Keyless Car Theft — How It Works and What You Can Do About It

I want to talk about something that keeps coming up when I look at the local posts about stolen vehicles, keyless car theft.

Because from what I'm seeing, a lot of people don't really understand how it works. And once you do, the things you can do to protect yourself make a lot more sense. So let me explain it as simply as I can.

Most modern cars, anything with a keyless entry fob, where you just grab the handle and it unlocks, work by constantly listening for a signal from your key.

When the key is close enough, the car recognises it and lets you in. Simple enough. The problem is that "close enough" can be stretched. Here's what happens in a relay attack.

Two thieves work together. One stands near your front door or your window, or wherever your keys are hanging. The other stands next to your car. The first thief has a device that picks up the faint signal coming from your key fob through the wall.

The second thief has a device that relays that signal to the car. The car thinks the key is right there. It unlocks. They get in, start it, and drive away. The whole thing takes about 30 seconds. No smashed windows. No alarm. Nothing to hear. You're asleep upstairs and your car is gone.

This isn't a new trick it's been around for years. But it's become more common because the equipment needed to do it is cheaper and easier to get hold of than it used to be. And because more cars than ever have keyless entry as standard.

The vehicles most commonly targeted tend to be higher-value certain models of Ford, BMW, Range Rover, Toyota, partly because there's a market for them and partly because newer, more expensive cars are more likely to have keyless entry. But it's not limited to those. If your car has a keyless fob, it's worth paying attention to this.

So what can you actually do? The most effective thing — and this is genuinely simple is a Faraday pouch.

It's a small signal-blocking wallet that you put your key fob in when you're at home. It costs about £10. When the key is inside it, the signal can't get out. The thief's relay device picks up nothing. No signal, no theft. There are a few other things worth doing alongside that. Keep your keys away from the front door and any exterior walls the further inside the house the better.

A metal tin or box works in a similar way to a Faraday pouch if you've already got one lying around. If you want to go a step further, a visible physical deterrent, a steering wheel lock is worth having. It won't stop a determined, experienced thief, but it adds time and hassle. Most thieves would rather move on to an easier target.

The thing I keep coming back to when I think about this is how invisible it is. There's no drama, no noise, no obvious sign that anything happened. Just a car that isn't there in the morning.

That invisibility is part of why keyless theft has become so common by the time most people realise their vehicle is gone, it's well on its way out of the area. Understanding how it works is the first step. The fixes aren't complicated or expensive.

A Faraday pouch, some thought about where you keep your keys, and a bit of awareness about what your car is up against. That's genuinely most of what you need.