Keyless Cars Can Be Stolen in Under 30 Seconds, Research Shows

These are the findings of a research conducted in the UK by automobile magazine What Car? and published earlier this week. In essence, these guys found that, contrary to popular belief, the newer and smarter the car, the easier it is to steal.

The group tested seven new cars, most of them equipped with some type of keyless entry and start system. All seven were easily broken into and, in some cases, driven away in a matter of seconds.

The security experts from What Car? did not say what tools they used to hack the cars. The “specialist technology” they mention most likely included hardware capable of cloning a key's codes, a tool one can easily find in online stores.

Of all the cars tested, none resisted the attempts to open the doors and allowed the bad guys to get inside. The Audi TT RS Roadster was broken into in 5 seconds, as was the DS3 Crossback. The “thieves” faced some resistance from the BMW X3 and Ford Fiesta, who gave up 40 seconds after the theft began.

Once inside the vehicles, the would-be thieves were able to drive away with most of these cars in 20 seconds tops. Only one vehicle, wouldn’t surrender this way - the Land Rover Discovery – but that’s because the version tested comes with a standard key.

What Car? Says it was able to pull off these stunts only when the key fobs were active. When the tool is deactivated, breaking into the car becomes impossible, and so does stealing it.