There aren't 16 pins connected. When I 'played' with the OBD port in my car, I counted 5 (maybe 6) pins connected. Definitely not all 16.

Bugger me though, that's a lot of cars being taken. How does that compare to other makes though? I have no idea how many cars are nicked each day, and don't have a feel if the number of BMWs is disproportional.

Sorry not strictly true:-

I expect there are ways to crack the key fobs, or to intercept certain parts - for example, if you press twice, you arm the BMW locks without the alarm. What's to say the "key" they send isn't the same? In theory, you could capture the data, and re-send it, thus, disarming the alarm. I don't know the in's and out's of car alarm systems, but if people are clever enough to break SSLv2, WEP/WPA, and use clusters of cloud computers to cracked hashed SHA1/MD5, I wouldn't put it past very clever individuals.

Should I let this situation stop me buying a 118d M Sport?

There have been a number of 1 series' taken according to this thread and it has diluted my interest in buying one somewhat.

If I did get one, I would be altering the OBD socket in some way as soon as I get the car home.

Has anyone not bought a BMW as a direct result of this thread?

The perfect example of what I mentioned yesterday, someone with a new account posting wild claims without a scrap of evidence. Can you back this up with anything in the way of evidence?

At least give us a source!

No, let the fact it's no more economical than the faster 120d stop you instead.

Spark plug is cheaper and probably as effective?

Evening all,

Firstly, best wishes to those that have had the misfortune to have their cars stolen. I've been lucky enough that this has never happened to me, but I can only imagine the helplessness, as well as the fury that you must all feel.

I really hope the scum that are doing this get their comeuppance (anyone thought about electrifying their OBD port? ). - I'm glad to see that some Police forces are note using "bait cars". Hopefully this leads to the apprehension of these scrotes and means the criminals will think twice about attempting to steal cars for fear of getting caught. Personally, I'd cut their hands off, blind them and leave them to suffer VBRJ from the prison system's lifers.

However, BMWs attitude so far is disgusting IMHO and if I had an order with them at the moment, I would have definitely cancelled it until this matter is adequately resolved (and made the big wigs at BMW UK aware of my reasons and the fact that it'd have cost them money).

Does anyone know if Mini vehicles that also use the electronic key are affected (I imagine they use the same electronics as regular BMW models)? There are a couple in the family and if necessary I'll take precautions to keep them in our hands.

As a society, we are appallingly soft in dealing with this vermin. We shouldn't tolerate their thieving (and other crimes) - screw their "Ooman rights", they shold be made to suffer when caught. They cause absolute misery for the upstanding members of society that can be bothered to EARN their belongings.

As for the cars being exported: It's clear that tougher regulations and checks are needed at our ports. Considering all that is possible with modern technology, there must be a solution. In addition, governments that allow these criminal gangs to operate unchecked need to be held to account. I'm in the computer industry and there are currently massive problems with scammers from overseas targeting the UK public, particularly the elderly and vulnerable. It's a disgusting situation that needs addressing one way or another. - Criminals shouldn't be able to target us and then hide overseas from reprisals.

Hello premio

Nice head in sand tactics.

In the context of your post I ve had 2 cracked alloys -535d, Sat nav disc drive replaced twice,-645 and suffered Pan roof failure-E61 ,

So far no theft ...but fingers crossed eh?!

Some may use jammers or break the glass, etc but opening the car is easy using the lock, tools are available to do it, unlocking and opening the door on my 1er set the alarm off, however if the lock is turned and held in position the window winds down, as it does when the unlock button is pressed and held on the key fob and no alarm goes off, even if someone climbs into the car, plug in obd coder for new key to start it and away the car goes with no damage and a blade can be cut to match the locks that have been picked

Only 2! You're lucky I have had 3 bent and 3 cracked.

But my satnav works