Security for the OBD port (or general security that includes that)

[lukus89]

I tried finding out this in my other thread but no ones really given any options yet...

Has anyone got any recommendations for OBD port security? I don't want my car nicking again, and i'd like to self fit or have something fitted that locks this down....

Any help appreciated.

 

[Slackworth]

You can buy various amounts of ODB port locks on the market or if you look on eBay you could look for an ODB extension cable and move the port somewhere else...with either of these, if they want it they'll get it somehow but the lack of easy access to the ODB port will put them off.

 

[Slackworth]

Another thought...use the extension cable as above but rather than moving it, leave it where it is but install a switch on the extension as you're not chopping up the main loom then.

 

[AudiLeon]

http://sailesmarketing.com/product-category/obdsaver/

 

[rum4mo]

http://sailesmarketing.com/product-category/obdsaver/

Sad to say my one gets delivered tomorrow!
Always have been concerned about someone helping themselves to my car while I am out with it, disklok now OBD lock!

 

[Zafi]

The trouble when assessing security measures on your own car/house is you don't try that hard to overcome them.
I bet that ODB lock can be removed from the car in seconds, but in doing so the dash around it will get damaged, so none of us would try it on our own car.
It's the same with garage security, non of us would take a sledge hammer to a single skin outside wall, but that's how the thieves might get in, non of us would carry a motorcycle over a car, dragging it across the bonnet and roof, but that's what thieves do.

 

[AudiLeon]

The trouble when assessing security measures on your own car/house is you don't try that hard to overcome them.
I bet that ODB lock can be removed from the car in seconds, but in doing so the dash around it will get damaged, so none of us would try it on our own car.
It's the same with garage security, non of us would take a sledge hammer to a single skin outside wall, but that's how the thieves might get in, non of us would carry a motorcycle over a car, dragging it across the bonnet and roof, but that's what thieves do.

A very valid and depressing thought.
You just have to hope that it puts off 90% of thieves.

 

[Dippy]

Yes, well put Zafi. Every time I read these threads I think about maybe doing something but then I remind myself that I bought GAP insurance so that I don't have to worry about it.

 

[Zafi]

A very valid and depressing thought.
You just have to hope that it puts off 90% of thieves.

It wont put them off. It's not a visible deterrent, by the time they have decided that yours is the one they want, then smashed the window their adrenaline is flowing so they carry on, smashing off the lock and doing the deed.

Law abiding, rational people who go to work every day to pay for cars and a mortgage don't think along the same lines as these people.

It's awful but true.

 

[rum4mo]

I think that all that anyone can do, is to improve on what Audi etc has done already, it might not stop the odd serious car remover, but it should reduce the chances of "your" car getting selected a bit - nothing is guaranteed to stop them. Doing nothing and trying to justify that to others only works when chatting with those of a similar view, we all have differing ideas of what we are doing, for me, I'd doubt if I'd replace the car with a similar one, I'd take the view that feeding these low lifes once was enough.

When you start looking into OBD socket security, you tend to discover that commercial vehicles seem to be getting hit that way as much or more that private cars, well more safe like boxes available for them than neater solutions like the one being discussed. Also seems like cars with the OBD socket between the driver and the driver's side door seem to be easier prizes than those that get placed near the centre of the car - yes I know that thieves will still break the window before they discover that the OBD is blocked - but in some cases they might move on, and that is all I can hope for. GAP insurance, well I know someone's daughter that is at a stand-off waiting for main insurer and GAP insurers to agree how much each one is liable for - when you think out it, it seems simple when taking out that GAP cover, trouble comes at payout time it seems!

 

[Scottk]

I think that you can alter the time before the alarm triggers using VCDS. Doesn't help if they have already broken in but might make them run.

 

[rum4mo]

Yes, I am considering that prior to fitting the lock.

 

[Dippy]

I'm going to change my timer at some point.

I am fully aware that if I end up having to claim, I will have to wait for my GAP insurer and normal insurer to end their argument before I get what I want. But the terms of my GAP are clear and I will get full vehicle replacement.

In a way, after buying GAP, shelling out more money for deterrents seems like a silly thing for me to do.

 

[rum4mo]

Maybe, but the tale I wrote about regarding Insurer and GAP provider squabbling over who pays how much has left that person at the end of the loan car period, careless and needing to either rely on family or friends or a hire car to travel as her original car allowed her to do and so earn money. This dealing in GAP seems, when and if it happens to leave the car owner high and dry while the two companies fight it out, if she had been lucky enough not to need GAP cover, when the car was written off and the money handed over, the loan car would get returned as or just after the replacement car had been sourced - so no travel problems.

 

[AU11 ALS]

One simple thing is to one the OBD port, certainly baffled the main dealer today when servicing the A5 I have just given back as a company car!

 

[rabhrab]

One simple thing is to one the OBD port,

Sorry, what do you mean?

 

[RAF_S7]

I've been looking into this issue recently and have been recommended just one product, and it's not a physical OBD lock (most of which can be forecbly removed)

The Cobra ProtectAll is an anti key-cloning solution, that uses an authentication tag to ensure cloned keys can't be used to unlock or start the vehicle.

Completely agree on the above points regarding a layered approach to security, and having to think outside the box (like a thief) in order keep your own property safe, which is a sad reflection of today's world.

In my case the Cobra would be part of a 4 layered approach: OEM alarm, Tracker #1, Tracker #2 (self installed) and the Cobra. Haven't even considered the single skinned garage......

 

[rum4mo]

I read somewhere recently that it is mainly the RS versions that are getting hit, and even then it is usually the seats and steering wheels that get grabbed and the cars left where they found them. Even that level of attack is enough to write some cars off.