Key Security Issue

[Brister13]

Would appreciate your experiences / comments on this

My wife was supercharging our 2016 (facelift) MS at the Colorado Springs station on Sunday last week. On returning to the car my wife mistook our vehicle for another that was charging. As she approached this (wrong) car it auto presented its handles and my wife was able to open the door!

Ive never personally experienced this, is this something that has happened to others?

Im very surprised but it seems like a major security issue.

My wife assures me there was no one anywhere near the car (other than her) and no one was in the car.

She did take a picture of the car she opened (blue) and it looks like a 2016 or 17 model. Facelift like mine.

I guess i need to call the service center but wanted to hear if the community has similar experiences?

Brian

 

[murphyS90D]

That should not happen. Each fob is supposed to have a unique serial number. The serial numbers of the valid fobs for a car are entered in the car's key memory.

It is possible to program two different car's to respond to the same fob but that is normally not done.

 

[JonathanD]

There's an off chance the owner of the charging car accidentally unlocked it with the app?

 

[CHG-ON]

I remember, back in the day...when my Volvo key fob opened another in the parking garage when it locked mine. Fortunately, my car was still there when I got back because mine was nicer than theirs!

 

[Hota]

Could it be that the proper key was already sitting in the other car and approaching it caused the handles to present?

 

[Russell]

Ive never personally experienced this, is this something that has happened to others?

Brian

It has not happened to me, but it's bound to happen one of us some time.
There are only a finite number of codes for the remotes. They are most likely assigned randomly and their code came up twice.

Could it be that the proper key was already sitting in the other car and approaching it caused the handles to present?

No. The car presents the handles when it senses the proper key, that wasn't there before.

 

[DarkMatter]

Any chance the owner of the other car was nearby? The range on the newer cars is surprisingly high.

 

[ada43952]

This happened to me back in 2000 with my 2000 Volkswagen Jetta. My coworker that also had the same year Volkswagen TDi was able to unlock my car with his fob. He was not able to start it (pre-keyless starting).

 

[SMAlset]

OP your thread reminded me of an older thread I remembered reading when I first came on TMC. Found it. You might find it an interesting read: My Key Fob Opened Someone Else's Model S