Key fob relay thefts, should we be concerned?

[ggr]

Oh yeah, our house is not that big. Kitchen is right next to the garage, so our keys are at most 20' away. However, this doesn't negate the issue that key doesn't need to be inside the car to start driving the car. You can try it by putting you key outside of the car, say a shoe rack next to the car in the garage, and then hop in the car and drive it away. I bet you won't get any warning initially as you are driving away, even though the key is outside. Unless S is designed differently.

I can confirm that. Once I dropped off my wife, and I didn't realize that it was running on her fob, not mine (which I'd left in my other pants). I got about 100 yards away when the car warned me. "No worries", I thought, I can start the car with the app.

 

[Dennisj00]

Oh yeah, our house is not that big. Kitchen is right next to the garage, so our keys are at most 20' away. However, this doesn't negate the issue that key doesn't need to be inside the car to start driving the car. You can try it by putting you key outside of the car, say a shoe rack next to the car in the garage, and then hop in the car and drive it away. I bet you won't get any warning initially as you are driving away, even though the key is outside. Unless S is designed differently.

Again, not on my S!
I put my fob 3 feet from the left front wheel -enough to open the mirrors/doors and once inside a warning “key not inside” and no go.

 

[jelloslug]

Don't keep your keys in a bowl by the front door.

 

[PhantomX]

Again, not on my S!
I put my fob 3 feet from the left front wheel -enough to open the mirrors/doors and once inside a warning “key not inside” and no go.

Good to know S doesn't have this problem. I wonder what's different about the design of X that made this possible?

 

[AnxietyRanger]

At least when Model X came out, Tesla used Bluetooth 4 for it, unlike for Model S keyfob. I wonder if that difference remains today?

 

[mblakele]

This article proposes a fairly simple idea for reducing the risk of relay attacks: add an acceleration sensor to the fob. The fob only turns on when the sensor detects acceleration, and turns back off shortly afterward. When you pick it up, it turns on. Walking around with it keeps it active. But when the fob is sitting on a table, it turns off. When it's off, there's no signal to steal. Fob batteries might last longer too.

How Adding Accelerometers to Keys Will Thwart Car Thieves

These acceleration sensors are already mass-produced for smartphones, so the marginal cost should be low. Since only the fob would change, it should even be possible to replace existing fobs.

At the same time I wouldn't expect this approach to prevent all relay attacks. For example an attacker could still try to relay the signal from your pocket, as you're walking away from your parked car. But it sounds like a useful improvement, and relatively cheap to implement.

 

[Tam]

There's a Russian demo of how to steal a Model S with relay attacks:

How Thieves Can Steal Your Tesla Model S in 10 Seconds - Shown in a Video | Torque News

 

[verygreen]

would be really cool if Tesla implemented yubikey to drive the car (they already have yubikey auth for some system purposes so easy to do).

When configured, simply plug your yubikey into usb port to drive, the fob is only to unlock the doors.

Quick, somebody tweet this at Musk

 

[diamond.g]

Are relay attacks possible on the Model 3 with the switch to BTLE?