My car (2010 Ford Mustang GT Premium) was stolen and recovered but when we got it back the steering column was not broke and I do not understand how they stole it. We forgot to lock the car door the night it was stolen but we have the keys.
Tow truck, maybe.
I don’t know if this has any bearing but when I drove for a very large trucking company, every International Harvester in our fleet had the same key. It also fit my 972 International Cub Cadet riding mower and when I started driving a school bus in 1995 it fit all the international school buses in our fleet, even though the keys from those buses were not interchangeable with each other.
I seem to remember reading somewhere that there really were not that many different key combinations. On the other hand there are devices used to pick locks that work pretty fast. Of course if there is a security system who knows? I used to have a guy at work that was with the OSS during WW II. When someone locked their desk or file and didn’t have a key, I would call on him to pick the lock. He was a little rusty but was successful 75% of the time.
There IS a security system on the Ford. If you pick the ignition cylinder, or have a cut key that turns the lock, the car still won’t start since the proper security ID from the key is not coded into the instrument cluster. Yes, the instrument cluster stores that info.
They’re using scanning devices that can pick up the code that’s being emitted from the key fob in your pocket or even sitting near your front door at home. That code can be beamed to a second repeater device being used by another person near your car. Since modern cars are designed to recognize a coded signal rather than just a specific key fob, the repeater can be used to gain entrance to your vehicle and even start the engine.
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So, a hi tech thief stole car and then abandoned it? With no parts lost? Why did they steal it?
They don’t steal the car for car parts,they commit other crimes with it.They will abandon the car after they are done.
In this case it might have been a joy ride in a Mustang GT.
Another possibility is overseas shipping.
Lift, tow, package and deliver … kinda like Carvanna or Santa in reverse
Car thieves will stay a car and park it somewhere for a couple of days to see if it has a tracking device in it. If it is tracked down and recovered, then the thieves are not caught.
BTW, you may have a tracking device in your vehicle and not know it. Dealers are putting them in automatically now. A nearby Nissan dealer lost a truck sale because they would not remove the tracking device, they even wanted me to pay them $300 for the thing. I’m not having that.
can you provide one confirmed case of that happening in the real world? because while i absolutely believe it is possible under controlled conditions, i find it nearly impossible to believe that a thief capable of this level of technological and manpower coordination is setting their sights on 10-year-old cars.
that would be my guess. is there any damage or marks on the bottom of the car to suggest that it was lifted? I don’t know Mustangs all that well…I’m assuming it’s RWD? If so, they would just need to lift the back and it will roll right down the road.
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What post are you referring to?
I wonder how many of those security defeat devices have made it into the United States. Perhaps the OP is in South Africa where those units are being found.
These programmers are used by locksmiths.
Here’s a cheap one.
Tester
Every key that I have programmed required one of the following; an existing key, a PIN, a security code or a re-seed code from the manufacture. Seem that locksmiths have a key to the city, defeat any security system.