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What if the car was parked in a handicapped spot near entrance of a football stadium? It could conceivably receive enough incorrect RFID signals to trigger a b

What if the car was parked in a handicapped spot near entrance of a football stadium? It could conceivably receive enough incorrect RFID signals to trigger a back-off.

danielweber 11y ago
Since this is an anti-theft system, not a safety system, I can totally see that VW made a rational decision "it's better for the anti-theft system to let a thief steal the car 50 times than for one person to legitimately get locked out of their car." You can make up for car thefts with dollars.
jessaustin 11y ago
I don't know anything about the protocols involved, but it would be possible for the first message to be "I'm a key that would like to unlock the vehicle with VIN# 123abc...". In that case there would be no mistaken protocol runs.
- CWuestefeld 11y ago
  There is no key as such. The fob for my Hyundai never leaves my pocket. Just by standing next to the car, the unlock button on the door is enabled. So if I walk up and push the button, it unlocks. If I'm not around, the button does nothing. So there's no discernible event from the fob, as far as I can see. It's just a "this is me" signal.
  - jessaustin 11y ago
    I guess the Hyundais I've driven were different, in that the unlock button was on the fob rather than on the car door. Could you say, if you have multiple cars, does the fob work with all of them? I doubt that's the case, so I don't see why your "this is me" signal couldn't actually be a "this is me, fob 123ABC..., and I can authenticate with the vehicle with VIN# 123abc...".
    - CWuestefeld 11y ago
      your "this is me" signal couldn't actually be a "this is me, fob 123ABC..., and I can authenticate with the vehicle with VIN# 123abc..." You're right, that might be it. the unlock button was on the fob rather than on the car door Let me clarify: the fob does have buttons for lock, unlock, panic, and open trunk. But I don't normally use them. My normal usage is as I described: just walk up with the fob in my pocket, and press the button on the door handle.
JoshuaRedmond 11y ago
I don't think a high traffic spot could ever cause an issue with this, unless each person tried to start your car. I believe this is referring to the immobilizer chip in the key that allows turning the key to start the engine. Incidentally, this is probably the chip that means that if you lose your key, you can't just get a new one cut, you need to get a new chip too.

What if the car was parked in a handicapped spot near entrance of a football stadium? It could conceivably receive enough incorrect RFID signals to trigger a back-off.

danielweber 11y ago

Since this is an anti-theft system, not a safety system, I can totally see that VW made a rational decision "it's better for the anti-theft system to let a thief steal the car 50 times than for one person to legitimately get locked out of their car." You can make up for car thefts with dollars.

jessaustin 11y ago

I don't know anything about the protocols involved, but it would be possible for the first message to be "I'm a key that would like to unlock the vehicle with VIN# 123abc...". In that case there would be no mistaken protocol runs.

CWuestefeld 11y ago
There is no key as such. The fob for my Hyundai never leaves my pocket. Just by standing next to the car, the unlock button on the door is enabled. So if I walk up and push the button, it unlocks. If I'm not around, the button does nothing. So there's no discernible event from the fob, as far as I can see. It's just a "this is me" signal.
- jessaustin 11y ago
  I guess the Hyundais I've driven were different, in that the unlock button was on the fob rather than on the car door. Could you say, if you have multiple cars, does the fob work with all of them? I doubt that's the case, so I don't see why your "this is me" signal couldn't actually be a "this is me, fob 123ABC..., and I can authenticate with the vehicle with VIN# 123abc...".
  - CWuestefeld 11y ago
    your "this is me" signal couldn't actually be a "this is me, fob 123ABC..., and I can authenticate with the vehicle with VIN# 123abc..." You're right, that might be it. the unlock button was on the fob rather than on the car door Let me clarify: the fob does have buttons for lock, unlock, panic, and open trunk. But I don't normally use them. My normal usage is as I described: just walk up with the fob in my pocket, and press the button on the door handle.

JoshuaRedmond 11y ago

I don't think a high traffic spot could ever cause an issue with this, unless each person tried to start your car. I believe this is referring to the immobilizer chip in the key that allows turning the key to start the engine. Incidentally, this is probably the chip that means that if you lose your key, you can't just get a new one cut, you need to get a new chip too.