My brothers G35 coupe was stolen yesterday from his parking guarage. He said that he found peices of the door handle on the floor so it looked like they drilled out the lock to break in; but I'm confused as to how they could get the car started. The G35 (and the Z for that matter) has the Nissan Vehicle Immobilizer System which is supposed to make the car impossible to start without the right key (I think it senses something in the key's handle). So my question is, how can someone bypass that system and steal the car? Also, wouldn't drilling out the door set off the alarm, which should also stop the car from being started?

 

The immobilizer should make stealing the car via hotwiring impossible. Maybe they drill out the door handle to gain access to disengage the parking brake or put the car in neutral to facilitate towing the car.

 

The factory alarm is garbage. It's very easy to bypass. The door handle is a known vulnerable point in nissans. Maximas and the Z as well. You can easily lower the windows through it. Then you pop the hood, which has no alarm sensor. Disable the battery, goodbye alarm. Put it in neutral, tow it.

Now, if they did not tow it, but drove it away... I'd be very pissed. What a worthless transponder system if it can be bypassed so easily.

 

They can also brake into your car and then replace the ecu with one they have and use their keys for the G and drive away with it. Its a common practice here in SF

 

interesting...
by the way, there is a hood-sensor as far as i recall...
more than likely they just towed the car away.
try to see if there is something on surveilance camera, it would be HARD to miss something like this
even if there are cameras only at the entrance/exit, you would see something.

Good luck,

 

this is interesting.. I guess you could use your ecu with the right key, switch it with another Z or G, then drive it away...

hmm, never thought of that one before...

 

Ohh so the programming for the key is actually in the ECU? Interesting, I didn't know that. But to clarify, I know for a fact the car was DRIVEN away not towed. It only took them about 10 minutes, someone spotted them trying to steal a second g35 and they just ran away with my brothers.

 

Thats correct. Infact i think the chipped key was an awful idea for nissan. Where they too cheap to do laser cut keys? I mean if you look at our cars..... if someone wanted to take one its would be very easy with some planning. You noticed the passnger and driver window sides have no plastic covering. Only a weather stripe to block in rain. I can pry out about least .5-1" from the window w/ my fingers and its very easy to get my finger under the window. YOu can actaully try it yourself. Your finger can slip right in. Then jam the window down a few inches. Bam you got yourself some access to the door locks. Switch up the ecu and start up the car. Any drive away. Of course since we have a crappy stock alarm you would have to cut some wires from the hood i think. Im not in too detail with this car jacking method but i can ask around but a general idea is what im telling you. I think thats the only way they can drive off with your car by doing the ecu swap unless they have one of your keys.

 

The factory alarm or any alarm is just a deterant. Common thieves will look the other way when they see the flashing lights. But if people want to steal your car that badly they will find a way to steal it. I had a friend who had his type-r stolen right out of his garage even with an aftermarket alarm.

 

Hmmm, so can an alarm have a window sensor to detect movement? What's the best way to protect?
Any way to secure the ECU?

 

No secure way way to secure your ecu. movement senors would help. But like someone said, if someone wants to get your car bad they will find away. However the high tec expensive alrams will usual drive away 90-95% of all theifs. Too much time and hassel do bypass it. They rather just jack another car if there are any other ones around.

 

Where is the ECU? Can you fashion a metal bracket over it so it cannot be removed?

 

Once the OEM alarm is activated, if you open the door from the inside, it goes off.

 

That's common on Preludes with the immobilzer security as well. Thiefs suck, plain and simple!

 

I know in NJ they've been popping the lock on the driver's door for over a year already. They figured out that when you pop that off you can short the wires and the windows automatically roll down. It's a safety feature supposedly. If you drove into a lake the wires would short out and the windows would roll down for you so you can get out. My friend in NJ had his lock popped but he heard his alarm going off and he ran out and the thieves were gone. He went to the dealer to get it fixed and they told him they had a few people already come to them saying there car was broken into the same way and the lock piece costs $1,000 to fix. After that, two more times happened where his alarm went off and he ran outside to stop thieves. So far I've been lucky, but I'm in NY. NJ is VERY high for car thefts.

 

My car spends as much time in Newark, NJ as it does in my garage. Every week there are two-three cars stolen in a two block radius from where I park. I've had my old taurus broken into. My coworker had his Blazer broken into about four times. He has nothing inside his car to attract attention. But now he has gotten limo tint all the way around. Two years and his car hasn't been touched.

I took his advice and had my G35 tinted. Only 35%, but it has yet to be broken into... knock on wood.

 

ECU has the immobilizer code on the chip. there IS a way to start the car with a key tho-
its called the consult. and do an immoblizer reflash. it will reset the code to blank, and it will re-aquire any key you use to try to start the car with (well the key has to be the correct cut. etc)

these guys if they DID start the car, are very smart, or an inside job. but if they had the cut key, they wouldnt need to break the lock.

probably a tow and grab... consult II is like $10k or something...
and i dont think the SnapOn Tool variant can be used to wipe the immobilizer..

ECU is located in the passenger side knee area. but it will take a good professional ~ 20 or so minutes to get back there. and unhook the harness to have enough room to actually do anything.i.e. swap in another ECU, but still. your ignition key slot needs to be cut correctly..

sucks to hear about your brother's car. hope they find the criminals..

 

What about those guys that call up the nissan dealers and tell them that they lost their key? Then they just give their VIN# and in a week they get a key. There was some speical on the news and they called up 10 different dealers and got 8 keys.....only like 2 wouldn't do it.... Kinda sucks if you ask me!!!

 

Thanks man I hope so too. I agree that they definately couldn't have had a key because they drilled the lock out. But they took the car in only about 10 minutes, so if an ECU sway takes 20 (i'm using Chebostos estimate) then I don't see how that could have worked. Also, even if they changed the ECU, they still need a key that is cut correctly, unless they can pick or destroy the ignition lock as well. Is there some kind of device that can be made to scan through all the immobolizer codes until the right one is hit on? Or perhaps something along those lines.

 

damn this is crazy

why is it so easy to break into these cars...it gets me worried