Great article on auto theft data and trends
The Kia/Hyundai info is interesting. Also, the author's truck looked totally fixable for a GRMr.
Great article on auto theft data and trends
The Kia/Hyundai info is interesting. Also, the author's truck looked totally fixable for a GRMr.
Interesting read. Also interesting to hear that there are (or recently were) current era cars sold without a built-in immobilizer. Heck, our really basic LX model 2006 Civic has this feature built into the key fob as standard.
In the Canadian market from around 2006 onward all Hyundai's had an immobilizer standard. Problem was the immobilizers didn't last. I know of 3 people who had Hyundai's that were out of warranty and less than 10 years old, who's cars were bricked by a faulty immobilizer. They could have been repaired but the repair would have been incredibly expensive. Plus the dealer even said it doesn't always work.
To do the repair properly the ECU,BCM, (body control module), under dash fuse panel, ignition, door lock and key would all require changing. They all would have had to be bought as a matching set except the key which can be programmed. The BCM is integral with the under dash fuse panel so that would have to be swapped out..
I personally had a Tiburon given to me that wouldn't start due to an immobilizer issue..
I got it to start to get it home using a failsafe built into the ECU, but you can only use that failsafe 5 times before the ECU locks it out.
I found out the fix was to swap in a non immobilizer equipped ECU from a U.S. market car which bypasses the immobilizer. Unfortunately the car had other issues so I got rid of it.
Yeah I think an immobilizer system has the potential to do more harm than good by bricking cars when some part of the system fails. I think it's better to add standalone tracking devices to cars that can be called upon if they're stolen than to add security to the engine startup sequence for this reason. However this has a price downside (at least paying for another basic mobile data connection) and there are some privacy implications to having an always-on cell connection running.
This is a bit of a dupe but the push button start cars do not have this issue. Only the key cars.
The issue if immobilizers is an interesting one. Honda has used them for years and multiple types. The RL was an odd one that required a red key (that everyone lost) to program keys to them. Without it you had to replace the immobilizer unit and all keys for about $400 in parts plus 2 hours of labor. It wasn't as bad as some of the Lexus camry's (ES?) tha required a $1000 ECU swap.
Many aftermarket remote start systems would tape a programmed key to the column right below the immobilizer unit so that it would work. So anyone that ever installed those knew there would be a key in the car. E36 M3 gets stolen.
I kind of had to laugh at part about the 2001 and up Civics having far few thefts. I think we can all forget about 01-05 lol.
Honda Civics adopted the immobilizer in 2001, which is why post-2001 Civics are much less likely to be stolen.
On a serious end, Honda does seem to be lacking with some of their security issues...https://www.reviewgeek.com/122866/honda-key-fob-hack-affects-nearly-all-models-since-2012/
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