Vehicle anti theft system uses verus owner lock out

How many times do you think that an electronic anti theft system in a car has prevent it from being stolen?

How many times has this system caused the legitimate owner to not be able to drive the car?

I personally know of two cases of the latter.

It seems like you want to complain about anti-theft systems. Have you not seen what’s been happening lately with the Kia and Hyundai cars without them?

It’s tough to prove a negative. Maybe most would be crooks don’t even try because they know they lack the skills and abilities to steal a modern car? Maybe you could research the incident rate of car jackings since the deployment of modern security systems? That may tell you how effective they are against the most desperate thieves…

Apparently those Kias have an ignition cylinder that can be removed in less than one minute with the key switch in the off position, using only a single screw driver. The ignition switch can then be turned with needle nose pliers or a USB type A cable which fits on the switch nicely.

I thought that most cars required they key switch to be turned on using the key to be able to remove it for service. Or it requires removing a huge porting of the steering column.

They may be wanting to sell the option to have a chip key and immoblizer. Having the dealer be the only source for replacement keys is a good way to make money.

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I’m a fleet mechanic, so my sample size is huge . . .

I see very few cases where the anti-theft system causes “the legitimate” owner to not be able to drive the car

Please stop beating around the bush, dude

We ALL know you love to stir things up

Just get it over with and tell us about these 2 specific cases where the anti-theft system caused “the legitimate owner” to not be able to start the car

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The \\\SNOWMAN MOTTO /////Never let facts get in way of nonsense. :roll_eyes:

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Some guy got a used Jeep. Something was wrong with the theft system or the keys. It would start and then immediately shut off and flash the theft light. Being probably 20 years old the dealer was unwilling to fix it, at least not at a price that was less than the value of the vehicle. It ended up being junked.

The other one was a 2012 Fusion where the HS can bus wire broke, making the PCU lose communication with the cluster which contains the chip key reader. This made the car unable to be restarted and took it off the road for 20 days.

Having to prove a negative is a very valid point. We would have to compare between the same car with an optional electronic anti theft system.

And if this was my Jeep, I would figure out what the anti-theft system is stopping (most likely the fuel pump or fuel injector pulsing) and consider how this might be bypassed. If the only thing the anti-theft system does is disable the fuel pump, that could be bypassed with a toggle switch, or by installing a relay which is powered off the battery (and fused appropriately) and the coil is energized when the ignition is in “start” or “run”.

If the underlying problem is the PCM, and a repair or new replacement is unaffordable, I’d look to obtain a working used PCM, BCM, and ignition key from a junked similar vehicle.

That being said, I have never owned a car which contains a security system, nor would I buy one. A good, old-fashioned metal key with no computer chip is good enough for me.

I think we should have to get ride of all the Fuel injected vehicles cause crank sensors, fuel pumps, computers etc etc etc all can go bad, I have never had my Carbureted Car not start due to a electric fuel pump, crank sensor or computer not working… No wait a minute, I have had my carb get trash in the idle circuit and kill half my engine at idle and I have had a mechanical fuel pump go bad, I have had my coil go bad etc etc etc…

Anything on any vehicle can go bad at any given time…

Guess what, I have replaced multiple power window reg/motors in vehicles I have owned, but I have yet to replace a manual crank up window reg (Edit: that I’ve owned)…

Point is, if you don’t like an option on a vehicle then don’t buy it…

At work, I’ve encountered a few manual regulators which have indeed failed. They do get sloppy and break

And to make matters worse, the parts were unobtainium . . . not factory, not aftermarket, not even at junkyards :astonished:

Yet for that same vehicle, it would have been EASY to buy the power window regulator for the higher trim-level models, which is how most of them were equipped

And I’m talking about a Ford Exploder, not some obscure brand

Heck, I had a car that died and would not restart, wire to the points shorted out-a 1962 car.
Had another car die and not restart, float in the carburetor apparently jammed open, raw gas into the engine, hydro locked the motor.
There is positive and negative anecdotal “evidence” about anything.

With all due respect, I hope you realize that, as the years go on, the pool of cars without a security system will continue to shrink and become very limited. Something that I learned many years ago is that when someone says “I would never… (fill in the blank)”, they are very likely to do otherwise as the years pass, simply because of necessity or because their circumstances changed.

I think a distinction should be made between factory and aftermarket security systems.
I almost missed a plane (Jamaica back to US) when the aftermarket system in my sister-in-laws Toyota minivan went belly up.
Engine died and horn started honking.
Luckily, another relative came and rescued us.

This is the same minivan on another occasion had the JB Weld patched radiator broke open on a remote mountain road.
I managed to empty the windshield washer reservoir into the radiator, and that allowed us to drive a couple miles to a water source.
And then we stopped every 5 miles or so to refill.

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I guess I didn’t make that clear, I edited it sorry… I have replaced them on others vehicles, just not mine… I have found that sometimes the window tracks get dry which makes the window harder to roll up/down and that increases the chance of them wearing out, I keep mine lubed/greased properly… :wink:

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Yes! An aftermarket security system can be removed by the same people who put it in. The aftermarket security company cares about the reputation of their product, which may be their only source of revenue. A factory system sometimes must be serviced by the dealer, and they want to push you to buy a new car.

Where do you get this nonsense ?

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From ;;; NONSENSE R US ;;;. :roll_eyes:

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You’re about the farthest thing from a real Renegade.

I trust a factory system 100x more than an aftermarket one. The questions we get here are almost always about failed aftermarket systems.

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… and/or problems resulting from slipshod installation of those aftermarket systems.

Several years back, we had a post from a woman who had an aftermarket system installed in her brand-new CRV. The mess of electrical problems that resulted from bad installation was not covered by Honda’s warranty, nor should it have been covered.