Can you hotwire and electric car ?

tigger19687 · May 4, 2015

Kinda a silly question.
But if I left my i unlocked, is it uber easy to hot wire (or what ever they call it now) an EV ?

This would be my commuter car, and it isn't really a place that anything would be stolen. Plus I wouldn't be leaving anything IN it.

I was thinking of just leaving it unlocked in case anyone wanted to know what it was like inside. Then I can say, go sit in it, it's unlocked.

Might get more people interested

Gee, now that I think about it. Might as well leave the key there too so they can take it for a spin in the parking lot. It's not like they can get very far LOL

jray3 · May 4, 2015

Not a bad question. Since the iMiEV uses a conventional ignition switch and column lock, conventional hot-wiring techniques should apply.

There's recently been a lot of press about a big ***** in the armor of "proximity' key fobs, as used with the LEAF. Burglars with a cheap signal amplifier can unlock the car by simply pulling on a door handle, which causes the car to 'ping' the fob (which may be hanging safely on the wall inside your house). When the fob responds, their signal amplifier fools the car into unlocking.

As I understand, even if this technique allowed the thief to start a car, it would die as soon as they drive out of range. It's probably just a matter of time till they figure out how to 'harvest' the fob's signal signature and recreate it, just as 'skimmers' do with credit cards. Then it's off to the races as a new front opens in the cyberwars.

iwatson · May 4, 2015

Three points here:

1) We all love our i-miev's, but really? In case you haven't noticed it's not the sexiest, most in-demand, most popular car out there! Would the average car thief really want to steal an electric car?
2) If someone did steal it, they couldn't go far!
3) The i-miev is so rare that it would be easy to identify as yours. In my city the Mitsu dealer tells me there are three others, but I've only ever seen one other, and that was just once in the past year!

tigger19687 · May 5, 2015

Right, Not thinking any one would really WANT to steal it. AND they wouldn't get very far LOL
But was curious if it was as easy as it would be in my Truck.

Thanks all for the info

iwatson said:
Three points here:

1) We all love our i-miev's, but really? In case you haven't noticed it's not the sexiest, most in-demand, most popular car out there! Would the average car thief really want to steal an electric car?
2) If someone did steal it, they couldn't go far!
3) The i-miev is so rare that it would be easy to identify as yours. In my city the Mitsu dealer tells me there are three others, but I've only ever seen one other, and that was just once in the past year!

iwatson · May 5, 2015

tigger19687 said:
Right, Not thinking any one would really WANT to steal it. AND they wouldn't get very far LOL
But was curious if it was as easy as it would be in my Truck.

My Bad!

I have a bad habit of being snarky!

I think it would likely be an easy car to steal, either via hotwire since it seems to be the least sophisticated of the EV's or by thieves that might use a flatbed tow truck, since it's small and light.

I just don't think it would be a likely target, for the reasons mentioned earlier. I don't think average folks are familiar with it and would most likely move on to a hotter target. Who really knows???

JoeS · May 5, 2015

For the entire daily-driver (30+-year) life of my '67 Saab I never locked it and left the keys in the ignition, the argument being similar to the comments about the i-MiEV, but also being secure in knowing that a thief would never figure out how to get it into reverse. Wife won't let me do that with the i-MiEV.

With all those "100% Electric" stickers on my i-MiEV's, they'd be hard to hide if they walked away. :lol:

tigger19687 · May 5, 2015

I usually leave my car/trucks unlocked- unless I have stuff in them that would get stolen.
But before that I was under the thinking that if you REALLY want to get in my truck and take something, DON'T break my window, just open it and take what you want

I don't plan on having anything in this car. Maybe 1 CD, but this is my back and forth to work car. So I don't need to keep anything in it.

Can you hotwire and electric car ?

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