My Mach-E Was Stolen

[Jimrpa]

Sorry, I came into this late. The vehicle has an onboard modem. That’s how it gets OTA (among other things). It’s trivial to geolocate a cellular modem. Unless the car is already in a chop shop and has been disassembled.

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[Kabish]

100%, no one is questioning that, the question is if Ford would be willing to track said car if a police report was involved.

I personally can't see them doing it, I could 100% see them doing some type of add on service for it down the road though.

 

[IL_Vet]

We went to Hawaii years ago, and went snorkeling. I made phone calls to people from over a mile out in the water, floating...

I would never leave either in my vehicles.

Who did you call?

 

[RickMachE]

Who did you call?

Some relatives. "Guess where I am? A mile off the coast of Hawaii treading water. ". Or "I'm off a shipwreck site swimming with about 20 dolphins off a kayak we rented from a guy's yard."

 

[mdolan92869]

You might consider Mission Darkness Faraday products.

Evil Amazon-Mission Darkness Faraday Bag for Keyfobs

If you get something like this, remember to take it with you when you go on vacation to protect your fob in hotel rooms. Don’t leave it at home on the dresser like I did, then do a ?‍ the first night when you’re in the hotel room.

 

[bluestarct]

One common example is swimming / hiking / jogging and not wanting to carry the fob, so you hide it somewhere and lock the doors. When you get back you use the keypad to get in.

It's actually very, very awesome.

We travel a lot and we use it at the airport sometimes when one of us is flying out but the other one is flying in the same or next day. Leave the FOB hidden in the car. Lock with the keypad on the outside. Text the parking spot location. Then the other person picks up the car when they fly in. It works great.

 

[NPVinny]

Sorry, I came into this late. The vehicle has an onboard modem. That’s how it gets OTA (among other things). It’s trivial to geolocate a cellular modem. Unless the car is already in a chop shop and has been disassembled.

I was told by Ford support that I could send a mailed request to get the modem logs. But by the time I actually got them the car could be in a completely different place, so I'm not sure how helpful that would actually be.

 

[Mach1E]

I was told by Ford support that I could send a mailed request to get the modem logs. But by the time I actually got them the car could be in a completely different place, so I'm not sure how helpful that would actually be.

Did you see what I posted from Ford.com on post #99? Ask them about it.

“Stolen Vehicle Services sends an alert to the owner’s smartphone if an attempted theft is detected. The app guides the user through the process of reporting the incident to the police and provides 24-hour on-call support including vehicle tracking.”

 

[NPVinny]

Did you see what I posted from Ford.com on post #99? Ask them about it.

“Stolen Vehicle Services sends an alert to the owner’s smartphone if an attempted theft is detected. The app guides the user through the process of reporting the incident to the police and provides 24-hour on-call support including vehicle tracking.”

Ford is introducing a fully integrated theft recovery service designed to help prevent or mitigate the impact of a vehicle theft. Operated through the FordPass app, Stolen Vehicle Services sends an alert to the owner's smartphone if an attempted theft is detected.

Yeah, that's not going to work for me.

 

[Mach1E]

Yeah, that's not going to work for me.

The point is that they can track it and have a “stolen vehicle services department” that you can contact. I would start there.

 

[NPVinny]

The point is that they can track it and have a “stolen vehicle services department” that you can contact. I would start there.

I think contact is only possible if you have this particular "Stolen Vehicle Services" subscription package which, according to the article posted previously, seems to only currently be available right now in the UK and Ireland.

I tried looking around for a "stolen vehicle services department" phone number from Ford, but I couldn't find anything.

 

[Jimrpa]

I was told by Ford support that I could send a mailed request to get the modem logs. But by the time I actually got them the car could be in a completely different place, so I'm not sure how helpful that would actually be.

This isn’t accurate. The carrier knows, in real-time, near real-time, every time a cellular radio contacts a cell tower and the carrier knows the IMEI of the radio. Ford knows the IMEI of the radio that was installed in your Mustang Mach E. There is nothing technically preventing the carrier from being able to tell that the radio is “currently” connected to cell xyz. Legally is a different question. By the way, for more information about “questionably legal” activities your friendly LEOs engage in to keep tabs on the “bad guys”, check out “stingers” ?

 

[Jimrpa]

100%, no one is questioning that, the question is if Ford would be willing to track said car if a police report was involved.

I personally can't see them doing it, I could 100% see them doing some type of add on service for it down the road though.

If you wanted to go to the time and trouble, you could drag a lawyer into the discussion but you’d have to find a lawyer who understood the technology well enough to press the case properly and, by then, as others have pointed out, so much time would have passed, you really won’t want your car (what’s left of it) back. Better to get the insurance company to declare it a total loss.

 

[Jimrpa]

For people screwing around with faraday bags and hiding fobs, here are three other thoughts:

• Just remove the battery from the fob. Then it won’t do anything until it’s put in the start holder in the console
• For people with Apple Watch GPS + Cellular who are going out for a hike/run/whatever. Just power down your iPhone and leave it somewhere in the car. Even if someone breaks into the car and finds the iPhone, it’s useless to them unless they know the passcode
• Just rely on the door pin and car password

 

[HuntingPudel]

For people screwing around with faraday bags and hiding fobs, here are three other thoughts:

• Just remove the battery from the fob. Then it won’t do anything until it’s put in the start holder in the console
• For people with Apple Watch GPS + Cellular who are going out for a hike/run/whatever. Just power down your iPhone and leave it somewhere in the car. Even if someone breaks into the car and finds the iPhone, it’s useless to them unless they know the passcode
• Just rely on the door pin and car password

Or folow the basic security rule that has been around since locks were invented: Don’t leave the key where someone who shouldn’t have it ca; gain access. ?‍?

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