Hey guys - my car was burglarized in my parking garage last night. I came down to find the doors unlocked, dirt on the driver seat, and most of my possessions missing. I know that I locked it, and what I found REALLY strange was that when I turned on the car, the radio was turned up beyond a volume I have ever used. Are there any known devices that could turn on the car like that? Is there a way I can get the frequencies re-calibrated at the at the dealership? I'm not totally sure of what to do besides contact the insurance company.
No. Possibly a Slim Jim tool was used to open a front door, if you don't see any obvious damage. You might see some scratches on the window molding at the top of a window. The Prius is programmed to recognize specific fobs. You cannot get codes changed unless you buy new fobs.
It's as easy to open a locked Prius as any other car, which means it's pretty easy. It has the same old-fashioned mechanical lock as almost every other car on the planet. Tom
I am curious - wouldn't the alarm go off if someone obtained forced entry to the 2005 Prius? Did it have an alarm? And if Prii are so easy to break into, how come we don't hear about break ins like this more often?
If you have an aftermarket alarm, then yes. It will probably go off when the car s unlocked mechanically. Unfortunately, this does little other than to possibly alert you that a break-in is in progress---if you happen to be close enough to the car to hear the siren.....and tell that it's YOUR alarm. It's like the old days when people used radar detectors. Usually? The radar detector only serves as an information device telling you that you're about to get a ticket. There's little in the way of actual PROTECTION when you use this technology. The reason why you don't hear about these types of break-ins more often is probably a combination of several things.. There's usually no reason to go in for the hi-tech approach when you want to jack something out of the inside of a car. Yeah.....a Slim-Jim can be had for less than $20....but bricks are nearly free. If you want the whole car? Think: TowTruck. Me? I usually just leave it empty and unlocked. No missing stuff.....No window breakage just to see whether or not there's anything interesting in my car.
In case readers have not heard, there seems to be a new method to break in to some modern cars with some electronic device that is not yet known to law enforcement. I saw some reports on this a while back, and a reminder report in the past few days. According to surveillance videos that captured it in action, the crooks appear to be opening only the front passenger door, not the driver door nor start or steal the car itself. The local report did not include enough detail to indicate what models / model years / remote configurations are affected. Here are some links from other news outlets about the same story: High-tech car thieves break into vehicles without leaving a trace Police admit they're 'stumped' by mystery car thefts Car Thieves Using New Wireless Technology To Break Into Cars
I saw a similar report on the local news here in Philly a couple of months back. I chalked it up to something like a bigfoot sighting - there was no detail and the cops admitted that they did not know how it was being done. So is it really happening or just urban legend - I don't know if it really matters as long as it is so very easy to get into cars using a slim jim or a rock.
For everyone saying that they just used a mechanical method (slim jim etc), how did they turn the radio on? As far as I know you cant alter the radio volume unless the Prius is at very least in accessories mode.
