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Never drive away without the key card!
- Thread starter SergeyP
- Start date
I was involved in the mobile phone business since 1995 and was running a business for several years unlocking them, repairing them and IT. Unlocking a phone is possible in seconds depending on the phone and how dated it is (network unlock). Unlocking a phone as to remove the pin these days requires you to wipe the phone so no big deal as far as taking your tesla.
There is much less risk of you phone being targeted due to it being locked in the cloud (activation locked) 2FA, and as far as parts go, even these are coded to the phone more recently hence there is very little reward for the risk. Your keys/fob and your wallet (specially if you have your licence you something with your address on it) is much more compelling. Also, most car thefts happen at your home these days for high value/tech cars.
Im not a security analyst though so each to their own though. Whatever your comfortable with
It took the FBI 5 months to get into an iPhone (and Apple since fixed that vulnerability).
FBI finally unlock shooter’s iPhones, Apple berated for not helping
People regularly lose their phones, those thieves aren't all then using their apps. Most would have their email on their phone which is almost certainly the place where everything else recovers to so you would practically lose everything, this does not happen. Stolen phones get reset and sold on, that is all. The only precaution I would follow is not having a picture of your car on the lock screen.
The key (I have also) uses the same bluetooth as the phone, so it's all but identical.
Spacep0d
Active Member
I always carry my backup card in my wallet and my girlfriend does the same in her purse. There are just too many situations I can think of where the phone might not work. Glad you got it resolved despite the hard lesson!
We did get caught once when walk-away lock was not working with my girlfriend's new car because we hadn't enabled it yet. Thankfully everything was fine. Lately I just lock my car with my phone or I make sure those mirrors fold so I know it's locked.
Thunderbird1
Thunderbird1
Always have a family member set up as key holder on their phone and they at least can remote unlock or start the car via their phone.
I wouldn’t recommend this. I’ve done it twice and regretted it both times. In my experience logging out makes things worse. The app usually doesn’t work if it can’t communicate to the mothership, or the mothership can’t communicate with the car. However Bluetooth still allows you to open the car from the unlock icon. Removing the car/app is bad because you can’t talk to the mothership, you can’t add it back in.
Should have told the FBI over in the USA, they took ages to unlock some persons phone they were prosecuting. They even went to Apple and they refused to do it. In the end some hacker helped them. It was big news not long ago.
Phones these days are a lot more secure than they use to be.
I always keep mine hard to rememberI find setting a PIN to be a bit of a mind game with the would be hacker. Are they going to count up, or down, do I start high 9999, or low 0000, or do I hedge my bets 5000
pdk42
Active Member
I was washing my car last weekend and left my phone on the passenger seat. About 20 mins into the job, the car locked itself. Phone was sat on the passenger seat and it had not crashed/run out of power etc. I've so far relied on the phone Andes the only key and quite frequently have gone out without my wallet. If this had happened when I was away from home it would have been a real pita.
Interesting, did you try the driver’s handle? With your phone inside the Bluetooth should still have allowed you to unlock?
Jason71
Well-Known Member
While I generally disagree that a phone is a security risk I did discover one issue with my Android phone.
if you are in BT range of the car you can unlock the car from the permanent notification
With it set to show notifications on the lock screen this option then becomes available there as well.
This means you can then unlock the car, boot or frunk from the lock screen while the phone is locked.
Changing the settings to show notifications on lock screen but not the content of the notifications fixed this. I had had the car for 10 months when I realised last week!!
if you are in BT range of the car you can unlock the car from the permanent notification
With it set to show notifications on the lock screen this option then becomes available there as well.
This means you can then unlock the car, boot or frunk from the lock screen while the phone is locked.
Changing the settings to show notifications on lock screen but not the content of the notifications fixed this. I had had the car for 10 months when I realised last week!!
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Rooster6655
Active Member
if you “lose” your phone it takes 1min to remove it as a Key in the car.
Secondly you can’t just guess the pin on the car instantly not possible.
As to cracking phones this isn’t 1999 you can really only wipe them if you want access in a reasonable time and that deletes the apps.
Cnixon
Member
Wow! I did not expect that my thread will generate such heated debates abt the security topics! Just to give an update on my situation - I called Tesla and was told that there was some IT glitch on their side: for some reason the status of my car was moved from "active" to "not delivered", which automatically removed it from the App. Tesla guys promised to rectify the problem immediately and to change the status of my car as "delivered". Hopefully all will be fine soon, but as said - the lesson learned!
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