersManualService/Data/en/Octavia_5E/05-2016/Manual/Octavia/A7_Octavia_OwnersManual.pdf?_ga=2.31008895.1723216336.1541424053-1b4691cf-b83c-4334-92b5-015fc90f0968) suggests:

 

 

To disable the interior sensors:

 

 

Regarding SafeLock (Deadlocks) -

 

 

- In summary,

 

The alarm is always activated upon locking the car (one press or two), however the interior monitors can be disabled by pressing the button beside the drivers seat.

 

SafeLock is also always activated by default, however to disable this, you must press the lock button a second time within a short period of time.

 

If you disable the deadlocks, the alarm will still be activated.

 

HTH

 

My 2017 Octavia has no button on the pillar to disable the internal sensors, and a double click on the remote does that.  

 

Easiest way I've found to test the alarm is stop for fuel with your significant other in the passenger seat.  Forgetting they are there for a moment lock the car as you go in to pay.  Wait a few moments.  

15 minutes ago, juan27 said:

My 2017 Octavia has no button on the pillar to disable the internal sensors, and a double click on the remote does that.  

 

Are you sure? All Octavia's with a factory alarm from at least 2014 onwards have an interior monitor deactivation switch, at least according to their user manuals. Double locking is only used to deactivate the SafeLock system.

 

Seems weird :/

 

17 minutes ago, juan27 said:

Easiest way I've found to test the alarm is stop for fuel with your significant other in the passenger seat.  Forgetting they are there for a moment lock the car as you go in to pay.  Wait a few moments.  

 

Always happens...

Just now, gRoberts said:

 

Are you sure? All Octavia's with a factory alarm from at least 2014 onwards have an interior monitor deactivation switch, at least according to their user manuals. Double locking is only used to deactivate the SafeLock system.

 

 

I am certain because I changed from a 2010 Mk2 with the button, and had used it fairly frequently when leaving our dog in the car. 

 

 

3 minutes ago, juan27 said:

 

I am certain because I changed from a 2010 Mk2 with the button, and had used it fairly frequently when leaving our dog in the car. 

 

 

 

Weird, seems the FL reverted to using the Infotainment instead. Ah well, useful to know since I'm getting an FL soon and I tend to lock the car with the kids in at petrol stations etc

17 hours ago, gRoberts said:

As others have said, you can't really stop someone from stealing your car if they "really" want it. 

 

Have good insurance and don't make it easy for them.

 

That said if you're really worried. Look into the autowatch ghost immobiliser. 

 

Waking up to the empty space that was occupied by your car is not pleasant (speaks from experience - two in one go this year) we had our front door lock 'snapped' and the car keys taken, didn't hear a thing! (luckily!).

The Cakemonster fleet all now have Diskloks and their keys aren't on the car keys. 

 

As above, just make someone else's car look easier

 

 

Edited 6 November, 20187 yr by Cakemonster
.

46 minutes ago, Cakemonster said:

 

Waking up to the empty space that was occupied by your car is not pleasant (speaks from experience - two in one go this year) we had our front door lock 'snapped' and the car keys taken, didn't hear a thing! (luckily!).

The Cakemonster fleet all now have Diskloks and their keys aren't on the car keys. 

 

As above, just make someone else's car look easier

 

 

You didn't hear someone prying your front door open, it sounds absurd but you probably wouldn't hear someone going at a disklok with a portable angle grinder either. There is a youtube video of one lasting about 3 minutes, a practiced thief could probably get that time under a minute.

1 hour ago, juan27 said:

 

I am certain because I changed from a 2010 Mk2 with the button, and had used it fairly frequently when leaving our dog in the car. 

 

 

Correct. It was present in my 2015 Octavia but on the 2018 FL model the option is only in the infotainment menu. 

57 minutes ago, ian_feel_keepin_it_reel said:

You didn't hear someone prying your front door open, it sounds absurd but you probably wouldn't hear someone going at a disklok with a portable angle grinder either. There is a youtube video of one lasting about 3 minutes, a practiced thief could probably get that time under a minute.

 

and there's video of snapping front locks in 9 seconds, and they tend to be in twos and threes, just in case you do hear them, even at 6' 5" and 18 stone+ a face full of acid would slow me down....

24 minutes ago, just music said:

Correct. It was present in my 2015 Octavia but on the 2018 FL model the option is only in the infotainment menu. 

 

I'm sure someone (dealer?) told me pressing the lock button twice disables the internal sensors, and it seems to have worked so far for me,  This is not documented in the handbook however.

20 hours ago, ian_feel_keepin_it_reel said:

CAN is made up of a twisted pair of wires, pins 6 and 14 on the OBD port, a single switch on one of the lines will stop a tool from being able to talk to the car. 

Many scan tools will warn that the CAN is operating in single wire mode and still function - so cutting just one of the twisted pair CAN wires is unlikely to be enough to prevent a determined attack via the diagnostic port.

Just now, PetrolDave said:

Many scan tools will warn that the CAN is operating in single wire mode and still function - so cutting just one of the twisted pair CAN wires is unlikely to be enough to prevent a determined attack via the diagnostic port.

I thought single wire CAN was a physical layer specific to a few manufacturers. The tester might think its on a single wire car but that doesn't guarantee the cars ecus will reply. To be safe though; wire in a switch for each line. 

After reading this thread I put it to the test today, window down double click on the fob, wait a few seconds then reached into the car..its a pretty loud alarm

12 hours ago, Greenie58 said:

After reading this thread I put it to the test today, window down double click on the fob, wait a few seconds then reached into the car..its a pretty loud alarm

 

OK Dog must just have kept still enough not to set it off I guess.