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Tesla (at least M3s) cannot be remotely disabled when driving. But the owner can make life seriously problematic for the thieves; the car' location is tracked d

by bdamm 6y ago

Tesla (at least M3s) cannot be remotely disabled when driving. But the owner can make life seriously problematic for the thieves; the car' location is tracked down to the meter, the horn and windows and sometimes music can be remotely controlled, along with the climate controls. So the thieves will have a very unpleasant ride culminating in a police event if they choose to continue. Disabling the remote access from inside the car requires authentication.

Cthulhu_ 6y ago
I'm sure professional thieves would know how to disable the GPS tracker quick enough. I had a colleague of mine whose BMW was broken into at night. He woke up to police in front of his house (called by BMW's own alert system), there's an atmospheric pressure sensor inside the car and everything. No sign of the thieves, so he booked an appointment to have the window fixed and didn't think much of it. But then he realized the side panel (in the door column? the column between the front and rear doors) was tweaked over a bit. The thieves had gone in and cut the cable tree going to the roof of the car, which contains amongst other things the antenna and connection to BMW's alert service. Their plan was to come in the one night, disappear, hope the victim didn't notice that (and the garage doesn't check for it), and come in to steal it for real the next day, or maybe even the same night after the police has gone again.
- bdamm 6y ago
  That's a remarkable amount of work to steal the car. Probably they tried to steal it right then and there, thieves don't like to return to a crime scene. For Tesla, if they really want they could pry open the frunk and remove the 12V power from the low-voltage battery, then winch the car onto a flatbed. That would disable the GPS tracking and allow access to make money parting out the car. Although not the motors, which are locked to the VCSEC and the owner's configured keys, and bypassing that is still an open problem AFAIK.

by bdamm 6y ago

Cthulhu_ 6y ago

I'm sure professional thieves would know how to disable the GPS tracker quick enough. I had a colleague of mine whose BMW was broken into at night. He woke up to police in front of his house (called by BMW's own alert system), there's an atmospheric pressure sensor inside the car and everything. No sign of the thieves, so he booked an appointment to have the window fixed and didn't think much of it. But then he realized the side panel (in the door column? the column between the front and rear doors) was tweaked over a bit. The thieves had gone in and cut the cable tree going to the roof of the car, which contains amongst other things the antenna and connection to BMW's alert service. Their plan was to come in the one night, disappear, hope the victim didn't notice that (and the garage doesn't check for it), and come in to steal it for real the next day, or maybe even the same night after the police has gone again.

bdamm 6y ago
That's a remarkable amount of work to steal the car. Probably they tried to steal it right then and there, thieves don't like to return to a crime scene. For Tesla, if they really want they could pry open the frunk and remove the 12V power from the low-voltage battery, then winch the car onto a flatbed. That would disable the GPS tracking and allow access to make money parting out the car. Although not the motors, which are locked to the VCSEC and the owner's configured keys, and bypassing that is still an open problem AFAIK.