My Mach-E Was Stolen

[TruWrecks]

AirTag is supposed to take 8-24 hours of being with someone else before it chirps at them (per Apple website)

AirTag is decent if you have an apple phone. Not so much if you use android.

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[mdolan92869]

AirTag is decent if you have an apple phone. Not so much if you use android.

Mr. Tim Apple would like to talk to you about how to fix that

 

[TruWrecks]

Mr. Tim Apple would like to talk to you about how to fix that

Line is busy.....no vm setup.

 

[Kabish]

The idea is great in concept, but as far as I can tell it only works with one Apple ID. So if my wife takes the car with an AirTag tied to my Apple ID (or vice versa) and is gone longer than 5 hours then the tag starts freaking out. If I'm misreading what I found online about AirTags please let me know because I really like the concept.

I believe if you have your family setup it will not detect the other airtags, otherwise mine would be going nuts at home. So she could drive the car without it freaking out. The timeline on when it will alert is pretty random, some people have gone days.

 

[Smoothbond]

While I understand what are you are saying, there should be safeguards with Ford Pass. In this case the owner of the car should have gotten some the of notification asking if he really wanted his car off his Ford Pass. Selling a car? The buyer would complete the process right there and then. Repo? I am not understanding what you are arguing here. The Repo company would tell you where the car is at.

I guess the only thing anyone can really do is buy an Apple AirTag and hide it somewhere in the Mach-E

exactly what I did as soon as I got mine.

 

[Lord Polymath]

exactly what I did as soon as I got mine.

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.

 

[Smoothbond]

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 fPrrom, 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.

Precisely. If an Airtag that you don’t own is near you for an EXTENDED period of time, this can be anywhere from 8-24 hours before you get the alert that you’re being tracked and this is assuming the car thief is an iphone user. Regardless its more than ample time for the owner of the AirTag to realise his cars been stolen and have an approximate location. Which is better than what he has now, which is Zilch.

 

[EELinneman]

exactly what I did as soon as I got mine.

I'm going to put an airtag in one of those secure cases after disabling the speaker. It's getting screwed into the metal under all the frunk plastic. I hope that it will buy some time. Of course, anybody with a few brain cells rubbing together will be able to find it, but not without some work. It won't solve everything, but at least will track for a while.

I only had one car stolen and that was in high school. They found it weeks later completely stripped in a field. Still pisses me off. Get a freaking job and make some honest money you scumbags.

 

[Lord Polymath]

I'm going to put an airtag in one of those secure cases after disabling the speaker. It's getting screwed into the metal under all the frunk plastic. I hope that it will buy some time. Of course, anybody with a few brain cells rubbing together will be able to find it, but not without some work. It won't solve everything, but at least will track for a while.

I only had one car stolen and that was in high school. They found it weeks later completely stripped in a field. Still pisses me off. Get a freaking job and make some honest money you scumbags.

Disabling the speaker is a good idea, but putting it somewhere that hard to get to might be a PITA when it comes time to change the battery.

 

[louibluey]

I'm going to put an airtag in one of those secure cases after disabling the speaker. It's getting screwed into the metal under all the frunk plastic. I hope that it will buy some time. Of course, anybody with a few brain cells rubbing together will be able to find it, but not without some work. It won't solve everything, but at least will track for a while.

I only had one car stolen and that was in high school. They found it weeks later completely stripped in a field. Still pisses me off. Get a freaking job and make some honest money you scumbags.

I'm leaning towards the decoy idea, maybe one "hidden" with the speaker still in it, so thief has something to find. Hidden not where it would do too much damage to get to it, but enough that the thief initially has to do enough work to feel like he got it.

Then one in the weatherproof case with the speaker removed somewhere, like inside the front bumper, tied on somewhere, or maybe with velcro.

But, that earlier comment that maybe you don't want to find it, had some merit too.

 

[EELinneman]

Disabling the speaker is a good idea, but putting it somewhere that hard to get to might be a PITA when it comes time to change the battery.

Exactamundo!

 

[EELinneman]

Moment makes an interesting sticky mount if you are considering putting an airtag wthin your MME. Perhaps under the rear seat where it's not obvious or somewhere else less visible within the car. Can be found here:

Moment Curved Surface Mount for AirTags™ - Moment (shopmoment.com)

 

[NPVinny]

Got a call about 2 hours ago from the sheriff's office, they found it!

It was in an apartment complex about 20 minutes away. I had to stick in my roommate's car cause I was getting torn up by mosquitos but when she asked the officer about Ford not having a way to track a vehicle (since that's the official line given) he said something along the lines of "Yeah, that's bullshit."

It's thankfully not too badly damaged and definitely drivable, but since I had no way of turning it on (I don't remember if I ever got a second fob - if I did I cannot find it) we decided it would be best/safest for them to just tow it to their yard.

There was a lot of evidence left in the car so they were able to get fingerprints and whatever else they might need to help catch the theif/thieves, they said they'd let me know.

I'll need to call up my Ford dealership to see about getting a new fob and deactivating the old one, but that should be it.

I really appreciate everyone's help in this and it sounds like the discussion has spurred people to be more mindful of their car's security, so I'm going to call this a net win.

 

[Gimme_my_MME]

Got a call about 2 hours ago from the sheriff's office, they found it!

It was in an apartment complex about 20 minutes away. I had to stick in my roommate's car cause I was getting torn up by mosquitos but when she asked the officer about Ford not having a way to track a vehicle (since that's the official line given) he said something along the lines of "Yeah, that's bullshit."

It's thankfully not too badly damaged and definitely drivable, but since I had no way of turning it on (I don't remember if I ever got a second fob - if I did I cannot find it) we decided it would be best/safest for them to just tow it to their yard.

I'll need to call up my Ford dealership to see about getting a new fob and deactivating the old one, but that should be it.

I really appreciate everyone's help in this and it sounds like the discussion has spurred people to be more mindful of their car's security, so I'm going to call this a net win.

Wow, certainly not the ending we were all expecting but certainly hoping for. When you say not too badly damaged, is that from gaining entry? Hitting other cars while taking it? (I think you said that happened) joyriding?

Did they just happen upon it?

 

[NPVinny]

Wow, certainly not the ending we were all expecting but certainly hoping for. When you say not too badly damaged, is that from gaining entry? Hitting other cars while taking it? (I think you said that happened) joyriding?

Did they just happen upon it?

From what I can tell, all the damage was from getting the car out from its initial tight spot in my driveway, cause there was a car directly behind mine and 1 to the right side that were both damaged and all the damage on mine was also on the right.

I unfortunately didn't think to ask how they found it. I still have the officer's number, so I'll probably text/call him about it.

But that's for tomorrow me cause it's very late and I need to get some sleep.

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