Mach-E Security Threat Break In

JoeDimwit

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It’s a lot more probable than you might think. There are other people on here who have reported this behavior. There seems to be a few different bugs with the security system. With conventional mechanical locks there’s feedback to tell the car whether or not the door actually locked. Im not sure how the mach e locks the doors but let’s assume there’s no mechanical parts to fail and it’s all software. How many bugs have people reported with door locks not acting how they should? That said, I’m pretty sure the safety regulations require actual locking latches for crash safety so that would make me believe there’s a mechanical aspect of locking the doors as well and the VW in my driveway tells me those don’t always work ?
So, now we have to accept your assumptions as facts?
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generaltso

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Motomax

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So, now we have to accept your assumptions as facts?
I’m pretty sure my wording indicates that it’s not fact but very much so a possibility.
I gave you the two different methods of locking a door and how those could fail. Door lock failures are not a unicorn, we had a fusion at work that would literally pop open the back door anytime you hit the lock button.
Without actual video of what happened or being able to replicate the issue (which others have reported) everything is an assumption.
 

JoeDimwit

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I’m pretty sure my wording indicates that it’s not fact but very much so a possibility.
I gave you the two different methods of locking a door and how those could fail. Door lock failures are not a unicorn, we had a fusion at work that would literally pop open the back door anytime you hit the lock button.
Without actual video of what happened or being able to replicate the issue (which others have reported) everything is an assumption.
If the doors unlock, the alarm doesn’t go off. Or are we arguing for multiple points of simultaneous failure?
 

Motomax

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If the doors unlock, the alarm doesn’t go off. Or are we arguing for multiple points of simultaneous failure?
Well there’s an actual known bug where the alarm goes off when unlocking the door so there’s that.
The point is that the alarm can still “arm” even if a door failed to lock. Like I mentioned before my VW has a bad latch that doesn’t always lock. The feedback tells the car it’s not locked but the system still arms. If you walk up you can open the door and the alarm will go off. The single point of failure is a failure to lock.
 


iwii

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I'd like to see a good-size, lockable box in the frunk. Maybe some third party will come up with a box that is securely attached to the inside of the frunk and has a lockable lid (think about how home safes can be securely attached to the wall or floor in your house).

Something that would take considerable effort to get into without a "key" and would require too much effort/time for the lazy-ass criminals to try to break into.

I'm not sure this would even be possible or maybe something like this already exists.
 

mcleanj

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Maybe we can all pretend that the OP left their gym bag well hidden, and someone opened the car door, looked around, then stole their bag. The interesting question here about the Mach e is why does the door open when the vehicle is locked but no key is detected? I have had the exact same thing happen in my garage. I wanted to test PaaK, so I checked to make sure the vehicle was properly locked by pressing the door open button (Ford Pass app was disabled, no PaaK working on it). To my surprise, the door opened and the vehicle began to beep. It may have said something about no key detected on the display, but I can't quite recall. After a few seconds the alarm started going off. My physical fob was in the house and may have been close enough to be detected, but why would there be a "close enough to open the door, but not close enough to disable the alarm" setting?
I posted a similar question and it made no sense that they could open the car without the phone nearby, but it did happen. I try not to leave the car out of the garage now and triple check the lock and lock it manually by pressing the lock button on the door if I do. It is set to lock when I walk away and…well we will see.
 

Mach-Lee

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From reports here, this is looking like a potential bug where the door will sometimes open even though the car is in a locked state? When the button is pressed, the door control module sends a signal to the BCM, and the BCM should remember the vehicle is in a locked state and check for the presence of a fob or PAAK from the RFA module before allowing a the latch to release. But perhaps there is a communication glitch between modules that results in the door opening, as communication passes between 4-5 modules to open the door. Maybe the door module is missing the latch inhibit signal from the BCM and then independently opens. Because the car is still officially in a locked state but a door was opened erroneously, the alarm will sound after a short delay.

A stolen gym bag really seems like an opportunistic crime, not something a high-tech criminal would go for. The thief was probably going around the parking lot pulling on handles and pressing buttons, and got lucky with this bug.

OP, any data on your build date and whether you've had any software updates done?
 
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Jimrpa

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My understanding, which could be wrong, is that the doors unlatch/open from the inside via purely mechanical linkage similar to every other car ford has built for mass production in the last 60+ years. This means they didn’t need a hidden emergency release (like brand ”T” does), but it also leaves them vulnerable to “slim Jim“ attack.

If it were me, I would look at the windows near the weatherstripping for scratches. Other than that, I would look closely at the paint between the door and the car body in the areas someone would try to slip a coat hanger in to catch the door latch. I’d also look on the undersides of the door latches inside the car to see if there are ant tool marks on them.

finally, I’d reach out to Ford on twitter and ask why a vehicle with this many cameras can’t use them to record activity around the vehicle while it is parked and locked.
One one joe, we’ve been through this before ? other than the front camera in the rear view mirror, the other cameras don’t really provide suitable fields of view for a real 360 degree security monitor. Tesla is able to do it because they actually have outward facing cameras with wide-angle-lenses in the B-pillars and in the rear. ? it would be nice if we had those types of vision systems but those sensors aren’t needed and cost money.
 

JoeDimwit

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One one joe, we’ve been through this before ? other than the front camera in the rear view mirror, the other cameras don’t really provide suitable fields of view for a real 360 degree security monitor. Tesla is able to do it because they actually have outward facing cameras with wide-angle-lenses in the B-pillars and in the rear. ? it would be nice if we had those types of vision systems but those sensors aren’t needed and cost money.
I understand that, and it is part of the question that Ford should have to answer. But, even with the cameras we do have, it is highly likely that there would be at least a partial picture of the culprit. Possibly even enough for the police to identify and prosecute.
 

JoeDimwit

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I guess we would just have to hope that the perp was wearing very unique and identifiable shoes.
The front and rear cameras cover everything except directly to the sides, and would likely show someone approaching or walking away from the car. Yes, full 360° coverage would be better, but we could at least have a record of people coming up to the car and/or leaving it right before and after a security event.
 

generaltso

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The front and rear cameras cover everything except directly to the sides, and would likely show someone approaching or walking away from the car. Yes, full 360° coverage would be better, but we could at least have a record of people coming up to the car and/or leaving it right before and after a security event.
I think if Ford was planning to add that functionality, they would have included better camera positioning for it, and the fact that they didn't speaks to their intent. I'd be happy to be wrong about that though.
 

AlbanyIan

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Never questioned that the OP has a legitimate concern. I do find your analogy a bit over the top.

We had a rash of "open car, take stuff" in our neighborhood some years back. The vehicles "broken into" were in fact, unlocked. Every vehicle that was "broken into" had visible items - change, cell phones, tablets, computers - that were taken. When asked by the Sheriff's office why they didn't remove items (or hide them) and lock their cars, the reply was "I shouldn't have to".

OP locked his vehicle, but left items visible. Had the items not been visible, would the vehicle have been broken into anyway? Who knows.

Every vehicle out there has a way to be broken into. Using Google, one can find numerous methods that involve gaining an opening so that something can be inserted into the vehicle to pull the handle (I'd encourage people not to delve into these methods in a forum, just makes it easier for the next bad guy). Pulling the handle unlocks the vehicle, and sets off the alarm.

I put a hard tonneau cover on my F-150 for this exact reason - so I can put items in there instead of in the cab where they are visible.

A car alarm simply notifies the owner, and others, that the vehicle has been broken into. Leaving items displayed in the vehicle makes it a more likely target than when there are no items displayed in the vehicle.

Hopefully OP filed a police report so at least the police department knows it happened and may be watching more closely in the future.
Paraphrasing here -
OP: how did someone break into my car?
YOU: why did you (the OP) tempt someone to break into your car?

The second question isn’t related to the first, unless the answer is: “I left my valuables in plain site and then watched the car to see if, and how, someone was able to bypass the security..” (?)
 
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