Driving with no FOB or PAAK!

Jimrpa

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Use a pass phrase - for some people they’re easier to remember than passwords. Maybe something like “Us3the4s”. 😀
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61-21Stang

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You can also write down the passcode and leave it at home, along with the factory door code. Then you can call home and have someone read it to you. Or like everyone else said, just make it easier to remember ItsStillBetterThanAT3sla
 

ARK

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I set a long passcode, so that nobody could guess and drive away. Now, I can't remember it, but I have it written on my phone, and it's protected by my fingerprint. Everything is great and secure, right? But now, what happens if I left my phone at home, or lost it, or the phone battery went dead?
Ford should have followed better practices and made a face recognition, eye or fingerprint scan or something else instead of passcodes.
I think you can choose an easier passcode for this, it doesn’t need to be something like Ch6hK2@8n9*. That’s because a person has to be physically present in your car typing it out.

A thief can’t take their sweet time thinking it through, nor can they launch a brute force attack from their computer at home where a program tries thousands of passwords in a short span of time, hoping to land the right one.
 
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Mandretti

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My method is to have important passwords tattooed on the part of my body that most closely represents the asset I am protecting, helping me to remember what goes with what. For instance a credit card account pw might go on my foot since it helps ‘foot’ the bill for a night out. Similarly I might put my bank pw on my (b)ankle or the Mustang pw on one of my legs since those leggy horses just love to gallop around.

My Plan B - just in case I can’t take my clothes off to see a password, or I’ve been in a disfiguring fire, I also write all my passwords down on a piece of paper, take a picture of it and send it to my son who does cybersecurity for a rug company. Then I burn the paper and toss the ashes into the sea.
 

geftsnowball

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Hilarious how one can walk up to the car, get welcome lights, door opens, sit down and press start, ... "No Key Detected" ...... Really?
 


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So - It let me drive away with no fob or PAAK. A warning notification “Hey idiot - if you turn the car off anywhere but where you are right now, you’re screwed “ would have been nice.
I've done this a couple times. Some things to note....

1 - Yes it will let you drive the car without a key if it was started. You should get the key not found alert, however most of us PaaK people are so used to erroneous alerts that we just ignore it.

2 - If you put the car in park, or exit the car, or anything else that would cause the car to shift into park, it will not shift out of park without the key.

So, you mentioned that you would have left the car on - that wouldn't have helped because it wouldn't have let you shift into gear without the key even if it was left running.
 
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ChuckA

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I’ve had to use the backup code many times when paak wasn’t great. No big deal, there’s trucks to remember long passcodes.
Has PaaK been improved? I gave up on it 9 months ago and only use the keyfob.
 

Mach-Lee

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Has PaaK been improved? I gave up on it 9 months ago and only use the keyfob.
Depends on your phone. Works pretty well with iPhones, not so much with Pixels. Also depends on whether you have latest RFA (Bluetooth) module update.

PAAK is about 95% reliable for me and I use it almost exclusively. Occasionally I have to press the door or start button a few times but that's about the worst of it.
 

Kamuelaflyer

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Use a pass phrase - for some people they’re easier to remember than passwords. Maybe something like “Us3the4s”. 😀
I use my former zip code from when we lived in Pittsburgh PA and my feelings about the place. 15143SUX.

Now I have to change it. :(

Maybe IH815143? ;)
 

i8iridium

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I've done this a couple times. Some things to note....

1 - Yes it will let you drive the car without a key if it was started. You should get the key not found alert, however most of us PaaK people are so used to erroneous alerts that we just ignore it.

2 - If you put the car in park, or exit the car, or anything else that would cause the car to shift into parl, it will not shift out of park without the key.

So, you mentioned that you would have left the car on - that wouldn't have helped because it wouldn't have let you shift into gear without the key even if it was left running.
I've left my phone on the workbench closest to the driver door with the door open. It'll let the car start and go into gear before I close the door.
 

DevSecOps

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I've left my phone on the workbench closest to the driver door with the door open. It'll let the car start and go into gear before I close the door.
You might be misreading what I'm saying. I agree that's possible and I've done similar, but once you are out of range of the phone if the car goes into park, even if left powered on, it won't come out of park without a key or PaaK.
 

ChasingCoral

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Has PaaK been improved? I gave up on it 9 months ago and only use the keyfob.
I haven’t used a fob in over 2 years except to take the car in for service. Ditto with almost a year in my Lightning. Works fine with my iPhone 12 Pro. Won’t work at all for my wife’s iPhone 7 though.
 

ChasingCoral

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I’ve had to use the backup code many times when paak wasn’t great. No big deal, there’s trucks to remember long passcodes.
You mean like “AlliedMoving&Storage”? 😉
 

Moxiemoney

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Has PaaK been improved? I gave up on it 9 months ago and only use the keyfob.
Like Mach-lee said, PAAK absolutely sucks with my pixel 6a. And on the rare occasion that PAAK works, Android Auto won't connect when Ford pass is connected.

I'm surprised some people can't choose a secure password and remember it. A bit scary, actually.
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