Theives Love Your Car’s Keyless Entry and Start More Than You Do

Most of us love all of the new features that automakers have been adding in recent years, but much of the technology has become subject to hacks. Recently, research performed by German car club, ADAC, proves that hackers can now use your car’s keyless entry and start features to easily swipe your wheels.

According to the research, hackers can use a radio signal amplifier that runs about $225 to amplify the signal between your key fob and your car’s receiver. This amplification can extend the distance that the two can communicate to each other from just 3 feet to up to 300 feet. This would allow a hacker to simply open the car door, press the “Start” button, and drive off as most cars will remain running without the key fob within range.

While not every car has the ability to get hacked in this way, the German club claims is has successfully hacked the Audi A3, A4 and A6, the BMW 730d, the Chevy Volt, the Kia Optima, and the Toyota RAV4.

Automakers have yet to develop a fix for this potential hack, but research shows that cutting the fuel once the key fob is out of range is the easiest, albeit possibly catastrophic, way to eliminate this issue. Until automakers develop a good fix, you can pick up RFID-blocking bags on Amazon for around $30 to prevent hackers from stealing and extending your key fob’s signal.

The worst part of this research is that this has been a known problem since 2011, according to Tech Insider, but automakers have yet to rectify it. Stay tuned for more info.