Someone got in my car and I'm going crazy trying to figure out how

[boaterva]

(

There's an interesting feature in the locking system that has not been discussed lately. This could have caused your problem.
If you walk up to your S and double click the top of your fob, BUT you don't pull the door open, the car stays unlocked.
Let me say that again. Walk up to within range with your fob and double click the top. But do not open any door. Walk away. For instance,
walk back in your house and put your fob down somewhere out of range of the car. Walk back to the car. While you were gone, the handles, receded. Now walk up to your car and touch any door handle. The handles will present. This is a feature.
Another example. You are in a parking lot. You can't find your phone. You start back to your car. You are in a hurry, you double click the fob as you walk up to the car. Then you find your phone in your other pocket, so you do an "about-face" and walk away. You don't know, but your car is unlocked. Anyone could walk up and get inside your car.
To lock the car, you have two choices. 1) open a door and close it. now it locks. 2) single click your fob to lock all doors.
Don't believe me? Test if yourself. The S has been this way since they first shipped.
Could you have accidentally double clicked and unlocked your car - maybe from inside/away from the car? It remains unlocked until loked using 1 or 2 above.

This is possible, and, also, if you see some YouTube posts (I can dig up some, I think both Bjorn and James Cooke doc’d this), the auto-lock (walk away) takes a lot longer to lock than you think. There was another thread just like this where someone came back to their car and found someone sleeping in it!

I’d first turn off active-entry (the option that makes you now have to use the fob to unlock, that disables the time-of-flight repeated attack), but it’s much more likely this was as above (doors didn’t lock) or they didn’t lock before someone opened them.

I’ll definitely be using ‘positive locking’ on my car, triple-clicking to be sure it’s locked! (No single click, that’s prone to closing doors on people’s heads!)

 

[ABVA]

ABVA - what kind of dashcam do you have in mind/recommend? I didn't know the were around to activate when car is off. Would be nice to have a notice that car is activated with security cameras. That would scare away thieves.

Both of my Teslas have Blackvue dual channel dashcams. Even when the car is off they will activate if any motion is detected. Installation is fairly easy using constant 12v connection.
IMHO it is a fairly inexpensive insurance against vandalism. Couple of years ago my 2013 MS got in an accident and other party attempted to deny wrongdoing until he was told that he was on camera, no more arguments and in the process his insurance carrier picked the repair tab which was in excess of $15K.

 

[ABVA]

While this makes sense, anyone professional enough to be doing this would have done more than throw some trash in the car and dig for loose change. They didn't grab anything, they left things behind. There were thousands of dollars in music equipment in the trunk that I was too tired to move (changed that one fast). At minimum they could have unhooked the charging cable and walked away with an easy couple hundred bucks.



Could have happened for sure. I'm not ruling out human error. I'm biased but I feel that it would be unusual. I do have a feeling that they came in through the driver's side door because my seat was back really far when I got in it today, yet it was still on my seating profile.



Been in my Amazon wish list forever but never pulled the trigger. Also don't have wifi available where the car is so uploading to the cloud would be a costly move

Don't necessarily have to have wifi all data is stored on micro sd card in the dashcam.

 

[boaterva]

Don't necessarily have to have wifi all data is stored on micro sd card in the dashcam.

Exactly, cloud storage is only needed if you want to see ‘right now’ when you get an alarm (like parking mode tells you something bumped your car). You might be made more crazy or not. They tell you when you get in the car if the car was bumped in parking mode, if you have that feature, usually.

 

[wycolo]

Keep your fob in a tuna can (covered with a larger tin can top) which decreases the fob's working radius. All other times the fob is in the watch pocket of my jeans.

Find your old steering wheel lock, the steel bar type, and use it on your EV - a worthy retro-tech solution.
--

 

[GaryREM]

Both of my Teslas have Blackvue dual channel dashcams. Even when the car is off they will activate if any motion is detected. Installation is fairly easy using constant 12v connection.
IMHO it is a fairly inexpensive insurance against vandalism. Couple of years ago my 2013 MS got in an accident and other party attempted to deny wrongdoing until he was told that he was on camera, no more arguments and in the process his insurance carrier picked the repair tab which was in excess of $15K.

You're making it sound like you have 360 degree coverage.

How would the dash cam see someone entering from the side? Would it see anything inside?

I understand it's great for front and rear accidents, don't understand how it would help here.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

This passive entry attack can be thwarted using Time of Flight measurements to detect distance between car and key fob.

This method is used by Apple to prevent Apple Watch unlocking on Macs from falling prey to signal repeater attacks. I'm disappointed if Tesla hasn't figured this out

I may be wrong, but I believe Tesla has already addressed this issue going forward. I think only the Model S is vulnerable to this passive entry attack because the Model S key fob to car communication is quite simple, much like a rolling code garage door opener. Only one signal from the key fob to the car is necessary to open the car.

The Model X key fob is much more sophisticated, and uses a challenge-response data protocol over Bluetooth. There are several back-and-forth packets exchanged, which can't be amplified/repeated due to timing.

I also believe this is why Tesla chose to use your smartphone as the key on the Model 3, because they could implement the same challenge-response protocol over Bluetooth with the phone, without having to bear the cost of an expensive key fob.

Again, I don't have hard data to prove this setup, but this is what I have gathered/inferred from bits and pieces in other threads.

that is all valid, but that sure is a lot of trouble for some bad guy to go through to use the OP's car as a crash pad

Yes, it is. I mention it as a possible scenario to be aware of.


Also, I highly recommend the dashcam approach. Motion-sensing would have caught whatever happened and stored it on the SD card. These days, dashcams are really becoming a necessity. They can catch mischief, crime, accidents, police interactions, etc.

 

[HankLloydRight]

You're making it sound like you have 360 degree coverage.

How would the dash cam see someone entering from the side? Would it see anything inside?

I understand it's great for front and rear accidents, don't understand how it would help here.

Because you can still catch quite a bit from the front and rear. Suppose the culprits arrived in a car that drove by the front or rear? You'd have make, model, and likely color of the car in question. Depending on how they parked, maybe a license plate. If they entered from the side, it's still possible to know if there were any other accomplices who might have crossed into the path of either camera while walking around the car or opening the hatch. You might get a description for the cops "three males, approximately 20 years old, two with black hoodies, and a third with a pale blue cardigan" (not all thugs wear hoodies).

Anyway, having a dashcam is infinitely better than having nothing (or maybe it's "undefined").

 

[Xenoilphobe]

Sounds like you have an EX who might have the phone app and your password.

This sounds like a juvenile, if this was a pro you would have never known they were in your car. Its either a teenager, or really immature adult(s). Nothing of value was taken - why? They either know you or you buy really crappy sunglasses.. just saying.

 

[GaryREM]

Because you can still catch quite a bit from the front and rear. Suppose the culprits arrived in a car that drove by the front or rear? You'd have make, model, and likely color of the car in question. Depending on how they parked, maybe a license plate. If they entered from the side, it's still possible to know if there were any other accomplices who might have crossed into the path of either camera while walking around the car or opening the hatch. You might get a description for the cops "three males, approximately 20 years old, two with black hoodies, and a third with a pale blue cardigan" (not all thugs wear hoodies).

Anyway, having a dashcam is infinitely better than having nothing (or maybe it's "undefined").

I understand what you are saying, but, unless they broke into the rear, the info you caught would simply be of someone on the street engaged in something perfectly legal. Having a camera that also caught the interior would be great. A third dash cam in the rear pointing in could be very useful.

Dashcams are great for monitoring accidents, but not so sure about break unless they are going in through the hatch.

 

[HankLloydRight]

Whatever you get on video, even what you think isn't useful, is still better than not having it. Unless one person approaches the car from a 90 degree angle, and there's nobody with him, you're going to get something useful on video. If you've never had a dashcam, I wouldn't expect you to fully understand, they capture a lot more than you think.

 

[Musterion]

There's an interesting feature in the locking system that has not been discussed lately. This could have caused your problem.
If you walk up to your S and double click the top of your fob, BUT you don't pull the door open, the car stays unlocked.
Let me say that again. Walk up to within range with your fob and double click the top. But do not open any door. Walk away. For instance,
walk back in your house and put your fob down somewhere out of range of the car. Walk back to the car. While you were gone, the handles, receded. Now walk up to your car and touch any door handle. The handles will present. This is a feature.
Another example. You are in a parking lot. You can't find your phone. You start back to your car. You are in a hurry, you double click the fob as you walk up to the car. Then you find your phone in your other pocket, so you do an "about-face" and walk away. You don't know, but your car is unlocked. Anyone could walk up and get inside your car.
To lock the car, you have two choices. 1) open a door and close it. now it locks. 2) single click your fob to lock all doors.
Don't believe me? Test if yourself. The S has been this way since they first shipped.
Could you have accidentally double clicked and unlocked your car - maybe from inside/away from the car? It remains unlocked until loked using 1 or 2 above.

This used to be true but is no longer true as of recent software revisions. I used to do this so that it would stay unlocked in my garage but now it auto-locks on walk-away regardless of history of key-fob/door opening sequence. In another thread here this was discussed and others confirmed the new operation. Have you tested this recently or do you have old software?

 

[JohnnyG]

There's an interesting feature in the locking system that has not been discussed lately. This could have caused your problem.
If you walk up to your S and double click the top of your fob, BUT you don't pull the door open, the car stays unlocked.
Let me say that again. Walk up to within range with your fob and double click the top. But do not open any door. Walk away. For instance,
walk back in your house and put your fob down somewhere out of range of the car. Walk back to the car. While you were gone, the handles, receded. Now walk up to your car and touch any door handle. The handles will present. This is a feature.
Another example. You are in a parking lot. You can't find your phone. You start back to your car. You are in a hurry, you double click the fob as you walk up to the car. Then you find your phone in your other pocket, so you do an "about-face" and walk away. You don't know, but your car is unlocked. Anyone could walk up and get inside your car.
To lock the car, you have two choices. 1) open a door and close it. now it locks. 2) single click your fob to lock all doors.
Don't believe me? Test if yourself. The S has been this way since they first shipped.
Could you have accidentally double clicked and unlocked your car - maybe from inside/away from the car? It remains unlocked until loked using 1 or 2 above.

This is not the case anymore. This functionality was changed a few firmware revisions ago.

That said, back 9 moths ago, or so, when this was the case, it definitely caught me by surprise a few times, doing exactly as your example stated above. However, this behavior has since been removed.

Before I get naysayed, I just walked outside 30 seconds ago to test this yet again, as I know we have seen our share of regression in firmware updates. However, I can confirm that it definitely does not behave like that anymore.

Edit: @Musterion beat me to it.

 

[ricebucket]

I posted my story on the other thread, but basically, I was surprised one day to walk up to my tesla and opened the door and trunk, even though I had forgotten the keyfob at home. It was definitely not hacked. But may have been the unlock-but-didn't-open-the-door problem mentioned in this thread.

The same may have happened to you.

 

[ABVA]

You're making it sound like you have 360 degree coverage.

How would the dash cam see someone entering from the side? Would it see anything inside?

I understand it's great for front and rear accidents, don't understand how it would help here.

I do not have 360 degree coverage, you are correct that Typical dashcam solution does not provide 360 degree coverage. But then again, one has to make a choice between good probability versus No probability of catching the culprit. But to all there own.

 

[croman]

Sounds like a homeless person found your car unlocked and shacked up. They weren't out to steal, just looking for a safe, quiet, comfortable (relatively) place to crash (and eat some snacks). Consider it a learning experience and a public service rolled into one.

 

[Akikiki]

Akikiki said:
There's an interesting feature in the locking system that has not been discussed lately. This could have caused your problem.
If you walk up to your S and double click the top of your fob, BUT you don't pull the door open, the car stays unlocked.
Let me say that again. Walk up to within range with your fob and double click the top. But do not open any door. Walk away. For instance,
walk back in your house and put your fob down somewhere out of range of the car. Walk back to the car. While you were gone, the handles, receded. Now walk up to your car and touch any door handle. The handles will present. This is a feature.

This used to be true but is no longer true as of recent software revisions. I used to do this so that it would stay unlocked in my garage but now it auto-locks on walk-away regardless of history of key-fob/door opening sequence. In another thread here this was discussed and others confirmed the new operation. Have you tested this recently or do you have old software?

Yes, friend. But you are correct. Yes, its been modified from the old way that I described.

The first part I will call it is still accurate. Double click the fob, unlocks and don't open a door. Walk away. In about 1 minute, the handles will recede. With the fob out of range, walk back up and press a handle. The handles present as its unlocked. (You now have 15 seconds or less.) The second part. Whether you touch a handle to present or do not touch, now, 15 seconds later (if the door is not opened, the handles close and the car locks (It didn't used to do that). I am glad to see that they made this change.

 

[Akikiki]

You're making it sound like you have 360 degree coverage.

How would the dash cam see someone entering from the side? Would it see anything inside?

I understand it's great for front and rear accidents, don't understand how it would help here.

You can have 360 degree coverage. Some people are doing this. They are mounting two 2 channel dash cams. Several people on TM have reported doing it on both S's and X's A bit more difficult on a X. I'm planning on doing it.

Each two channel dash cam has a primary (usually front) and a secondary (usually rear) camera. I don't know about all others, but the Blackvue has a single small diameter cable that connects from the primary to the secondary camera. It carries both data and power signals to the secondary. Makes installation easier. Most people install the primary under the rearview mirror, and tuck the cable to the rear under the headliner or the door sills. The using the doublesided tape stick the secondary on the rear window.

I intend to move my secondary from the rear window to the small rear door passenger side quarter window. It will cover most of the right side of the car from there. I have a power source and I will install a new Blackvue primary camera in the back windows and tuck the cable long the left side C pillar and mount the camera again on the small rear door driver side quarter window. Bingo! 360 degree coverage. The last Blackvue I purchased was a DR650-2CH for $255 on Massdrop. Watching for the new DR750-2CH now and will do that. I expect total cost to be about $600. About what one insurance claim deductible would be. Ta-Da ! Nuthin' honey is perfect. This will help a lot and give me more peace of mind that anyone that does not have a dash cam at all.

 

[Cirrus MS100D]

I was surprised to find the fob works from remarkably far away and through a lot of layers. Our personal situation is 2 walls, a door, about 75’ outdoors to a detached garage and through insulated garage doors. Wish my WiFi was that good :-/

 

[Solarman004]

Keep your fob in a tuna can (covered with a larger tin can top) which decreases the fob's working radius. All other times the fob is in the watch pocket of my jeans.

Find your old steering wheel lock, the steel bar type, and use it on your EV - a worthy retro-tech solution.
--

I use Altoids cans, especially when camping or at a hotel. It already has a lid and my FOB doesn't smell like the holding bay of a trawler. ☺