My car was stolen last friday. I am still so mad for what has happened.

Fortunately I never leave my empeg in my car, so, while two bags of clothes, a laptop, and other stuff are gone together with my Volkswagen Polo, my empeg is still with me.
I however lost two amplifiers, 6 speakers, 1 subwoofer, the empeg sled (fortunately I have a spare one) and two empeg remote controls (a Rio and a kenwood).
I hope I'll be able to find those two somewhere here, if there's anybody who wants to sell.
Worse than that, I lost my original empeg radio module, and will have to buy a new one And, to make things worse, I also lost Mark's Docking Station which I was bringing home and was in the trunk.

You may be asking how come I left all that stuff in my car. Well, I of course never leave anything in my far, generally speaking. In this case, I was going out for the weekend and had just stopped home, in a quiet and nice neighborhood in Rome where usually nothing happens, to get few last things. I staid at home for few minutes. I'd say hald an hour at most. Enough for the thief to open my locked car, start the engine, and leave. 3:00pm, people walking by, cars passing by. No sound of alarm. No truck can make it into such a relatively small street with cars parked on both sides.

Now, besides trying to recover, my question is: how does the Volkswagen key-code work? How easy is it to crack it somehow and have some sort of facke key which not only opens the car without having the alrm to go off (whcih I could also expect), but also starts the engine seaminglessly? That must be what has happened because the thief must have looked like a regular guy, like the owner of the car.

I am still shocked and quite suspicious about the anti-theft systems in VWs... Does anybody have an idea of how is something like this possible?

What year polo?

Hi,
I'm sorry to hear that! I hope the authorities get your car back soon!
I own a Lupo and I think that unless your Polo is not the newest model with the 4 round headlights the anti-thief system is the same as mine. So, if the thief gets to turn the cylinder on the door with something (a key or more probably a screwdriver) as the key would do, the alarm is disabled; which means he can get into the car without making strange noises. I know that some (in fact several) Audi's were stolen by installing a "special" ECU in the car; that ECU was prepared to work with the keys the thieves had. I don't think that the thief did this, as the car was parked in the city. I mean, somebody would have surely said something at that guy if he was dismantling half of your car there on the street (The ECU is placed under the wipers). But I think also that there's too much indifference in this world.

I whish you good luck!

Year 2001 .

Yes, I agree that you can break in somehow disabling the alarm , but the car should not start, supposedly, without the code in the key... And, accordingto VW, they only have the code, not even the official VW dealers do...

I don't understand how this is possible, then.

Yeah, only the doors are alarmed, no ultrasonic.

The immobiliser can be 'emergency' defeated, but it needs a mechanically correct key and also access to the VW alarm/radio code database. (ie Either a dodgy dealer or social engineering). So it's not exactly a punk affair - they knew what they were doing.

The other possibility is that at some point they have 'borrowed' a valid key from you, used it to electronically adapt a mechanically correct key to your car, and then used that key later. But you'd have to wonder why they'd bother with the hassle. Why not just steal your car when have have your key?

Right, genixia.
Morethan that, I always lock the steering wheel, which I assume they would have had to break if they did not have a proper key, and that means at least few minutes with some suspicious tool, in the daylight, in the middle of a ity street, with - again - people and cars passing by...

I am still shocked, this all thing is so incredible

Genixia, now that I think about it once more...

Isn't the imobilizer code physically inside the key? If so why would you need to access the VW alarm/radio code database?
And anyway, does the dealers have access to that?

I remember once my key/remote control broke, and my dealer got a new one from VW, which was basically a "blank" key that we had to reprogram so that it could open/start my car...


I am afraid I don't kow enough about how this whole imoilizer thing works....

This is certainly possible. As CES this year there was a car alarm maker promiting their latest system which would make a compleetly different chirping noise within 48 hours of a new key being programmed. The idea was that if you took your car in to a shop, someone would program their transmitter into your car and note your address. So by beeping differently, it would tell you this had happened. Being a college student, I essentially have two addresses 200 miles apart, so I always just give them my address 200 miles from wherever I am, which accomplishes pretty much the same thing.

My Honda prelude claims to have some imobiliser system with a chip in the key, but I've bought keys at the dealership without them programming them into my car. It didn't give me too much faith in the system. They did give me a cool red key and told me nevery to use it when I bought the car though.

Matthew

At least in the states, most VW's are stolen with a tow truck. Often right out of the person's driveway while the neighbors watch.

Hi again;
There's a transponder in the key; and as far as I know, the transponder cannot be reprogrammed; the only thing a VW dealer does with a new key is to reprogram the car's ECU to recognize the new key as a correct one.

Repossession?

bxgurl, yes, that is something I thought about. But, I was right inside the house and did not hear any truck or noise. I only heard cars passing by (one of which mush have been mine!). Also, I don-t really thing a truck that can carry a car would fit in the small street where my car was.
All makes me think somebody had a copy of my key, or something that could serve as a key. Police seems to agree with this, and I still don't understand how this is possible unless a car dealer is involved. I can't eve remember any other occasion when I gave my key to anybody...

I remember once my key/remote control broke, and my dealer got a new one from VW, which was basically a "blank" key that we had to reprogram so that it could open/start my car...

What broke on it? The rf remote? If the key itself still worked to move the car...

yes, the RF remote broke, but the key could open and start the car...

I'd suggest that tracking that old key down should be a priority. Chances are the dealer doesn't have any record of the old key being destroyed, or of the car having that keys adaptation removed, and it will be totally inconclusive. But if there is a dodgy guy at the dealership, perhaps you aren't the first to experience this.

Thanks for your help genixia and everybody.
I'll definitely try to find out more about the key.

I am also planning to write a couple of emails to some specialized magazines, at last to see what is the position of VW at this regard. They usually reply to readers of popular car magazines, I noticed.

I wish someone would steal my golf.

I'm only in the office for 20 minutes to-day and then not for a fortnight - Empeg BBS, before work! So I haven't read the whole thread, If somebody else has pointed this out, I apologise.
Consumer programmes in the UK (Watchdog and one other) have been featuring the scandal of how thieves know to break in to Volkswagens, the police know all about it here, but Volkswagen won't admit to it.

Boxer, thanks for the info. I did not know anything about that. May I ask you a link or a reference of any kind?
Thank you!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/reports/transport/index.shtml?subcat=vw

All well and true (sadly) but that only gains them entry to the vehicle without the alarm going off. It doesn't allow them to drive the car off, without somehow fooling the system into thinking the correct key is being used.

All in all, it seems a lot of effort to go to. A Polo is hardly a hugely desirable vehicle, all things considered! (Not being unkind - I have a '00 model myself!) Given the stuff in the car, I guess if they knew about it (and the ICE kit was expensive) it might have been sufficient reason for them to break into it, but I would have just expected them to load what they could get into their own vehicle.

I can't get over how odd it is that such an apparently large amount of planning went into the theft. You don't ever carry things of greater value, do you?

You don't ever carry things of greater value, do you?

He hasn't told us about the hundred pounds of heroin in the running boards.

Roger, thanks for the link. That is interesting and I did not know anything about it.

But

All well and true (sadly) but that only gains them entry to the vehicle without the alarm going off. It doesn't allow them to drive the car off,

Right, which is what makes me think they had some sort o key copy. The only people I gave my keys to are:
dealer 1 where I purchased
dealer 2, where I brought the car for regular maintenance
car stereo installer, which is a friend and I would not really expect of doing such thing.

A Polo is hardly a hugely desirable vehicle, all things considered! (Not being unkind - I have a '00 model myself!)

Right. My Polo was a very nice one, black, sporty, and here in Italy small cars are quite desirable since they're good in cities. Still, the average car in that street was better than mine. This again makes me think that they were specifically aiming at my car.

I usually only carry my laptop in my car, and usually don't leave it in there. That was a very special day from this point of view, since the car trunk was loaded. You could not see anything from outside, however, and I had loaded in my garage where nobody could see me.

I have a feeling I've been followed, and that they took advantage of those few mintues the car was left alone since they did know how to open it, get in, start the engine and leave in few seconds.
Unless there is some major bug in the VW key-code which I can't find any reference of anywhere so far, in which case the thieves may have been going around Rome looking for a Polo like mine that they could steal. It does not sound convincing, to me. I don't really know...

since they did know how to open it, get in, start the engine and leave in few seconds.

I think you may be attributing more organization and skill to the thieves than is warranted.

If I wanted to steal your car under the circumstances described, I would first disable the alarm. If what Lupo said earlier is correct, a screwdriver blade with a T-handle on it would do it just as quickly as a key.

Then I would slide a floor jack under the transaxle, raise the front end 8" off the ground and slide a dolly wheel set under each front wheel. This would take about 15 seconds with two people working at it.

I would then back my getaway vehicle (it wouldn't have to be any bigger than your Golf) up to the dolly wheels, and being a clever thief I would have prepared a method whereby I could secure the dolly wheels to my getaway vehicle with a couple of chains or maybe a cable and come-along system, and drive away. This would take another 30 seconds or so.

In less than a minute's time, I could make your car disappear with no alarms, no loud noises, and no activities that would look unduly suspicious to a bystander.

tanstaafl.

I believe you could take a blank key and get it coded to the car's immobilizer system witha laptop running the VAG-COM diagnositc software, but you need the help of a dealer. I just did a search and this is my understanding of it.... Once they get in the car, they could run the diagnositic software to get an ID number for the immobilizer. They would then have to take that number and have a dealer give them a special corresponding code. They then go back to the car and program the blank key using the software and the code provided by the dealer. So if that's what they did, they either had the help of a dealer or had to fool one into giving them the code to your car.

In reply to:

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If I wanted to steal your car under the circumstances described, I would first disable the alarm. If what Lupo said earlier is correct, a screwdriver blade with a T-handle on it would do it just as quickly as a key.

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I tried it myself out of curiosity when I took off the cylinder to give the car a "clean look". Frightening...

Another thing: You need the code that you get with your original keys when you order a new one. The code is probably for the mechanical part of the key; the electronic part has then to be reprogrammed (either the car or the key; I would say it's the car)