My Mach-E Was Stolen

[H.Bergeron]

I think Theo brings up a valid point. I still don't have a car, but let's say when I do get it, the car gets stolen. I've hidden an airtag with the speaker disabled in the car and it's telling me roughly where it is. Do I go and confront the people who have it?

I have a friend whose new Toyota was stolen. He reported to the police, they took a report and left. Later in the day he realized that he was able track its location in the Toyota app. He call the police, told them where it was and they didn’t seem that interested. He then told them he was headed there.

At that point they told him do not go. He said I’m on my way. Suddenly, things got escalated at the police department. They beat him there, and recovered his vehicle.

(I might have told them I was going armed to make sure to light a fire under their seat).

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[H.Bergeron]

Even then, if the person that steals the car has an iPhone, it will let them know they are traveling with someone else's AirTag. Happens to me all the time when I'm driving my wife's vehicle with an AirTag attached to the keys.

If there is an AirTag that does not belong to you near you for an extended period of time, your Apple device will alert you with the following notification: "AirTag Found Moving With You."

That may mean that you've borrowed an item with an AirTag, you're near a lost item with an AirTag, or someone has placed an AirTag in your belongings. This how to covers what you should do if you see this message.

1. When the "AirTag Found Moving With You" message pops up, tap on the message.
2. Tap Continue.
3. If you don't know where the AirTag is located, tap on "Play Sound" to locate it.
4. If the AirTag is attached to an item that you've borrowed from someone, tap on the option to disable "AirTag Detected" notifications for one day. If the item is from a friend or a member of your Family Sharing group, you can disable Item Safety Alerts entirely.
5. You can tap on "Learn About This AirTag" to check its serial number to see if it's been marked as lost, and if so, find instructions for getting in contact with the owner.
6. If the AirTag is not in Lost Mode and you don't know where it came from, you should tap on "Disable AirTag" and follow the steps to prevent it from continuing to track your location.
7. These instructions will walk you through removing the AirTag's battery to disable it.
8. Apple recommends that if you feel unsafe, you should contact your local law enforcement for help, as local law enforcement can work with Apple.

If a thief got notified that he was being tracked by an AirTag, he might re-evaluate his plans and abandon that vehicle.

 

[Mach1E]

If a thief got notified that he was being tracked by an AirTag, he might re-evaluate his plans and abandon that vehicle.

Thieves around you must be way more tech savvy than ours.

Our thieves seem to be more meth heads than anything. I doubt they’re checking for tracking devices.

 

[H.Bergeron]

Thieves around you must be way more tech savvy than ours.

Our thieves seem to be more meth heads than anything. I doubt they’re checking for tracking devices.

I agree. But you need to read the original comment for the context of my reply.

 

[WNKent]

What is an Airtag?

Uhhhhhh... this

 

[randyja]

Yes. Dealer option. $560 for 3 years. Has an app also. It updates about every 10 minutes. Has an option in the app to report the vehicle stolen. Havnt pressed that one yet. Not sure what it would do.

 

[yngwenli]

All True....but when my DIL borrowed our truck, we forgot to tell her we had an Air Tag in it.....Basically, it took about 12 hours for her iPhone to notify her about the AirTag.....so maybe, you would have 12 hours to locate it before the bad guys figure it out? I honestly don't know how long it take for the air tag to ping unknowings....but for my DIL...it was about 12 hours.

Yeah, I stuck an airtag too in our MME. Need to figure out a better place, but is the apple locate function even that accurate? Maybe need to get under the car or bury it somewhere that someone would need tools to remove/find.

Edit: Just removed the speaker like a lot of videos show. Don't need to break the clips and have them in all the cars now.

 

[WNKent]

Yeah, I stuck an airtag too in our MME. Need to figure out a better place, but is the apple locate function even that accurate? Maybe need to get under the car or bury it somewhere that someone would need tools to remove/find.

Edit: Just removed the speaker like a lot of videos show. Don't need to break the clips and have them in all the cars now.

clhardy5 said that it took 12 hours to inform the borrower.. who cares, if you would have clicked "FindMy", you would have seen it immediately and you could have called the authorities, had it been stolen.

 

[roamtheworld]

I’ve never had LoJack before this car (forced by dealer as part of many features we didn’t want) but I can track the car in real time. It’s not a cheap as AirTags or other Tile devices but I do like that we have it.
Side story we used find my feature to locate stolen AirPods and was able to report the location with help of FB and some other sleuthing. We got them back only missing the case.

 

[yngwenli]

clhardy5 said that it took 12 hours to inform the borrower.. who cares, if you would have clicked "FindMy", you would have seen it immediately and you could have called the authorities, had it been stolen.

Recent posts/videos state Apple has made apps to find the airtags quicker and they supposedly beep faster than 12 hours now since people complained being tracked took too long.

I have no idea myself, but if you're out of town or not aware, things may take longer to deal with and you may be preoccupied to check.

 

[ripperAZ]

I use AirTags on my cats when I occasionally let them outside Directs me to them within a few inches.
The Tagg pro tracker has a greater capture range, but the Apple device reacts to any Apple product nearby, so you’ll always find your car with it

Jes sayin

 

[Jimrpa]

I have a friend whose new Toyota was stolen. He reported to the police, they took a report and left. Later in the day he realized that he was able track its location in the Toyota app. He call the police, told them where it was and they didn’t seem that interested. He then told them he was headed there.

At that point they told him do not go. He said I’m on my way. Suddenly, things got escalated at the police department. They beat him there, and recovered his vehicle.

(I might have told them I was going armed to make sure to light a fire under their seat).

I wonder if using the word “armed” would work if your only “weapon” is a water balloon or a soda straw with a wad of paper in it (and I doubt I’d have anything even THAT dangerous!) ???? I certainly wouldn’t have something as dangerous as a slingshot which is what I’m SURE you meant ?

 

[2021-MMEx-RT1]

Nope, they deleted out my phone from the car and I guess they added their own? In the app it tells me I need to activate it (I had already activated it previously and have used it quite a bit, so it certainly wasn't my first time). I've already tried it once and had the request denied. Without that, I don't get any of the functionality.

Master reset will kill FordPass.

Agree, there should be a 2FA or a request from your phone before they kill it. But after having mine in the shop for 3 days, the first day, all I got was a notice that;
Vehicle access removed
Phone As A Key and Backup Start Passcode removed


so anyone with your FOB can block you out.


seeing a few of these type of posts, makes me wonder if that stupid Stargard 'theft deterrent' isn't so much crap. At least you can call them to start the process with the police and not have to snail mail a case?


/still hate being forced to have it...

//also have an AppleTag on it 'somewhere'

 

[H.Bergeron]

I wonder if using the word “armed” would work if your only “weapon” is a water balloon or a soda straw with a wad of paper in it (and I doubt I’d have anything even THAT dangerous!) ???? I certainly wouldn’t have something as dangerous as a slingshot which is what I’m SURE you meant ?

LOL. You could tell the police you’re always “armed” as long as your “guns” (biceps) are attached to your shoulders.

 

[HuntingPudel]

LOL. You could tell the police you’re always “armed” as long as you “guns” (biceps) are attached to your shoulders.

I just have teeth. ??

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