If TFA had given some more context, and said "exploits which would allow this type of access were shown at a recent hacker conference, and some cars have known exploitable vulnerabilities... but we don't know if this crop of thieves are using that or a newer, unpublished exploit" then it would, IMO, have been a better article. Instead, it leaves people with the idea that this whole concept (hacking cars) is something brand new, unknown, and unexpected. And it's not.
Of course, elementary school science is enough to figure out that if you bought a jar of apple juice from the store, replaced some of the contents with hot goat urine and shook it up before fully closing the lid again, as the air inside cooled it would pull the clicker back down. And you could return it to the store.
But if I read an article about mysterious tampering with "unopened" products in local grocery stores, I hope the police (and particularly, food packaging or food security experts) wouldn't be so baffled about it when discussing it with reporters.
So you have a device that can open random car doors in seconds? Do you know where to get one? Do you know anyone who has one?
The police apparently don't (and the police almost certainly know far more about crimes and how they are performed than you and most other HNers do). A guy who specializes in car electronics exploits doesn't.
So yes, this is a mystery. The counter-argument seems to be some variation of the too-common world-weary-haughtiness that spreads like an infection on HN.
Bank closes at night like always. The next morning the manager arrives and finds everything seemingly as it was, but when they look in the safe all of the money missing. Would that qualify as a mystery? Even though people have been robbing banks for centuries, even breaking into safes? Yes, of course it would, though I'm sure there'll be that guy who'll point out the obvious that somehow someone got in the safe.
No, and I haven't claimed to do so. You're just setting up straw-men and attacking them now, and I don't know for what purpose. I've already said that I was talking in terms of a general sentiment that I think I detected in TFA, and not the specifics of this batch of incidents.
You've been at this "random car" thing over the whole thread.
But there no indication that these thieves can steal random cars in the sense of any car they choose. Thieves have stolen particular cars and the cops might not know the connecting thread but there's no situation where the thieves passed a "show us a random car and we'll use our device to steal it" challenge and that would be the kind of hard evidence you'd need for a "these guys can steel any car" rhetoric.
But how about Honda -- do you have a remote door unlock exploit that can do what is being discussed on just Honda vehicles?