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Key fob security failure

5K views 30 replies 22 participants last post by  cjaama 
#1 ·
Background - I parked at a public EV charging station & began charging. Noticed that an identical looking Volt was parked nearby as well. After beginning the charge, I went about my stuff.

Couple of hours later, I received a call as I was heading back to pick up the Volt. The call was from the other volt owner who was at the same parking station. (How he had traced & identified me as the owner of my car is another mystery)

To summarize the conversation, he thought my car was his car since our cars were identical (except for number plate). To my surprise, his key fob managed to unlock my car and he proceeded to load his belongings into the front passenger seat. He then walked over to the driver's door. Then, my car locked (due to 5 secs passing since door close) & he tried to unlock it but my car would not unlock. Instead his own car unlocked. Thus, his items were trapped in my car. He then managed to somehow get a hold of me and relay this information to me which left me a little shocked.

1. I want GM to be aware of this. How can I bring this to their attention without going through the dealership where staff might be really skeptical? Do I contact volt advisers?
(I understand that folks might be skeptical when they hear this because I personally never expected such a key failure, pun intended, to occur). In this instance, nothing from my car was stolen, but it raises many questions about the security of the vehicle, and can result in potential loss of valuables from the vehicle, or the entire vehicle itself. Losing one's privacy is another ramification of this. :mad:
2. Has anyone experienced this before?
 
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#3 ·
Is there any possibility that your car was left unlocked when you walked away from it, and that is how this person managed to put his stuff inside, instead of his fob unlocking it?

I would expect the key fob transmitters to use a rolling code or some other "secure" technology that should prevent this kind of thing, or make it a 1 in a million chance.

As a side note, I had a very similar thing happen to me in the days before key fobs and smart keys (1980 VW). I unlocked and sat down inside a car that was identical to mine and parked nearby. The key would have started the car and I could have driven off and never realized the switch, but there were unfamiliar personal items on the passenger seat that tipped me off that it was not my car. Very odd.
 
#10 ·
As a side note, I had a very similar thing happen to me in the days before key fobs and smart keys (1980 VW). I unlocked and sat down inside a car that was identical to mine and parked nearby. The key would have started the car and I could have driven off and never realized the switch, but there were unfamiliar personal items on the passenger seat that tipped me off that it was not my car. Very odd.
I had a similar experience back about 1970. I had parked what I thought was the only Mini in northern Nova Scotia, came back out, thought I had parked somewhere else, but unlocked and got in. ( For some reason I had memory lapses from time to time when I was a teenager.) I was fiddling with the ignition (separate key) when I noticed a very large and apparently annoyed person at the door.

We settled it peacefully when I noticed my own car in the next row. Turned out both door locks used the same key, but the ignitions were different.
 
#5 ·
Now i'm starting to doubt if i did lock my car after I got out.

But even then, I know that the auto-lock function (with doors closed) is enabled after 5 sec & the car honks to confirm that. So technically even if I did not manually lock my car, it would have automatically done so.

Thx regardless!
 
#11 ·
I think the car was not locked to begin with otherwise he could have opened it again. I have left my car thinking it was locked and would swear that I did but when I discovered it was unlocked I know I could have forgot or accidentally hit the unlock on the keyfob without knowing it.

I would be more concerned with how the individual got your information. The fact that you did not ask him or even call back later to find out makes me think this whole thing could be made up or that thought never crossed your mind.
 
#17 ·
I would be more concerned with how the individual got your information. The fact that you did not ask him or even call back later to find out makes me think this whole thing could be made up or that thought never crossed your mind.
This 1000X. This could possibly violate privacy laws in your area. It would be one thing if OnStar called you, but to share your personal info is a total breach. Please follow up on this and let us know!
 
#12 ·
Here's a possible scenario:

1) Jard1s exits his car and closes the driver side door, but it doesn't quite close all the way. For that reason, the auto lock does not activate and the car remains unlocked.
2) Stranger walks up to the car, hits unlock button on remote, and then opens the driver's door (which was always unlocked anyway). He gets in and puts his belongings next to him on the passenger seat.
3) He realizes he is in the wrong car
4) he gets out, closes driver's door, and walks to the passenger side to get his belongings out.
5) he is now locked out because he fully closed the door and the auto locks worked.
6) Not sure how he contacted Jard1s, but maybe it was a Chargepoint charger he was on, or similar. I think there is some functionality in the Chargepoint app for contacting a car owner. Or maybe he has a friend at the DMV or in the police department.

The detail about which side of the car he walked to differ from Jard1s's original account, but that could have easily been mixed up in the telling or hearing or remembering of the original phone call.

There may be other reasons why in step 1 the car remained unlocked, such as the car was left running, or there was a glitch in the auto lock function, or the key fob unlock button was accidentally bumped, or Jard1s meant to press the keyfob lock button but hit the wrong button.
 
#18 · (Edited)
That's a very sound possibility. But like i mentioned, I didn't take note whether I locked the car, but let's just say I didn't. But I was quite sure I closed the doors properly and securely as I will note by the closing sound of the door hitting the body if it was shut properly or not. I don't use the key fob to lock as I always press the proximity lock function on the handle. So either I hit the proximity lock button or auto-lock was supposed to kick in.

And yes it was a chargepoint station. I will be reaching out to the other volt owner to understand what exactly happened over this weekend.
 
#13 ·
Although this is disconcerting that other keys may work, I was under the impression that the car was what gets programmed to each key/transponder rather than the key being programmed to the car. I can see how a mechanical key might be duplicated throughout a vehicle run since there are a finite number of positions for each tumbler and tend to be used several times throughout production runs but I had understood there were millions if not more digital combinations used by the transponder to identify it to the car which should eliminate duplication along with each key being uniquely coded and the matching vehicle being programmed to recognize only keys in which it's been programmed to recognize.
 
#14 ·
I parked my Ford company car behind a Ford pickup truck one night when checking into a hotel, when I pressed the lock button on my car's fob the pickup also flashed it's lights and both honked when I pressed it a second time. I thought it was strange so I tried it again, same result. So I guess they do use duplicate codes occasionally.
 
#16 ·
I've been thinking about how he contacted you. Was onstar at all involved? I know when you set up your account, they ask for contact information. If this included a cell phone number, perhaps that may be how. However, I would imagine onstar would not just give a phone number out, but rather contact you themselves to explain the situation.
 
#24 ·
I think it's lottery ticket time, with that kind of luck! :)
 
#20 ·
ahh, the proximity door handle lock button. Mine often have a slight delay. When I was using them, I'd sometimes find that the doors didn't lock, or they did (and I didn't hear it) so I'd press it again and then they'd unlock. Can't trust a toggle action at all, if there is any delay. The keyfob on the other hand, has a dedicated Lock button.
 
#21 ·
How many people have complained on the forums about the problem where they find their car with all the windows down? A pretty common problem. The consensus is that it is caused by a pocket press and hold of the unlock button. Even easier to accidentally unlock the door, since it is a brief press.

I think of all the possible explanations of how this happened, a security glitch with the key fob code is not the most likely one.
 
#26 ·
The rear door lock button won't respond, if you reach for it from a full arms length away, as when reaching over from the trunk area.
I learned to get closer and watch the door lock pin drop and then pull the handle to confirm.
 
#27 · (Edited)
This article shows how vulnerable these key fobs are.

"The full attack uses only a few cheap chips, batteries, a radio transmitter, and an antenna.....
As it is, he says, the devices are simple enough that “every second semester electronic student should be able to build such devices without any further technical instruction"

https://www.wired.com/2016/03/study-finds-24-car-models-open-unlocking-ignition-hack/

Take note the Ampera (Volt in Europe) is on the list.

Nevertheless, I also believe your door was open, it's the most likely scenario. How far away from the car were you?

If someone wants to get really technical look at this:

https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/usenixsecurity16/sec16_paper_garcia.pdf
 
#28 ·
Obviously onstar wasn't going to open somebody else's car, but probably decided to give out your number since there wasn't really any other way to solve that problem. I'm also thinking your door was already unlocked.


This kind of stuff happens a lot. My roomate had a gm car with the same doorlock keycut as my camaro. My brother wrecked his 89 suzuki swift and bought a 94 with the insurance money. Out of habit he grabbed his old set of keys and it was the exact keycode and it unlocked the ignition and started the car.
 
#29 ·
Obviously onstar wasn't going to open somebody else's car, but probably decided to give out your number since there wasn't really any other way to solve that problem.
It's also possible that the other person called onstar, who then connected that person to your number.
AFAIK that would not violate privacy laws, as they're not telling the person anything about you, just giving you a chance to connect.
They'd also not have the phone number to call back/harass you if that was a potential result.
 
#30 ·
I'd be a bit more concerned if the other driver was able to drive off in your car using his key fob. As a complete side note and by way of comparison, you might be surprised to hear that heavy equipment (John Deere backhoes, for example) often only features a handful of different keysets, if that, for an entire model year.
 
#31 ·
If he was unable to unlock it to put his belongings in the car, why wasn't he able to unlock it a second time?
You returned to your car to get the guy's belongings out of the car, but didn't spend a couple minutes playing with key fobs?
 
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