factory immobilzers effective or not

[kwhelan 241]

mate had his subaru stolen and used in a shop burglary the other night,ripped out all the steering column and just bypassed the factory immobizer making it basically useless,

got me thinking does my e39 with chipped key actually give me any safety at all or is an aftermarket alarm the only real safe deterrent,

has anyone ever tested their immobilzer works or is bypassing it pretty easy

[Apex 693]

Would like to think a factory immobilizer in a BMW will be more effective than aftermarket given it is wired into the factory loom making it hard to find.

[M5V8 337]

the key in a BMW actually 'speaks' to the car to disable the immobilizer. This is integrated into the car electronics and is not easily bypassed.

I believe I was told by a BMW dealer it's impossible to start without the correctly coded key.

Aftermarket units are wired in, so you can, in effect bypass them if you can find the unit by simply removing the unit.

I have also heard of thieves in AUS using forrester turbo ECU's to nick WRX's with factory installed immobilizers which immobilize via ECU.

[kwhelan 241]

the key in a BMW actually 'speaks' to the car to disable the immobilizer. This is integrated into the car electronics and is not easily bypassed.

I believe I was told by a BMW dealer it's impossible to start without the correctly coded key.

Aftermarket units are wired in, so you can, in effect bypass them if you can find the unit by simply removing the unit.

I have also heard of thieves in AUS using forrester turbo ECU's to nick WRX's with factory installed immobilizers which immobilize via ECU.

this guy was told the same thing about factory immobilizer in his sub when he bought it from the dealer,told he didnt need an aftermarket alarm,this is small time napier with car found in a ditch,number plates missing and a few boxes of sneakers still left in it from the ramraid,doubt they were expert criminals so they must be pretty easy to bypass

when changing a futzed ecu on sons golf we found it would start but only ran for 20 secs then immobilzer cut in,had to be reprogrammed to talk to each other and machine had to be online to vw to do it,no vag could handle it

Edited June 27, 2012 by kwhelan

[*Glenn* 854]

I believe I was told by a BMW dealer it's impossible to start without the correctly coded key.

Correct... but only if it has EWS

[CamB 48]

Given how hard it is for people to get their engine swaps to run without doing all the right EWS stuff, I assume the BMW one is quite effective. Would be interested to hear if different.

[M3_Power 636]

If there's a will there's a way.

If they can get in the car, pop the bonnet and switch out the ECU and the EWS and armed with their own laptop with the correct software and pre-coded keys they can take anything.

Below is a news video from Taiwan (sorry it's in Mandarine), but it took the theives just under 1 minute to take an E92 M3 in Taiwan ... and the news article states it wasn't the only one taken recently, basically quite a few have been stolen in the same way.

http://www.appledaily.com.tw/appledaily/ar...84/applesearch/

Moral of the story, if they really want it, they can take it.

E39 is still EWSII I think, so rather weak.

And I've been told by very respectable resources that you can recode the ECU to actually not need the EWS to talk to it and just start the car and by pass everything - (up to EWSIII apparantly) - so yeah, it's a know how thing.

Edited June 27, 2012 by M3_Power

[westy 614]

Moral of the story, if they really want it, they can take it.

And I've been told by very respectable resources that you can recode the ECU to actually not need the EWS to talk to it and just start the car and by pass everything - (up to EWSIII apparantly) - so yeah, it's a know how thing.

Just stick on the back of a tow truck if they really want it.

And yes, ECUs can have EWS disabled. Becoming quite popular with people swapping s54s and the like into older cars.

[M5V8 337]

this guy was told the same thing about factory immobilizer in his sub when he bought it from the dealer,told he didnt need an aftermarket alarm,this is small time napier with car found in a ditch,number plates missing and a few boxes of sneakers still left in it from the ramraid,doubt they were expert criminals so they must be pretty easy to bypass

when changing a futzed ecu on sons golf we found it would start but only ran for 20 secs then immobilzer cut in,had to be reprogrammed to talk to each other and machine had to be online to vw to do it,no vag could handle it

when I was working for Subaru in AUS we had 4 forrester turbo's broken into...... just the ECU's stolen.

we worked it out from there...

However, yes agreed. If they really want it, they will get it. Doesn't matter what security you have.

But the question was, would a aftermarket immobilizer be worth putting in to a BMW. Which would be just a waste of $$

Edited June 28, 2012 by M5V8

[hybrid 1043]

Your e39 is fine ... people in this country who steal cars are dumb as f**k. I dont think any of them passed school C let alone know how to bypass EWS.

Any stories in this country are tow truck related or they steal the key.

[Dave@nz 11]

I would like to think getting the door unlocked on a BMW would deter most thieves. The average Japanese car is very easy to unlock and most have central locking with no security features so when access is gained all the doors can be opened.

I might be wrong in this, on a BMW even if the window is smashed the central lock buttons can not be lifted up to unlock the door. Like all things there will be away around it but thankfully as a member alluded to, it is only the smart ones who know how to do it so that narrows it down a bit.

Edited June 28, 2012 by 87M3@NZ

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2132]

I might be wrong in this, on a BMW even if the window is smashed the central lock buttons can not be lifted up to unlock the door. Like all things there will be away around it but thankfully as a member alluded to, it is only the smart ones who know how to do it so that narrows it down a bit.

my E34 is like that, you can pull the knob up but it doesnt unlock the door. a right prick if the battery goes flat. some of them have the locks sink away into the doors when locked too.

[euroriffic 609]

When my ignition barrel f$@ked out the other week I tried it out just using a screwdriver in the electrical barrel on the back and it wouldn't start because I didn't have the key in so wouldn't pick up the ews so was glad to see it did work.

Also my insurance didn't have the factory BMW immobilizer listed as an acceptable one so to lower my theft excess about 500 I need to fit an aftermarket one which I told them was crap cause the factory one is a shitload better but because it wasn't on their list they won't recognize it. Bastards!

[Allanw 1071]

Just park next to a VL commodore. If it has central locking, I used to be able to get into one in about 30 seconds without rushing. No damage at all either. I did need a special tool though:

I probably best not mention how, but at least one of the Holden design team were a bit dense!

As was said above, if they want it that bad, it will be gone. If they just want a joyride, they'll take something easier. If you have an M5, you might have more to worry about, but what are they going to do with it? Sell parts on Bimmersport? Trademe?

[Greg111 13]

If there's a will there's a way.

If they can get in the car, pop the bonnet and switch out the ECU and the EWS and armed with their own laptop with the correct software and pre-coded keys they can take anything.

Below is a news video from Taiwan (sorry it's in Mandarine), but it took the theives just under 1 minute to take an E92 M3 in Taiwan ... and the news article states it wasn't the only one taken recently, basically quite a few have been stolen in the same way.

http://www.appledaily.com.tw/appledaily/ar...84/applesearch/

Moral of the story, if they really want it, they can take it.

E39 is still EWSII I think, so rather weak.

And I've been told by very respectable resources that you can recode the ECU to actually not need the EWS to talk to it and just start the car and by pass everything - (up to EWSIII apparantly) - so yeah, it's a know how thing.

NZ thieves don't really know much, most won't know what a laptop is.

Have heard in the UK that BMWs of any era were being taken quite easy using their laptops.

With vehicles that have EWS II, the imobiliser code is different every time the key is turned so can't be learned with a laptop etc.

They went to EWS II because the original imobiliser kept the same code all the time making it easier to start.

Now there is EWS III and so forth which you may as well order a tow truck and drag the thing away.

[tmase 19]

Also my insurance didn't have the factory BMW immobilizer listed as an acceptable one so to lower my theft excess about 500 I need to fit an aftermarket one which I told them was crap cause the factory one is a shitload better but because it wasn't on their list they won't recognize it. Bastards!

Which insurance company?

[polley 916]

If they really want it, theres nothing stopping them sticking it on a tow truck and taking it away.

If you had a GPS tracker it would at least alert you to it been removed from its location and you would be able to track it down.

[euroriffic 609]

Insurance company is nac

[hotwire 352]

Insurance company is nac

Should take them to task over it. They have no idea what they are on about.

BMW, & other Euro vehicles for that matter, as mentioned have very complex immobilization. This is requirement over there. It is streets ahead of anything out of Asia, certainly of comparable age vehicle.

Short of swapping the complete EWS system or deprogramming the immobilization function of the DME, the car will not start.

ANY aftermarket alarm/immobilizers are easily overidden. I have had to do this plenty of times at work & with callouts over the years due to lost remotes etc. Time can be bought to delay stealing by attention to detail when installing - as to how well integrated & concealed the install is. When installing an alarm, I go to great lengths to discuise the install & conceal the module. In any case it can be identified from factory when known what you are looking for.

[euroriffic 609]

Yea I put one in my old e30 that was easy enough to figure out how to bypass and had a uniden in a wrx I brought with no remotes so pulled that out. Very obvious where to cut and join to get It going.

I tried explaining to them that it's integrated into computer so shuts down alot more than just power via a relay to ignition like a general alarm and that I've got a 18 button obc so can put a code into it awell so won't start without that either but no still not good enough because it hadn't been tested.

They only had Holden as having a factory 5star alarm. No one else

[polley 916]

thats why the star rating is f**king bullshit.

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2132]

when you install an aftermarket alarm, its not like the EWS magically disappears. Why not have two alarms for insurance reasons?

[hotwire 352]

^^^ Don't disagree but there should NOT be a requirement to outlay a cost on fitting another unit that is inferior to the OEM. After all, insurance companies are more concerned on immoblizer side of an alarm than the alarm function itself.

[euroriffic 609]

I think I'd rather risk it and the 500 extra in excess than waste my time and money putting in an alarm that the factory one outperforms.

And anyway I'm in Dunedin. No one here is smart enough to steal them haha. Or be able to get it up the drive because a) I'd hear it, and Itl get bellied up the top of the drive and they'd be screwed

[yng_750 247]

the ews is bypassable in theory if you know what your doing

What we can all agree on is that the bmw wiring is very complex

unless you are going to spend good money with an experienced installer to do the job i can see an aftermarket alarm spending the vast majority of its time locking you out rather than the crims