After gettting my 'Cruiser nicked, my son has done a heap of research on "How to Steal a Landcruiser". He's a qualified Electrical Engineer, specialising in Electronic Communications. He's also a performance car nut and has a lot of friends in the business. He knows his stuff.
I will try not to go into too much detail as we don't know who's reading this eh!
Fact 1: The Landcruiser is the most stolen 4WD in Australia. Everyone wants one but nobody wants to pay for one.
Fact 2: The recovery rate for stolen cars in
Perth is 70%. For Landcruisers it's only 50%. If they do recover 'em, they get 'em back wrecked or stripped.
Fact 3: The 80 series is the most stolen Landcruiser out of all Landcruisers. the 100 series is next.
Now how do ya do it?
Well,,,,,,,,,all I will tell ya is that it's easy. One method is to do with ECU and a laptop or having your own ECU. Bust the lock out (old school, car theiving), get in the car, plug yer own ECU into it, Gone in about 1 minute and 30 seconds.
OR - someone copied your key while is was being serviced. The Toyota blanks cost
$20.00 and are available at,,,,,,,,,,,,shan't tell ya, but they' re everywhere.
Get the "new" blank key which has been copied from yours, open the door, stick in the ignition and do this and this and this and this (VERY simple steps), in the right order and the key now works like a new one.
Yer car's gone in 45 seconds.
This is all true but I really can't tell ya the full details can I??
There's a roaring business in the USA stealing Lexus and Porsches. These cars are advertised as 'unstealable'. It's a bloody joke. Manufacturers know this is happening and yet still don't fit entry alarm systems as standard. Immobilisers and transponder keys aren't worth two knobs,,,,,,,,,
My son has a very clever mate that can plug in a laptop into a cars ECU and programme that car's performance to do anything while it's being driven. He sells the gear to car makers etc! After all, we now have "Performance Chips" for just about all sorts of cars these days. So what makes us think that the professional criminal hasn't developed an "Car Thieving Chip"?? A professional thief puts in just as much research and development, study and thought as any other profession. Why shouldn't he - it's how he makes a living!
Remember "The Porsche Kid" in
Perth about 2 years ago? When he was caught, he actually showed police how to steal a Porsche in 19 seconds!!
Total outlay for the gear to do all this? About $10,000.00. Steal one late model Landcruiser and yer about $50,000.00 in profit! Steal 10 and yer a half millionaire for about an hours work. Chances of being caught? Don't worry about it as the police don't seriously investigate car theft. In the USA it's a major crime - "Grand Theft Auto". Over here it's a big fine or 6 months in clink. Insurance companies pick up the pieces.
They used to say that "Crime doesn't pay". Well from what I've heard from police ,insurance companies and motor industry insiders in the last week - "Crime does pay and the hours are great!"
It happened to me. I believed the BS that Toyota or any other car makers spout.
Don't let it happen to you.
Bilbo.