[AlanHo]

This readers letter in the UK Daily Mail newspaper today caught my eye.

If the story is true – I wonder how many of our members are under the illusion that their car is safe from key code grabbers when their keyless fob is safely stored in a biscuit tin or in one of the Faraday Cage Pouches so widely advertised in the UK.

My nearest experience was Libby bought me a new wallet while we were in Portugal last year which had a lining to stop your contactless credit and debit cards from being read by a scumbag using a code reader.

Being curious, when back in the UK, I paid for something in our local Spa store with a credit card and did not remove it from my wallet. I put my wallet on the credit card contactless gadget – and it accepted the transaction. Hence the so-called protection lining did not work.

[Cookie Thumper]

even keeping your fob far away from the car inside the house is not safe.

RFID repeater used to steal Mercedes with keys locked inside a house ? Naked Security

[MT-RED]

Must admit this has been playing on my mind a bit and I'll be trying to find a solution when I get the car this week. I really don't fancy going back 15 years to the time of wheel locks and stuff

Ghost has a really good reputation in the UK but it's £400 so ain't a cheap option. I know a lot of focus RS users are using this as they are sooooo easy to steel. There is also a big uptake on this technology for Abarth owners, as they are getting stolen almost daily from the Midlands at the moment due to the awful lack of security on the OBD port.

My wife has a 595 so I took the approach of getting a scrap OBD port and making it a dummy, while re-positioning the genuine one. It ain't fool proof but cost me less than a tenner and would definitely slow the buggers down... at least.

Same approach won't help for my keyless i30 tho. If anyone has already implemented their own inventive solution it would be great to hear

Also, anyone wanting to chuck another £400 at a highly recommended solution in the UK, I suggest checking out Autowatch UK | UK distributors for PFK Electronic Equipment

[The Gonz]

A quick, cheap and easy (for some) way is to add a basic rolling code radio receiver driving a relay interrupting your ignition, starter or fuel pump feed, in effect an independent immobiliser, all for about £5 of eBay gadgets. 

[wooly]

I've just done my own experiment with the car keys.

As my i30 is the Elite with an open/close button and LED light on the door handle I don't need access to the fob to lock/unlock the car.

1. Put the keyfob inside a biscuit tin, lid shut tight and I can't unlock the car using the door control - dead as mutton.
2.  Wrapped the fob in aluminium foil - dead as mutton.
3. We have an RFID safe carry pack which is meant to safeguard credit cards and the like from snooping detectors and can still lock/unlock the car - no effect whatever.

The pack we have is a Pacsafe Metrosafe GII and the pockets inside appear to have a metallic mesh embedded in the fabric. perhaps it works with a passive device like a credit card, but certainly doesn't shield an active device like a car keyfob.   

[Dazzler]

I've just done my own experiment with the car keys.

As my i30 is the Elite with an open/close button and LED light on the door handle I don't need access to the fob to lock/unlock the car.

1. Put the keyfob inside a biscuit tin, lid shut tight and I can't unlock the car using the door control - dead as mutton.
2.  Wrapped the fob in aluminium foil - dead as mutton.
3. We have an RFID safe carry pack which is meant to safeguard credit cards and the like from snooping detectors and can still lock/unlock the car - no effect whatever.

The pack we have is a Pacsafe Metrosafe GII and the pockets inside appear to have a metallic mesh embedded in the fabric. perhaps it works with a passive device like a credit card, but certainly doesn't shield an active device like a car keyfob.   

That's interesting. 

[MT-RED]

I've just done my own experiment with the car keys.

As my i30 is the Elite with an open/close button and LED light on the door handle I don't need access to the fob to lock/unlock the car.

1. Put the keyfob inside a biscuit tin, lid shut tight and I can't unlock the car using the door control - dead as mutton.
2.  Wrapped the fob in aluminium foil - dead as mutton.
3. We have an RFID safe carry pack which is meant to safeguard credit cards and the like from snooping detectors and can still lock/unlock the car - no effect whatever.

The pack we have is a Pacsafe Metrosafe GII and the pockets inside appear to have a metallic mesh embedded in the fabric. perhaps it works with a passive device like a credit card, but certainly doesn't shield an active device like a car keyfob.   

That is interesting thanks - spare key is deffo getting wrapped in foil then.