Ford Key Fobs can be attacked by hackers!

[Mustangpursuit]

I keep my fobs in a Faraday Pouch when not in actual use for this very reason. For those who don't know, a Faraday Pouch is an rf blocking pouch that keeps the fob from being seen by anything, including the car. Very effective when in use.

Me too, keep keys in there every time at home.

I hear more news of this often with Chrysler products... especially Chargers/Challengers.

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[Ecoboosted]

I keep my fobs in a Faraday Pouch when not in actual use for this very reason. For those who don't know, a Faraday Pouch is an rf blocking pouch that keeps the fob from being seen by anything, including the car. Very effective when in use.

I have 4 of them. Two for the Mustang keys and two for the Harley keys. They work great.

 

[Ghostrealm]

The big question is when you take them out to get into the car can you put them back in the pouch when driving? People can "skim you " as you drive? does the car have to communicate with the keyfob once in the car and driving?

 

[Ecoboosted]

The big question is when you take them out to get into the car can you put them back in the pouch when driving? People can "skim you " as you drive? does the car have to communicate with the keyfob once in the car and driving?

I’m pretty sure if you drive off without the fob present in the car the car will stay running. It will keep running but if you shut it off or stall it you won’t be able to start it again without the fob. I’m going to try it and see what happens later today.

 

[TexasRebel]

I’m pretty sure if you drive off without the fob present in the car the car will stay running. It will keep running but if you shut it off or stall it you won’t be able to start it again without the fob. I’m going to try it and see what happens later today.

There's a short grace period if you turn the car off without the fob present. Also, apparently the fobs go into a shutdown mode if a button is pressed too long.

Story: I had my fob tucked into the tiny pocket in my workout shorts which is right at the waist. While sitting in the car driving home, I was apparently mashing a button or two. When I got home and into the garage, I shut the engine off and got the "Restart now or key is required" message indicating there was no fob present. In a quick panic I made sure I still had it... I did.

 

[Zissou]

You wouldn't download a car

Piracy, it's a crime

 

[I Bleed Ford Blue]

I hear more news of this often with Chrysler products... especially Chargers/Challengers.

Richard Rawlings of gas monkey garage had his hellcat stolen, was found about 6 months later still intact.

 

[CurtisH]

I’m pretty sure if you drive off without the fob present in the car the car will stay running. It will keep running but if you shut it off or stall it you won’t be able to start it again without the fob. I’m going to try it and see what happens later today.

I’ve read that if you drive off without the fob in the car, the car will shut down within a short distance. It’s been mentioned on one of the Mustang boards. Don’t know if it’s true or not.

 

[Stonehauler]

Not sure if Ford uses that fob or not, but that looks like a BMW fob on the video splash screen....

 

[TexasRebel]

I’ve read that if you drive off without the fob in the car, the car will shut down within a short distance. It’s been mentioned on one of the Mustang boards. Don’t know if it’s true or not.

It's not.

 

[F1scamp]

Great, next ford will start adding a SGM module like Chrysler, then I will have to spend more money for an adapter, and take the car apart to be able to read codes in any other module then the pcm.... shit is getting old.

 

[StangTime]

I’ve read that if you drive off without the fob in the car, the car will shut down within a short distance. It’s been mentioned on one of the Mustang boards. Don’t know if it’s true or not.

It's not.

If it were true, that would be a huge liability. Imagine pulling out into traffic and the BCM decides the keyfob is too far away and shuts the engine off. Also consider what would happen if the RFID portion of the keyfob hardware were to fail. This would result in the same hazardous situation. Once the car is started with the keyfob present, it will continue to run until shut off.

 

[Deleted member 35786]

 

[CrashOverride]

I like these type of articles because they expose engineering compromises, and the ingenuity of researchers and hackers. But in reality, you have 3 things to worry about:

1. Theft of Property
2. Safety
3. Theft of Privacy

#1 is the least of my worries. The Chrysler hack a few years ago dealt with #2 and that is why autonomous vehicles will be hardened, but not enough (I wrote my thesis on it). #3 is really the biggest issue now - and the truth is, generally speaking, sync is the least secure of the infotainment systems.

Even more than this though is the shocking number of people that have absolutely no problem connecting their phone into a rental car, or other Bluetooth device. Or even an unassuming USB charger. All of these have the ability to steal your privacy from your phone. When I did my Sync3 conversion, the APIM had something like 4 or 5 phones on it, with contact info. The junkyard had not cleared it before shipping it to me.

#1...If someone wants my car, they will tow it. A decent tow truck driver (That doesn't really care about the damage done by grabbing the vehicle) can grab a car in a few seconds using a tow truck that didn't cost very much.

 

[Mustangpursuit]

Richard Rawlings of gas monkey garage had his hellcat stolen, was found about 6 months later still intact.

Also a lot of threads of punching the locks on those cars and higher up the theft list in some locations.

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