A few questions... my A4 Black Edition was stolen last night

Quick update for all; I've been asked by one of the contributors to this thread to delete all of the posts in pages six and seven, since the thread moved to discussing the police investigation into the spate of thefts. I think that's the right thing to do, not least to ensure the investigation isn't prejudiced in any way. If any of you wish to continue the discussion, please feel free to do so privately.

For anyone who disagrees with my decision, I'll reproduce what I said to one of the thread contributors privately yesterday.

"We'll always listen to different points of view and take them in to account. But as a matter of protocol and courtesy, the proper way to air those disagreements is through private conversations like this one, and not by challenging mods in open threads."
 
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jdp1962 said:
Quick update for all; I've been asked by one of the contributors to this thread to delete all of the posts in pages six and seven, since the thread moved to discussing the police investigation into the spate of thefts. I think that's the right thing to do, not least to ensure the investigation isn't prejudiced in any way. If any of you wish to continue the discussion, pleasse feel free to do so privately.
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Why have you deleted what I put responding to that?

This is just daft. You have a forum so people can speak about things, then you say they can't. No one has put anything offensive, and you've removed the police officers name. Now you're saying we can't carry on a discussion because it might "be prejudice" to an investigation? What on earth does that even mean.

Power mad admins as usual.

Anyway's, not getting into a petty fight it's just stupid.
 
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lukus89 said:
Why have you deleted what I put responding to that?

This is just daft. You have a forum so people can speak about things, then you say they can't. No one has put anything offensive, and you've removed the police officers name. Now you're saying we can't carry on a discussion because it might "be prejudice" to an investigation? What on earth does that even mean.

Power mad admins as usual.

Anyway's, not getting into a petty fight it's just stupid.
Anyone want any help with anything or to discuss, add me on facebook. email is lukus89@googlemail.com
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@lukus89, are you receiving private conversations?
 
jdp1962 said:
@lukus89, are you receiving private conversations?
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Yes, stop sending me them. If I post on here I want people to read it, i'm making a point on behalf of all in this thread.
Do not delete what I say just because you disagree, and don't send me private messages trying to explain why. Put it in here for all to see.
 
Luke, I have sent you a message. Cool heads are needed right now.
 
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jdp1962 said:
That's good advice. Heed it if you want to continue as a member.
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There it is, typical power mad admin talk.
Do as you want, I really couldn't care. Anyone who needs me my email's up there, can help with info regards to theft and what I did etc.
 
lukus89 said:
Yes, stop sending me them. If I post on here I want people to read it, i'm making a point on behalf of all in this thread.
Do not delete what I say just because you disagree, and don't send me private messages trying to explain why. Put it in here for all to see.
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Very well. Here in full are the two messages I sent lukus89 privately.

"Hi, lukus89

I thought a conversation between just us two might be helpful. The moderator team has a difficult job, because we have to, if you'll pardon the obvious pun, "police" the forum, and make sure that rules are followed, not just in the letter but in the spirit too. There's more than just the rules to consider; we've got to think about what's practical and sensible. That invariably means making decisions sometimes that other members disagree with. We recognise that; we're not a dictatorship. We'll always listen to different points of view and take them in to account. But as a matter of protocol and courtesy, the proper way to air those disagreements is through private conversations like this one, and not by challenging mods in open threads.

I'm sure you've met police officers who've no objection to being named publically. I have as well, but it can't be assumed that every officer will be comfortable with that. It's highly unlikely that a forum member contemplating doing so has checked with the individual officer first, so as a matter of good practice, we discourage it here. Please respect that even if you don't personally agree.

We try to moderate with a light touch, and the last thing we want to do is delete posts, lock threads or even, in extreme cases, remove threads altogether. I certainly wouldn't want to do that in the case of this thread. I'm very conscious you started it yourself in very distressing circumstances. It's proved invalauble for lots of other members, sadly some who have found themselves in the same situation as you. I've been helped by it too, as it's because of this thread and the information you provided on it that I got my OBD Portector installed.

But a couple of posts will be removed as they run contrary to the approach I've outlined above.

All the best

Jeff"

and

"lukus89

"Did you read the bit in my first message to you above where I said:

"We'll always listen to different points of view and take them in to account. But as a matter of protocol and courtesy, the proper way to air those disagreements is through private conversations like this one, and not by challenging mods in open threads."

If you did, I'm baffled as to why you ignored it just now. Please don't test my patience on this.

Jeff"

As can be seen, he did test my patience. If anyone is unhappy with what I've done here, you can message me privately and I'll discuss it. Or you can report it., and I'll be subject to the scrutiny of the Administrator team. Mods aren't unaccountable.
 
I'm happy those post have gone, if they get wind of something then they'll just move it on somewhere else in the country and no-one gets caught.
 
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Looking at it from the outside, I can see both sides

On one side you have owners of cars they loved being really upset (which is understandable) I'm sure we'd all feel the same.

And mods trying to keep things (in what can be tricky) relevant and fair.

Both sides have valid points but sometimes it's best agree to disagree and hopefully move on.


Sent from my Note 4 using tapatalk
 
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feva said:
Looking at it from the outside, I can see both sides

On one side you have owners of cars they loved being really upset (which is understandable) I'm sure we'd all feel the same.

And mods trying to keep things (in what can be tricky) relevant and fair.

Both sides have valid points but sometimes it's best agree to disagree and hopefully move on.


Sent from my Note 4 using tapatalk
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Couldn't agree more, @feva. That's why I acknowledged that very point in my first message.
 
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Don't want to go off-topic, but want to show support to Audi Sport Admin. Completely see both sides of this, and sympathise with owners of stolen cars. I know it takes hard work and long hours to buy these cars and the hours that go into maintaining them. Hopefully there's a positive outcome to this, either via the insurance or the support of the police to catch the criminals. The admins are fellow Audi enthusiasts too.
 
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Agree with the above, certainly no criticism of any mods here, it's a difficult job.

Just a really horrible situation to be on the end of, how Audi have kept a lid on this baffles me.
 
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Having been a moderator on car forums I can understand both sides on this.
 
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Any news AJT? Did the lead pay off? (without going into too much detail).
 
Hi,
No news as yet about anything.
Got an email back from the lady in the CID basically saying that she's not really looking into Audi thefts in the Hx area and that someone will be allocated my case soon.
 
PS, I can't reply to conversations, I could start them and reply ok for a while but it goes on about it being spam now.
 
ajt said:
PS, I can't reply to conversations, I could start them and reply ok for a while but it goes on about it being spam now.
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You can now use private messaging. All new members have to have 3 posts before they can use private messaging. This helps us make sure we keep all the spam off the forum and make it a better place for members.
 
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Sandra said:
You can now use private messaging. All new members have to have 3 posts before they can use private messaging. This helps us make sure we keep all the spam off the forum and make it a better place for members.
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Beat me to it @Sandra. He was over three until he asked me to delete some, that took him back to zero. He's now back up to three. :)
 
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ajt said:
Hi,
No news as yet about anything.
Got an email back from the lady in the CID basically saying that she's not really looking into Audi thefts in the Hx area and that someone will be allocated my case soon.
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Oh, that's not too good really, not in terms of getting your car back. Although as daft as it sounds I think we are fortunate cid are getting involved as I'm not sure by default they do. If you need any info re claim etc let me know. I've written to Halifax courier news desk (again) , you may want to do the same so we can try get an article to warn others, but appreciate your focus now is probably quite rightly getting the insurance sorted, good luck with it all.
 
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I have been reading this thread for a number of days now, i cannot imagine the feeling of having your car stolen and can only hope it doesn't happen to myself. Hope is the keyword.

I have read numerous articles online regarding Audis and the sudden rise of Audi thefts. I think the guardian linked to a guy who had an RS4 avant stolen and caught it all on CCTV. It took around 1min or less for thieves to steal it. The same guy had raised this with Audi of how easy it is to steal an Audi these days and Audi wiggled there way around it to push back on the customer. My personal opinion is that it shouldnt be this easy for a thief to take your car. On the upside it steers them away from breaking into your house but it is far too easy to steal an Audi. We shouldnt be spending this amount on a premium product to have to put additional port protection on and/or a disklok to prevent thieves from stealing it.

In regards to this thread particularly i totally feel for the victims especially when the police have not been as helpful as they could've. For you guys to have gathered so much intelligence on the thieves, how they are doing it and what is happening with the cars is testament to the community forums like these create. I hope the CID give you the treatment and help you deserve.

With the amount of Audis being stolen now and Audi s3 topping the list of most stolen car in britain (google it or ask you insurance companies - this is true) i feel i can no longer purchase the car i want from Audi and they haven't done anything to put customers minds at ease. Audi should be implementing port protection/encryption into the car at production level and the alarm/immobiliser should be so much better than it actually is. To be able to break a window and hook your head round without the alarm sounding is diabolical for a £30k+ car.

For the record i drive an Audi A4 sline Black edition + in sepang Blue, the next step for me was going to be SQ5 however after this i will be looking more at Mercedes.
 
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@Sematic I belive this is an issue that affects most modern cars.

When I had my Clifford fitted I was told that Audi,BMW,Ford RS,Ford transit were the popular steal to order cars
 
xpoweruk said:
@Sematic I belive this is an issue that affects most modern cars.

When I had my Clifford fitted I was told that Audi,BMW,Ford RS,Ford transit were the popular steal to order cars
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BMW they use equipment to capture the data transmitted when locking and unlocking the car to clone a key, use keyless entry to steal cars. Ford RS they tend to break in peoples houses for the key. Different cars have different methods im sure.

You are right though a thief can steal the car regardless of its security what i'm trying to put across is it seems it is a lot easier to steal an Audi than other premium brands.
 
I thought that capturing data being transmitted while the remote was being used was old hat, that requires a lot of waiting in a car park, this current method seems to work better as it requires the cons to go window shopping then wait for darkness and pounce. I not trying to support VAG here at all, but I think that there are quite a few car brands were access to the OBD2 port is easy and not necessary detected by the car security if the con is careful. If this was only happening to Audi and the rest of the VAG cars, I'd expect Audi or VAG to protect their "name/profits" by acting quickly, as this has not happened, and the motor trade in general are not, as far as I know, making a big thing of "Audi security", then I'd suspect that it is happening elsewhere at the same level. Now if I'm proved to be wrong, then quite a lot of us Audi owners need to cause an inconvenience to Audi or at least their sales outlets? Ie spread the word and lose the sales!
 
As I said,the OBD vulnerability is manufacturer wide if they use smart keys (not an actual key)
 
Yes yes yes, but do all the other suspects combine the same or similar "excellent access to OBD2 port without triggering the car security system" - I do know that the OBD2 port is required to be within a certain distance of the driver's seat, but I feel that it should be also located within the "cone" of operation of the internal sensing security system.
 
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I think a major part of the problem is the diagnostic socket is permanently live on our model of A4, I'm not sure if this is something they could change with a software update, ie u need a key to make a key.

Hopefully on the newest A4 they have addressed this in some way by making the diagnostic socket offline when the car is alarmed.

Audi should provide some sort of statement and a software update to this, it is an appalling loophole and leaves its owners high and dry.

As a side note, the local newspaper in Halifax are interested in this spate of thefts, if u have had your Audi stolen this way please contact me I will provide an email address, they would also require a crime ref no and are looking to establish if the police are treating these local thefts as linked
 
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The OBD socket is always live on all cars due to legislation
 
xpoweruk said:
The OBD socket is always live on all cars due to legislation
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That being the case there must be a way via software to limit what types of data can be download via OBD if there is no key in the slot, this goes way beyond 'diagnostics'

Thinking about it, the machine I have seen for sale in Romania with a demo on YouTube even has an option to 'disable alarm' so blocking downloads via that would not work.
 
audi upgrades
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Sematic said:
I have read numerous articles online regarding Audis and the sudden rise of Audi thefts. I think the guardian linked to a guy who had an RS4 avant stolen and caught it all on CCTV. It took around 1min or less for thieves to steal it. The same guy had raised this with Audi of how easy it is to steal an Audi these days and Audi wiggled there way around it to push back on the customer.
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This is the video of them doing it. Warning - may cause distress!


Also found this which is an even easier way to get your Audi by using the emergency key (Just in case anyone doesn't know there may be one in the glovebox!)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...rs-after-39-cars-broken-into-in-48-hours.html
 
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The bottom line for me, and for anyone who has followed this thread is this:

If you value your car, then you need to take additional security measures above and beyond what Audi fit.

Prevention of the theft rather than recovery after the fact, is most peoples preferred solution. Mine included.

I have a Diskloc. Yes its a PITA to put on and take off every time, but it makes me feel better about living the car in areas Im not too familiar with.

:racer:
 
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ajt said:
This is the video of them doing it. Warning - may cause distress!


Also found this which is an even easier way to get your Audi by using the emergency key (Just in case anyone doesn't know there may be one in the glovebox!)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...rs-after-39-cars-broken-into-in-48-hours.html
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:gun2::bye:amazing how quickly they can get in and away. I've always found the alarm on audis to be really quiet as well so that doesn't help even for the short amount of time it goes off there should be more sound. Be good if it sent an alarm to a key as well or something
 
It's not the car, it's the contents.
Stuff like a camera with photos on that you have not yet copied over to your PC, tools and equipment you keep in the car (in my case it may be a defibrillator, oxygen and other medical kit), your contacts on the MMI.......
The basic car is relatively easy to replace, many of us do this every 2 or 3 years but we get the chance to do it in a controlled way where we empty out the car, have a good tidy up and transfer the stuff to the new car.
 
I'm not sure whether they use a dealer device to re code, but a quick search shows up this , available for around £4000 from Romania. You would think to code a new key you would also need a security key , to break some encryption, this device seems to bypass that.

http://shop-auto-podolsk.ru/en/prod...j-dlja-novyh-modelej-audi-i-vw-cherez-obd-ii/





I still maintain Audi is really weak here and should develop and provide a software update if owners want it.
 
Saw this on Instagram...should be a good deterrent

Seriously though a bar like that on the drive would be a good idea
 
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Hello, I'm a reporter for the Halifax Courier in West Yorkshire. I've been speaking to one of the members of this forum whose A4 was stolen without keys and I'm working on a story about it. If anyone else on here in the Halifax area has had similar problems or would like to share their thoughts on the matter I'm on 01422 260223 or james.carney@jpress.co.uk.

Thank you very much.
 
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I'm putting my Akita in the car 24/7. See if anyone fancies putting their hand through the window.
 
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