Mondeo Break In
Mondeo Break In
Author
Discussion

A2Z

Original Poster:

1,080 posts

252 months

Monday 23rd March 2009
quotequote all
Hi All,

Not sure if this post serves as a warning to others or me being curious to see if this has happened to anyone else.

My 06 Mondeo Ghia was broken into the other night. Car was dead locked and alarmed (factory fit). Screwdriver through drivers door lock (made a bit of a mess of surronding door and handle, can't open door from outside). Well, I say through the lock, the key still works in the lock but it looks as if they were working on the lock mechanism below the lock barrel.

Car parked in busy restaurant car park. Appears alarm did not go off and hazards were not flashing. Did not get into main cabin. However.....they did get into the boot and pinched my box of motoring bit n bobs. No damage to boot lock at all.

Just wondered if this was a weakness in this car.

Zad

12,970 posts

262 months

Monday 23rd March 2009
quotequote all
Isn't that a bit like saying breaking a window with a brick is a design weakness? The hammered the lock with a screwdriver and rotated it, albeit from possibly below the barrel. If you use the drivers door lock to disarm the alarm there's not a lot you can do about that.

Total bunch of amateurs though, you can get Ford lockpicks on tinterweb for very little money. Friend of mine works for one of the local authority garages and has a wide variety of picks. Saves him lots of time and money. BMW, Merc, Audi etc are no harder to pick with the right tool either.

goingonholiday

308 posts

207 months

Monday 23rd March 2009
quotequote all
Hi, first post but been an avid reader for some time.

My mondeo has been broken into twice as you described, both times the car doors didn't open but the boot did (won't go into details incase if gives anyone any ideas but it seems easy to do once you've seen the results of someone having a go!). Made a mess of the area around the drivers door so £400+ to get fixed each time. Touch, wood, fingers crossed etc no problems since taking the parcel shelf out and opening the glovebox when parked to show the idiotic scroats that there is nothing there to nick.

I think it's a design fault of many cars because I've heard of other makes and models being broken into in the same way.

When cars are tested for security I think they test without causing damage, I think they'd be better off looking at weaknesses including damage! I think the difference between this case and a brick through the window is that someone with a screwdriver can inconspicuously stand by the drivers door and get in, obviously anyone can lob a brick through but that causes a lot of noise and disturbance. In my case the break in was in a hotel carpark about 2 ft from someones bedroom window, no noise and nobody noticed!

andy-xr

13,204 posts

230 months

Tuesday 24th March 2009
quotequote all
Had the same thing happen on a Passat about 5 years ago, although that was drilled. The only time I left my laptop in the boot as well

Policeman said it was fairly easy to do and they'd seen a run of it on a particular type of car