Which means you are safer with just keys rather than keys plus another way to open the doors.
> This was partially solved by adding another device that cuts off the engine, the immobilizer
If they key does not need to be physically inserted to start the engine (which is true in many cars) then that is liable to attack using the remotes too, right?
The key fob attack is superior since no one looks twice if you walk up to a car, it unlocks from a hand held device and then you get in and drive off.
And in either case you still need to deal with the immobilizer, and turn the core of the ignition lock. Unless your radio device is that comprehensive :)
So that attack when done on its own is mainly left to stealing cars off drives at night rather than say from a supermarkets car park during the day.
<EDIT> Seems HN has different experiences with their cars then my own, So I'll concede the idea that the alarm doesn't trip when using the key. It seems the cars I've had in the past are the exception to the rule. </EDIT>
The thing is, in the real world, no one really looks twice when someone gets into a car unless they are using obvious brute force to get into the car.
(One day, when I can be arsed, I'll rekey the car and reprogram it with fresh transponders, but today is not that day!)
But "reprogramming" a key (more like adding a key) on that model of ford just involves doing a dance with the fob key then inserting the key with the new transponder. So we plan to get all keys working on the car at some point. I was just going to order a new chip but my bother was complaining about the key barrel being a bit loose on him so just doing to replace everything at some point. Its just more about not being lazy about it :-P
Thing is, its what we call "the work horse" car of the family, it gets used about once a week to do tasks no one wants to do in their own cars (or when I need to do something in a car), so its not really a high priority thing to fix, but if we are going fix it might as well do it "right")
I assume that this was also true for other brands.
A few hundred dollars more on Amazon will net you a magic keyring that can open a surprising number of vehicles, buildings, control systems, and vending machines.
If you're into that sort of thing check out Deviant Ollam's physical pentesting videos on Youtube.
Are you talking about the "1284x FEO-K1 16120 222343 CH751 CH501 C346A C390A E114 " set?
I think mine has something like 20 keys on it now, and it will open a truly surprising number of things that it shouldn't.