Code Cracking

Next to your house, your car is probably your most expensive possession, which makes it a target for theft.

More than one million cars are stolen every year. Those kinds of loss numbers have fostered a whole industry in high-tech devices to protect your car. But don't get too comfortable with these safeguards ... the thieves have some new tricks of their own.

It may seem obvious and simple, but one of the best anti-theft devices around is locking your car. One of the new-fangled ways to do that is with one of those electronic keys or "keyless remotes." They've become popular anti-theft devices because, at the press of a button, you can get in and out of your car quickly and safely.

But guess what? You may not be as safe and secure as you think. We headed to a busy shopping mall in southern California to test out what some car thieves already know.

You know that chirping sound. At the press of a button, a keyless remote sends out a radio signal. When the car's receiver hears the message, the doors lock, and sometimes a security alarm is set as well. But take almost any gadget like this and there's another one to get around it — like the "Code Grabber."

Security specialist Ed Meenan of Avital Technologies showed us how a "Code Grabber" can secretly be used to pick up the keyless remote's signal. Only this transmitter doesn't just read the frequency, it records it and plays it back!

"So typically, what happens is a person will arm their alarm, which in fact does lock their doors, [and] walk into a mall knowing for a couple of hours that their car is protected," Meenan explains.

Not exactly. Now their car is defenseless to a "Code Grabber." And it's so easy to use. Armed with the electronic "code grabber," we could steal motorists' car keys right out of thin air.

"When you spend $30,000 on a car, that scares me, definitely," says Jason Dozal, who paid an additional $800 for a special car alarm that couldn't be bypassed.

Or could it? We just grabbed it.

Dozal said, "You have the CD player, you have the cell phone, you have all my cds, which are in a nice convenient case for you to just grab."

And, ultimately, we could grab the car if we wanted it. It's like being handed the keys to someone else's car. Over and over and over again. And code grabbers are easy to get — right over the Internet for a bargain price of about $100, no questions asked.

Is there any real honest purpose for using this device? According to Meenan, no. "There's no honest purpose other than to simply grab a code out of thin air and steal a vehicle and break into a car"

That's exactly what we did as Colleen Britton watched us break into her car. In this case, we hit the jackpot: $20,000 worth of designer sunglasses in the trunk.

"That's why I have my alarm and that's why I use this always," Colleen said.

When asked how secure she felt now, Colleen said, "Not very, definitely not."

There is an old-fashioned, low-tech solution. A plain old car key. There's also, of course, a high-tech solution. A fancier keyless remote sends out a different signal every time you hit the button. But how long will it take the thieves to get around that?

How common is this problem? More than seven million vehicles are equipped with keyless remotes. But since code grabbing leaves no sign of forced entry such as a smashed window, it's impossible to know how often it happens. The police are likely to think you simply left your car unlocked.

You Are What You Drive