How are people stealing cars with Cat 1 alarms ?
 

There has been alot of thefts around my area recently,mainly of Impreza's and Evo's. Most of them have Cat 1 alarm and Immobilisers fitted so how are they managing to get around the systems so quickly ? One of the most common things being mentioned is that they get under the bonnet without activating the alarms and then rip the siren unit out !

The most recent theft of a scoob near me was caught on cctv,it had a cat 1 alarm and immobiliser but they were driving it off within 2 mins 20 seconds.

I appreciate certain things can't be posted on a public forum so if anyone has any information how they are doing this could you please PM me ;)

Good post mate
i wouldnt mind some info if any one has any ideas ,
glad i got a tracker installed as well:hjtwofing

cheers beanys

Well i'm under the impression that a Cat 1 alarm/immobiliser has to withstand attack for at least 5 minutes,so what's going on for these people to be able to drive peoples cars away that are parked on there driveways etc without making any noise within 2 or 3 minutes ?

i thought it was easier to break in and take the keys from off the fire place ect.

it is worrying though. i know a mate who's mates landrover deffender was stolen of a carpark while he was shopping, all on cctv. he said they pulled the headlight out and opened the bonnet and cut the siren then swapped what looked like the ecu and then just started it with a key and drove off. never to be seen again.

unfortunatly easily i will not descibe how. but unless you fit a cut to the fuel pump by the fuel pump any good car elecrician can tell you how to do it.

the problem would be to power up the fuel pump if the remote cut is in the rear and cables are run properly no one will get it quickly. autowatch do a little unit called key guard fit this at the back no one will find it. it is not a cat 2 but just a good idea. you have a 4 ch remote with a pin number. run a fused live feed and a ignition live whist cranking from the fuse box down the car with the standard wiring then connect the key guard simple
option 2 run the ignition live fused to a 5 pin relay pin 85 via a hidden switch and neg to pin 86, then cut the power to the fuel pump one on pin 30 and other on pin 87 this will do the same. but no where near as good as a key guard.

you can easily borrow a porker again not going to give model but everything is under the passenger seat! a couple of jobs ago i did work for a company that fixed stolen recovered cars being a auto sparks you would be shocked to see how easy it really is.

So,basically it's a total waste of money fitting a Cat 1 alarm if some thieving scum can nick it in 2 minutes flat :mad:

its always best to layer alarms with a seperate immobilisor from a seperate company or installer..........A few people in my old area had top end cars stolen as the installer was giving the info of how and where he fitted the main box and wiring.

me and my dad have had 4 scoobs stolen, a wrx wagon,wrx saloon, legacy turbo,and a gtb only had one found that was used for joy riding and then set on fire(legacy turbo). it destroys people when cars get stolen as it is usually the second most exspensive thing a person buys. i think the laws should be harder on the twockers! :mad:

no it not a waste of time best thing is using the fuel cut as most alarm installers cut the starter and main ignition. cliffords remote immobiler was a good idea originally came with the concept 600 but most installers did not fit them. again if you power the car up from the engine bay side you would not be going anywhere as this will be open circuit.

the autowatch key guard is bril i have fitted about 50 of these now on top of a cat 1

other options are the imob (i-mob) this is what i fit and use if fitted correctly you can stop the car using your mobile phone. i have fitted a remote brake lock to my car try moving it you can dump the clutch from 4k and it just laughs at you and stalls. if they remove the alarm then you would have to power up the remote hydralic brake lock. (not sure if legal to use but who cares the car will not go anywhere)

could not agree more we would chop off there hands if i had my way

What I really want to know is how these people are easily getting into these cars without triggering the alarms and driving them off within 2 or 3 minutes ? Feel free to PM me regarding that ;)

I'm just looking at ways of protecting my car and other peoples that I know because there's a hell of alot of thefts going on round here at the moment !

have sent pm

The thing that scares me the most, is the thought of someone breaking into the house to get the keys. Just the thought of being woken in the middle of the night by a masked man makes your stumach turn. Don't think they would go to those extrems to nick my standard MY00 uk turbo tho

PM returned ;)

they usually nick the keys if they can get them easlily do not leave them in the front door or in easy reach of your letter box. if you have a cliffird make sure black jacks is operational if not fit something like key guard by autowatch.

i was thinking about splicing into my siren wires and adding a 2nd siren in the boot etc,i know the immobilisor is a better tool to stop the car going rather than a siren going off but still,would stump them for 10 seconds or so

i have an alarm that is supposedly cuts 3 ways,startor/crank and fuel pump,wether it does or not is another matter i guess

Just buy a proper disklock.........

UK cars with the factory chip-in-key immobiliser are the most effective IMO: Needs another engine ECU to bypass that (Or with non-subarus, a new body ECU, which then needs to be paired with the engine ECU ), not a quick task to do. But obviously requires the person to go equipped with the exact equipment specific to stealing that year and model car -rare, they'd rather just break into your house for the keys instead.

Bypassing retrofitted or aftermarket Cat1 systems is done by gaining access to immobiliser wiring or the circuit it disables and bridging it. Replacing the alarm's ECU with one of the same make/model, or using a bridging loom plugged on the connectors associated with the immobilised circuits.

So the onus is to ensure it is throughly installed so that wiring is difficult to access and identify how each circuit is immobilised. With the alarm's ECU properly fixed in a location that is difficult to access; Not just cable tied and shoved up behind the glove box, which can be ripped down and accessed in seconds (which is how I find most are installed -lazy and ineffective security :nono: :rolleyes: ).

And don't advertise what alarm is fitted to the car via stickers: If you have a Clifford alarm; DO NOT plaster it with Clifford stickers on the windows. Put some TOAD or Sigma sticker on instead (likewise if you have a sigma or Toad stick some Clifford stickers on instead etc). Likewise with Trackers - do not advertise anywhere on the car it is fitted with one, as they are quite easy to find and disable.

Oh....and always use a disklock, or at least an Autolok 2000 (not a bar type lock, like a metro stoplock - they are no where near as effective). Visual mechanical security is a far better method of securing a car than any electronic system I have ever seen or fitted. With the exception of a Peasoup "smoke-cloak". :D

Discklok :luxhello: I'll second that!

if you have the money go imob its the nuts.

use the disc lock agree

we fitted a car 1 and a cat 2 to a r&d car for cosworth many moons ago.
thieves moved the two cars behind the cosi cut the hand brake cables pushed the car down the road there they ripped out the siren and both cat1 and cat2 and still not manage to start the car all that stopped them was a pair of relays and two momentary push button switches that were wired in series without pushing both buttons no ignition and it was in plain view simple but it saved the car it was found 1 mile down the road. this was fittted when trackers were only just being launched.

Quick release steering wheels are good all so, I have a group N quick release and my steering wheel comes out the car every time i park it.

i can see that working :thumb:

I say hidden kill switches and removable steering wheel do the job!

Some pricks (3 of them to be exact) stole my WRX last year in 3 mins flat - it had a cat 1 alarm on it. CCTV footage showed that they did it effortlessly!

Never got the car back or found out who they were even with CCTV!!

i was actually thinking about doing this but wasnt sure about Boss sizes and stuff

opensource 'patched' valet mode
 

something else that you could have on the car is a 'patch' to existing newage map using opensource mapping software to give your car a valet mode.

its been designed to stop people thrashing your car when you borrow it to them or get them to park it (in the states of course) the defualt rev speed is 4k however it can be set to whatever.

If all else fails and they get your car, how long would they stay in it if they cant go over 1000 revs. id guess not long:hjtwofing

very easy to set but almost impossible set if you dont know whats happening.

i have more information if people are interested

like it sounds the nuts wonder if i can do it on a stand alone omex any ideas anyone

the 'patch' itself only works on maps that are on the newage cars which are nont ecutek'ed so either an umapped car or a car mapped using the free software, however if you can set launch control on your it should work

i will be asking a few questions over next week cheers something else is all ways a good thing