Over the past few years, car thieves have been taking advantage of the fact that it’s apparently quite easy to intercept a vehicle’s key fob signal and use it to steal vehicles, as we’ve seen such cases on the rise for a while to this point. That’s certainly true in Canada, where thieves have been targeting popular vehicles like the Ford F-150 and intercepting key fob signals using specialized equipment. Now, Ford is among a group of automakers facing a class action lawsuit claiming that those companies have made things easy on thieves, too.
According to CBC News, this class action lawsuit was just certified by a Quebec Superior Court judge, and it was filed on behalf of residents who have had their vehicles stolen in that manner. The judge ultimately included 13 automakers in the lawsuit – Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Mazda, FCA (Stellantis), Ford, Audi, Kia, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Volkswagen, and Volvo – companies which plaintiffs claim developed key fob technology “without worrying about the appropriate level of security against theft.”
In addition to this claim, the lawsuit also alleges that the onboard diagnostics systems utilized by the automakers also makes their vehicles susceptible to theft, as thieves can simply start the vehicle without having a physical key on their person, too. However, the judge ultimately opted to exclude a group of automakers that includes Porsche, Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW, and the class action lawsuit also excludes cases involving ultra-wideband technology.
It is worth noting that Ford has explored ways to potentially prevent these key fob signal thefts from occurring in several ways over the years, including via more than one patent filing. Back in 2022, that included an idea for a vehicular key fob relay attack prevention system utilizing an authentication system that would be able to obtain historical data including the time and location the key fob is used. From there, it would be able to determine if the person trying to use the fob to lock/unlock/start the vehicle is the owner or a potential thief by using that data and predetermined values, choosing to either allow access or deny it.
No Comments yet