WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Car prowl

| Crime | West Seattle news

From Emily:

Our car was “broken” into sometime Friday night/Saturday morning between midnight and 10 AM on 47th Ave between Hudson and Dawson. I put the word broken in quotation marks because there were no signs of forced entry and I can’t be 100% sure I didn’t accidentally leave the car unlocked. The contents of the glove compartment and the center console were strewn about the front seats, but nothing appeared to be missing. We’re happy no windows were smashed, but a good reminder to be mindful of what we leave in the car.

bolo February 2, 2020 (10:26 am)

Audi, Subaru, or Honda?

Emily February 2, 2020 (4:35 pm)

Subaru! Why?
- D February 2, 2020 (9:08 pm)
  
  Same thing happened to me. I have a 2017 Forester. My doors were locked.
- bolo February 2, 2020 (9:29 pm)
  
  Just based on my unofficial informal scorekeeping on auto thefts/car prowls reported here on WSB. Sorry I was being a smartalek knowitall, really just guessing based on the averages. I won my bet on the game today also.
  
  A good possibility is that there are master keys floating around that work for these cars.
  
  If I had a Audi, Subaru, or Honda here in West Seattle I would have a “kill switch” wired in. A kill switch in this case is a hidden switch that only you know where it is and how to activate and deactivate it. When it is off, the car is secretly disabled, cannot run. Cuts off the ignition or something like that.
  
  A friend had a clever one on her Honda. Car would start ONLY when the left turn signal was on. Never got stolen, but was broken into a few times.

Kaleeta February 2, 2020 (10:39 am)

We had a similar incident at the 3700 block of Belvidere. We also cannot ascertain if the door was open bc there was no forced entry. We lost a laptop.

BG February 3, 2020 (8:31 am)

My Mom and her husband had had both of their Subarus opened by thieves using “signal relaying” to access the key fobs and unlock the car doors while the fobs were inside the house. They now store the fobs in a sealed tin in order to block the fob signal. My son and I both drive older Honda Accords. I installed ignition kill switches in them a few years ago. We also use a “club” anytime and anywhere we park, day or night. So far, so good.

Trenda February 3, 2020 (10:07 am)

My 2015 Subaru Forester in Highland Park was prowled a week ago. It has a Keyless Entry FOB not a Keyless Start FOB. (no push button start in the car). I keep it in a Faraday Box along with the Keyless Start FOB for my other car. I’m sure the car was locked and I keep a club on it. My neighbor has a constant car and mail prowl problem. I’m curious if the other Subarus were keyless start or just keyless entry like mine?

CMK February 3, 2020 (2:31 pm)

Hello All- This has been happening in my sister’s neighborhood in LA for a long time now, so hopefully this may give some insight to what may be happening. The thieves have what is called a “booster” where it can take a signal from your key fob and boost the signal (I don’t have the technical info on how it works so please bear with me) to unlock your car from a remote location. Most people leave car keys close to the door, which is close enough to the car to “boost” the signal. They can also follow you into a grocery store (for example) and unlock your car while you are shopping. This is happening a lot down there (she and many neighbors have had their cars broken in to this way). It causes people to question if they left their car unlocked. Most likely no. It sounds like a robbery spree that is going on in our neighborhoods using a similar device. I keep my car keys in the back of the house as far away from the car as possible. I hope this helps!

Heather S. February 3, 2020 (8:41 pm)

WOW! This makes me feel better and worse about my “break in” to my 2014 Lexus ct (with keyless entry) a couple weekends ago. There was no sign of forced entry so I just assumed that it was my fault because I must’ve left my car unlocked. I don’t know if it’s better or worse knowing that it may have been locked but there are people with tricks on getting inside anyway.

Sorry, comment time is over.