how realiable is this? i mean let’s say youre out on the road and the car dies and you need to restart it and then it just doesnt start…

@miguel

Just use a latching relay setup instead, then until the key is removed it will stay able to start

@jager
If a professional thief wants it, they’re going to get it regardless. Most devices are to stop the average moron.

Cheers.

Actually I could see this being pretty effective, as when someone is stealing a car they tend to want to get gone pretty quickly; and don’t forget, those that resort to thievery are not exactly renowned for the technological knowhow beyond what they come prepared for IE hotwiring ignition, disabling alarm. Neat build, I see this having allot of applications.

Some facts.

Thieves are stupid, really stupid. This will thwart 98.997% of all thieves.

Most car thefts are not by a pro that is stripping it, most are really stupid kids looking for a joyride or to steal something to get more crack.

This would be highly effective in stopping most thieves. problem is it needs to make very loud noise afterwards or the retard will start trashing the interior of the car.

By the way this is entirely different RFID than what you’ve seen cracked in subway systems etc..way way more secure..still used in 2010 by all manufacturers and undefeated in the wild

I would guess this offers the same amount of security as the newer cars that have only push-button ignitions and use proximity FOBs on the driver to activate. Add in the normal key interlock and it seems even more secure.

This might be a stupid question, but the article doesn’t mention any specific type of RFID tag.

If I was going to build something like this as a first project into microcontrollers and RFID, would anyone be able to recommend a tag I could/should use with something like this?

I already have a device to keep the average car thief from stealing my car. It’s called a manual choke.

I used to pull the emergency brake, then unscrew the release knob and toss it in my pocket. But then again, who wants to steal a Tercel?

@Whatnot; what if you decide to wear clogs?

I kind of like this. I don’t own any Lambos, Ferraris, Corvettes, Maybachs, Bugattis, or any other high-end car, so would-be thieves looking to steal my car wouldn’t have a clue to even go near this. Combine this with a fuel pump isolator circuit as well, and you have a car no (average) thief will be able to take, short of coming in with a tow truck.

@tim

that’s pretty damn funny

xorpunk the instructable says it is an ID-12 rfid reader. I used one of those on a project last year, they don’t store any codes. The Pic would store the code and compare to what is read from the ID-12.

it would be much easier to just cut out the relay and twist wires back together, then to reverse engineer the code. like they said if you hide this well then it would stop nearly any thief.

My family had an old Peugeot that had a very similar system to this, minus the RFID. A reed relay (or functional equivalent) was hidden down in the casing of the steering column which needed to be swiped with a magnet before the ignition would work. IMO I don’t think adding the RFID contributes much to the security of this system, which is very much by obscurity: if the thief knows where to look, it’d be trivial to bypass, as others have said. (By the way, security by obscurity is okay provided the security strategy is a rare one in the strategy pool.)