How Did They Steal Our Car?

[RM]

So my wife’s 67 plate Abarth 595 was missing from the drive when we woke up in the morning.

We bought it second hand from an independent dealer 10 months ago, it came with one remote key and the backup blade key. It has been serviced once at a main dealer.

A neighbour’s CCTV shows a couple of men on foot with a torch looking at cars around 11:30pm and a brief car alarm a few minutes later. Don’t know it it was ours, we have never heard it going.

At 8am I noticed it was missing. We still have the keys, there was no glass or other debris on the drive.

So, how did they do it?

[maxdb]

Taken from the Fiat Forum:

https://www.fiatforum.com/newbie-central/425995-ho...

Fiat 500's can be stolen in a couple of minutes. They use a pick in the door that retains the profile of the key once it's picked so it can then be used in the ignition. Once they have done that they use a pocket size OBD device that rewrites the eprom in the ecu to to make it as new before the immobiliser function was programmed. It also blocks communication between the engine ecu and body computer so the immobiliser isn't automatically reprogrammed in the ecu by the body computer.
Easy way to prevent this is to disconnect the can lines from the OBD socket or follow them back and insert a switch in the line further back. You can leave them disconnected all the time and the only time they will need to be reconnected is when you want to perform diagnostics.

I know Mk6 Fiestas have the same issue.

[Sheepshanks]

The above would fit with an alarm going off briefly, as it'd go off when the door was opened using a key, then stop when the key was put in the ignition. The ECU would then need to be reprogrammed to overcome the immobiliser.

[MGirl]

We’ve got a 595 and I don’t believe they have an alarm on them, just an immobiliser. I didn’t even give it a thought until I was on the Abarth forum and someone mentioned they don’t. The standard 500 supposedly does. Why they didn’t put them on these I don’t know. Most of the time an alarm goes off and most people ignore it or get annoyed by it, yet make no effort to look and see if there is anything going on.

So you won’t have heard an alarm unless it had an aftermarket fitted.

https://www.abarthforum.co.uk/500-abarth/alarm-imm...

[centralscot]

Neither the Fiat 500 or the Abarth 500 has an alarm,only the new electric only 500 has an alarm.

[lost in espace]

Are these stripped for parts, give a new identity or exported out of interest. OP sorry about your theft.

[Darkslider]

lost in espace said:

Are these stripped for parts, give a new identity or exported out of interest. OP sorry about your theft.

Follow dodgy cars on Facebook, an awful lot of what look like beyond repair crash damaged but not recorded cars appear for sale later looking immaculate, a percentage of these will be stolen versions of the same model given a new identity. Easily done with popular high end hot hatches that were sold in limited colour options (think Golf R, Audi S/RS3, Focus RS etc)

[RM]

maxdb said:

Taken from the Fiat Forum:

https://www.fiatforum.com/newbie-central/425995-ho...

Fiat 500's can be stolen in a couple of minutes. They use a pick in the door that retains the profile of the key once it's picked so it can then be used in the ignition. Once they have done that they use a pocket size OBD device that rewrites the eprom in the ecu to to make it as new before the immobiliser function was programmed. It also blocks communication between the engine ecu and body computer so the immobiliser isn't automatically reprogrammed in the ecu by the body computer.
Easy way to prevent this is to disconnect the can lines from the OBD socket or follow them back and insert a switch in the line further back. You can leave them disconnected all the time and the only time they will need to be reconnected is when you want to perform diagnostics.

I know Mk6 Fiestas have the same issue.

Thanks, you just don’t think modern cars would be so easy to steal!

MGirl said:

We’ve got a 595 and I don’t believe they have an alarm on them, just an immobiliser. I didn’t even give it a thought until I was on the Abarth forum and someone mentioned they don’t. The standard 500 supposedly does. Why they didn’t put them on these I don’t know. Most of the time an alarm goes off and most people ignore it or get annoyed by it, yet make no effort to look and see if there is anything going on.

So you won’t have heard an alarm unless it had an aftermarket fitted.

https://www.abarthforum.co.uk/500-abarth/alarm-imm...

Good to know, thanks (and to the other posters). We are planning on replacing it but will fit an alarm.

[Limpet]

Darkslider said:

Follow dodgy cars on Facebook, an awful lot of what look like beyond repair crash damaged but not recorded cars appear for sale later looking immaculate, a percentage of these will be stolen versions of the same model given a new identity. Easily done with popular high end hot hatches that were sold in limited colour options (think Golf R, Audi S/RS3, Focus RS etc)

Back in the 90s cars were mostly nicked by kids looking for an evening’s entertainment. It’s much more serious and organised now.

A few minutes on Copart shows the money there is to be made doing this, if you’re morally bankrupt. Robbing cars either for parts to fix up unrecorded wrecks, or to be ringed with their ID. Big bucks in it.

Edited by Limpet on Sunday 20th June 15:32