Mustang Theft Deterrent

[MAT]

My 2024 Mustang GT is supposed to have Ford's latest anti-theft preventions. Apparently it is hard to hack. That said, as all you T.O. guys know, auto theft is epidemic. A relative who lives in Milton had his brand new 120K SUV stolen from his driveway. The thieves cut the wires to the horn, read the canbus, cloned the ignition data and disabled OnStar in 13 seconds. He is a retired GM automotive engineer. He spoke with industry buddies who said to try the following. Cover your VIN as thieves can get enormous amounts of data from it including unlock codes which they can scan several days in advance to prepare for the later theft. While driving keep your fob in a faraday pouch so the fob can't be cloned by a thief following you in a parking lot. At home keep all fobs in a faraday box so thieves walking past your house can't clone the fobs. Both are available cheap on Amazon.ca He also uses a modern club that is hard to drill out. With all of that he (and I)may do the following: A local Dodge dealership offers ALL clients who purchase new SUVs, Jeeps, Challengers, Chargers etc. installation of a "kill switch". This is fail safe (unless they flat bed your vehicle) as it is analogue and can't be copied, read or cloned. I assume the Dodge dealer will run the "kill switch" off the ignition or fuel pump wiring. I telephoned Ford Canada to ask if installing a "kill switch" on my 2024 Mustang would violate my warranty. I expected them to laugh at me. Not so! I guess Ford is well aware of the problems we face. I explained what the Dodge dealer was doing to a Ford customer service representative. She and I had a long conversation. She needed to consult before answering. To my surprise, I was given a case number and told IF the dealer (Ford Dealer - we discussed exactly which dealer would do the work - it is a high volume Mustang dealer) contacted Ford Customer Service (Toronto) and followed Ford Mustang wiring diagrams there was no reason Ford wouldn't approve a "kill switch" installation. I haven't pursued that further yet but probably will once the weather improves. In the meantime, I have purchased a neat device from Amazon.ca that will deter joyriders (not pros) it is a cable loop that goes through the steering wheel and clicks onto the seat belt safety harness beside the center tunnel. If I leave it overnight I will also run an HD multi strand ss coated cable through the steering wheel and loop it around the track for the driver's seat, securing it with a hardened alloy lock. Again these last two are just to stop joyriding thieves - not pros. Until I get a "kill switch" if I am leaving the car overnight in an unprotected or sketchy area I will just pull the fuse for either the ignition or fuel pump. I don't like battery shut off switches as I think they could cancel the car's learned programs. Any other suggestions apopreciated! cheers MAT

[ZR]

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[FABMAN]

I don’t think Mustangs are a target vehicle. They are looking for high demand SUVs and trucks. All the deterrents in the world won’t stop thieves if they really want it, they will just break into your house and steal the fobs.

I feel like the 2 best deterrents are having a manual and a big dog at home.

[FABMAN]

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Sad that our country has come to this…

[MAT]

@ZR ..... We discussed this option. It's a bit trickier to install bollards in canadian winter climate. There were 14 SUV thefts in the Milton area reported the same day my relatives SUV was stolen. Right now he parks his daughters older car behind his suv but yes, we did discuss bollards. It really cheezes me off that these #$%^& thieves will come right into our yards and in some videos I have seen invade a house looking for keys.

[MAT]

@Fabman.... good points. My relative has a dog but in 13 seconds it was barely awake and his SUV was gone. His wife is not hapoy with him as he keeps the keys for the SUV they stole inside the front door (I'm not kidding here) and the keys for the new SUV in the kitchen in a farraday box. His wife thinks the thieves will retaliate. He and I don't as the thieves want a quick steal not drama. I am installing a Stanley metal door for him with heavy screws that go well into the 2x6 wood framing and a 4 point medoc key controlled analogue lock. I agree that the SUVs are the prime targets as a friend lost two Land Rovers in six months and Jeep/Land Cruiser specialty vehicles for Africa etc. are the main targets. The GTs, according to my insurance agent are targeted by younger joyriders. The new push button ignitions make it harder for them to "hotwire" and using a simple but effective lock system like the ones I use are good. Now if I had a fully opitioned Dark Horse, GT 350/500 I'd go kill switch.

[ZR]

@ZR ..... We discussed this option. It's a bit trickier to install bollards in canadian winter climate. There were 14 SUV thefts in the Milton area reported the same day my relatives SUV was stolen. Right now he parks his daughters older car behind his suv but yes, we did discuss bollards. It really cheezes me off that these #$%^& thieves will come right into our yards and in some videos I have seen invade a house looking for keys.

Many of the premium electric versions are heated to prevent icing in the cold weather.

[Zippy]

Just put a camaro cover over it.
Problem solved.

[RedSN]

A thief wants your car, they will get your car. All you can do is slow them down with mind bending puzzles.

This isn’t a challenge throw-down to any of you would thieves out there, just be warned it takes me a solid 1/2 hour to get my Mustang ready to roll

[UnlimitedTraction]

I had an attempted theft on my Raptor last year. They broke the door handle and got in and disabled the horn as well. Thankfully my Raptor requires a physical key to start the vehicle. When they broke in, the immobalizer went off and they had 10 seconds to put in the key to disable it. I saw in my security camera that they saw the message and they existed and thankfully didn't steal my truck.

I now block it in my driveway with a beater car and remove the battery from my beater car lol. Kind of a pain in the ass but whatever. I will be moving soon so I will have a garage.

I have a Cobb tune on my Raptor now and there is an anti theft map on it(all Cobb tuners have this), it works by having a map that was designed to not allow the vehicle to start. The Vehicle dies instantly once RPMs increase over 500. This map is based on stock parameters with the rev limiter set below idle which prevents vehicle from starting.

[ChickenLips]

if putting in a kill switch, don't run it to a factory switch. In my Fox I added a kill and some other anti theft measures. Initially I was going to use the fog light switch (I don't have fog lights). All a thief would do is fiddle with all the switches. I put in a sneaky fucker switch almost impossible to find even with trained hands.

My van is also a target vehicle and thieves looking for them have been known to bring their own ECU and do a quick swap. A cage slows them down. Also other measures taken but it has a fob/push button start.

I'm looking after a neighbors place, they've been gone for a couple months. I move the Range Rover (a supercharged weapon) to feint occupancy of the house. I went to trickle charge the battery of another vehicle in the garage. Fob wouldn't open it so I assumed flat starter battery. I used the emergency key in the fob to do a whole intricate dance of manually unlocking the door only to have the alarm go berserk once open. Loud AF inside the garage. I then had to figure out how to crack open the intricate fob, find a 2032 and silence the racket. Ahh progress.

The whole fob/push button start feature is another layer of unnecessary complexity that opens the door to this stuff, in addition to introducing more failure modes during normal operation. This new cool feature costs more to produce, and adds to purchase cost.

Give me an "old fashioned" real key with tumblers like my front door, but that ship has sailed.

I expect India or some other upstart to make a bare bones, manual everything ICE powered car that comes in around 10K. It'll elbow in and steal market share with all the car buyers trying to use low buying power inflated dollars looking to buy groceries instead of a ball and chain car loan.

[Spock]

Not for Mustangs just F150's & Expeditions
www.deferdorshield.com