Yes, keyless cars can be stolen without the key. Thieves either relay the fob’s signal from inside your house or plug a cloning tool into the diagnostic port under the dashboard. Keeping the fob in a Faraday pouch, fitting an OBD port lock and a steering lock makes it a harder target, and a tracker finds it if they succeed.
This guide explains the 3 ways a keyless car is taken in Australia, which cars are at risk, the steps that work ranked from free to a few hundred dollars, and what is left once the car is already moving. Every figure comes from Victoria Police, the ABC or a named Australian test.
Contents
- Can keyless cars be stolen in Australia?
- How does a relay attack work?
- What is key cloning, and why does the diagnostic port matter?
- Which cars are at risk?
- How do I protect a keyless car?
- Do Faraday pouches and OBD port locks work?
- Does insurance cover a keyless theft?
- What if the car is taken anyway?
Can keyless cars be stolen in Australia?
Yes. Victoria Police told the ABC on 16 March 2026 that 30 to 40 per cent of cars stolen in the state in the 12 months to September 2025 were taken with key cloning devices, and that thieves walk the streets looking for cars with push-button ignition. Deputy Commissioner Robert Hill put the job at 10 to 15 seconds.
The immobiliser that helped cut Australian car theft by about two thirds between 2001 and 2020, the Australian Institute of Criminology found, is still doing its job. The car will not start without a key, so the thieves bring one: a copy written through the diagnostic port, a relayed signal from your real key, or the key itself after a burglary. How that undid 20 years of falling theft is the story of why car theft is rising again, and the longer road from steering locks to smart keys is in our history of car security.
On its own crime prevention page, updated 24 August 2026, Victoria Police says more than 10,000 vehicles a year are stolen in the state with electronic devices, which comes to around 30 cars a day. No one publishes a national count of keyless thefts, so this article keeps to the Victorian figures. For each state’s overall numbers, see our car theft statistics by state.
How does a relay attack work?
A relay attack carries your key’s signal to your car, so the car believes the key is standing beside it. A keyless car is always listening for its fob at low power. One thief stands near your front door with a device that picks up the fob’s reply, and a second stands at the car with a device that replays it. The doors unlock, the start button works, and the car drives away while the key sits on your kitchen bench.
Nothing is cracked. The two devices pass on the exchange the car and the key were already having, which is why rolling codes and encryption do not stop it, as Practical Motoring explained in September 2024. It is also why it leaves no trace. There is no broken glass and no forced lock, just an empty driveway in the morning.
The ABC reported on 27 November 2024 that an Albury man’s BMW was stolen twice in a few nights with the keys inside his house both times, and police suspected a radio frequency relay. The thieves had also taken over the car’s driver profile, so they could watch where he drove and wait for him to come home. In nearby Tallangatta, a family’s new 4WD was reversed out of the driveway with the keys indoors. The neighbours’ cars, which used ordinary keys, were ransacked but left behind.
What is key cloning, and why does the diagnostic port matter?
Key cloning writes a brand new key for your car through the diagnostic port under the dashboard. Most cars sold in Australia since 2006 have a 16-pin OBD port, the socket a mechanic plugs a scan tool into. A programming tool made for locksmiths and mechanics plugs into the same port and tells the car to accept a blank fob as its key.
“The onboard diagnostic tool plugs into a port that is beneath the dashboard, and that will override the security system and allow the ignition to come on,” Deputy Commissioner Hill told the ABC in March 2026. The tools are sold openly online, and Victoria Police seized more than 800 of them in the year before that report. Hill added that carrying one around in the middle of the night, where police believe you are looking for a car to steal, is illegal in Victoria.
The thief still has to get inside the car first, as RACV pointed out in May 2026. That usually means a smashed window or a relayed signal to pop the lock, then a few seconds at the port. The port is the weak point, which is why Victoria Police’s standing advice for every push-button car is an OBD port lock.
Which cars are at risk?
Cars with push-button start and a proximity key, whatever the badge. Victoria Police says thieves target models that are easy to access electronically, and those models mostly use push-button start with no ignition key. A relay attack needs a car that unlocks when its key is near. Cloning needs a port that will accept a reprogrammed key. An older car with a metal key offers neither, which is why the Tallangatta neighbours kept theirs.
Newer is not always safer, and older is not always worse. Deputy Commissioner Hill told a June 2026 press conference that the cars being hit were “not the most modern fleet, but an older type of motorcar”, and that some makers had closed the gap in their newest models, as Drive reported on 25 June 2026. Toyota said in January 2026 that it had enhanced security on several new models and was developing an add-on immobiliser. So ask your dealer whether a security update exists for your car, which is the advice from both NRMA and RAC WA.
Where you park matters as much as what you drive. Victoria Police named the hardest-hit suburbs for technology-driven thefts in 2025 as Melbourne’s CBD, Dandenong, Tarneit, Narre Warren, St Albans, Craigieburn, Southbank, Reservoir, Truganina and Epping. For the full picture, see vehicle theft in Victoria and the most stolen cars in Australia.
How do I protect a keyless car?
Start with the free steps, then spend on the 2 locks police recommend. Each one closes a different door, so the more of them you stack, the sooner a thief moves on to the next street.
- Keep the fob away from doors and windows, and never in the car. RAC WA suggests at least 10 metres from the car at home. Lock spare keys away and put a phone number, not your address, on the key tag, as Victoria Police advises.
- Check the car actually locked. Jamming devices can stop your lock signal reaching the car. Wait for the mirrors to fold or the lights to flash before you walk away.
- Put the fob in a Faraday pouch. They start at about $13. The pouch blocks the key’s signal, which is the one thing a relay attack needs. Keep it closed.
- Fit a steering wheel lock. Neighbourhood Watch Victoria’s Bambi Gordon told the ABC that when a thief looks through the window and sees the wheel locked, “there’s really no point of them going any further”. Pair it with the next step, since a determined thief can get through one.
- Fit an OBD port lock. Victoria Police recommends one for every push-button car and calls them cheap, easy to install and easy to find at auto shops. It covers the port so a cloning tool cannot plug in.
- Park it out of reach. Use the garage if you have one, park behind another car in the driveway, add a sensor light, and lock the gates. RACV’s advice is to make the theft slow and visible.
- Ask about updates and a second immobiliser. Some makers have issued security updates, and an aftermarket immobiliser that needs a PIN before the car will start defeats a cloned key.
- Have a recovery plan. None of the above helps once the car is moving, and that is the layer most owners never think about until the morning after.
Do Faraday pouches and OBD port locks work?
Yes, each against its own attack. A Faraday pouch blocks the key’s signal. Inside a closed pouch the car cannot hear the fob, so there is nothing for a relay to carry. Drive tested 3 pouches, priced from $12.99 to over $100, on 4 cars in November 2024, and none of the cars would open while the key was inside a closed pouch. One pouch did let the signal through when its flap was left open, so the test’s one rule is to close it every time.
An OBD port lock fits over the diagnostic port and needs its own key or code to come off, so a programming tool cannot be plugged in. It is the device Victoria Police tells push-button car owners to fit. It does nothing against a relay attack, which never touches the port, and nothing if the thief has your real keys.
That is why the 2 are a pair rather than a choice. The pouch stops the relay, the port lock stops the cloning tool, and the steering lock slows both. RACV and Neighbourhood Watch Victoria make the same point: combining measures beats relying on one.
| How the car is taken | What stops it | What does not |
|---|---|---|
| Relay attack on the fob’s signal | Faraday pouch, keys away from doors and windows | OBD port lock |
| Key cloning through the diagnostic port | OBD port lock, a PIN immobiliser | Faraday pouch |
| Your keys, taken in a burglary or left in the car | Keys locked away, never left in the car | Faraday pouch, OBD port lock |
| Any of the above, once the car is moving | A GPS tracker | Every lock and pouch |
Does insurance cover a keyless theft?
It depends on your policy and on where your keys were, so read the product disclosure statement. Allianz says that if you left the keys inside the car when it was stolen, comprehensive cover might not pay, because the policy expects you to take reasonable steps to prevent theft (page updated 22 October 2025). A relay or cloning theft with the keys locked in your house is a different situation from keys left in the ignition, and the police report is where the claim starts.
Report the theft first, on 000 if it is happening now or on 131 444 if it is not, then call your insurer. Our guide to a car insurance claim after theft walks through what happens next.
What if the car is taken anyway?
Then the only question that matters is whether you can point at a map. Victoria Police says it recovers around 80 per cent of stolen vehicles, which leaves 1 in 5 that never come back, and Deputy Commissioner Hill told the ABC that many are found only after being used in another crime. Police also say to call 000 if your stolen car has live tracking that is being actively monitored, and never to follow it and confront the thieves yourself.
A car’s built-in tracking is not the backstop you might hope for. The Albury thieves took over the car’s own driver profile. Katherine Ferrett’s BMW was stolen on 15 December 2025, and the thieves found the car’s factory tracker and ripped it out. They did not find her Solid GPS tracker. “Solely because of this tracker and your software, I was able to share the live tracking details with the police,” she told us. Police filmed the thieves, identified a suspect, and she had the car back after 5 hours.
A car GPS tracker is credit card sized, Australian Made and runs on its own battery for up to 3, 6 or 12 months per charge, so it needs no wiring and never touches the diagnostic port, which means your port lock stays on. It updates as often as every 2 minutes while driving, checks in every 24 hours when parked, and WatchDog Mode alerts you the moment it moves. The subscription is AUD $69.99 a year, no contracts, after a 31-day free trial. If the worst happens, our guide to how to find a stolen car covers the first 24 hours.
A keyless car’s own security can be beaten. A car GPS tracker shows you where it went. Trusted by 30,000+ drivers.
Sources
| Source | Used for |
|---|---|
| ABC News, 16 March 2026 | 30 to 40 per cent of Victorian thefts in the 12 months to September 2025 used key cloning devices; 10 to 15 seconds; the diagnostic port quote; more than 800 devices seized; push-button cars targeted; about 80 per cent recovered; the hardest-hit suburbs; the OBD port lock advice |
| ABC News, 27 November 2024 | The Albury and Tallangatta relay thefts, the hijacked driver profile, and the steering lock quote from Neighbourhood Watch Victoria |
| Victoria Police: preventing motor vehicle theft | More than 10,000 vehicles a year stolen with electronic devices, around 30 a day; around 80 per cent recovered; the OBD port lock recommendation; key advice; calling 000 when a stolen car is being live tracked (updated 24 August 2026) |
| RACV, 12 May 2026 | How the OBD port and a port lock work, the thief needing to get inside first, and combining measures |
| Drive, 13 November 2024 | The Faraday pouch test: 3 pouches, 4 cars, and the open flap |
| Drive, 25 June 2026 | Deputy Commissioner Hill on older cars and makers closing the gap; Toyota’s January 2026 statement |
| Drive, 4 March 2024 | The relay method and Faraday pouch prices from $12 |
| Practical Motoring, 13 September 2024 | How a relay attack passes on the car and key’s exchange without breaking encryption, and the jamming check |
| NRMA, 18 February 2026 | Keys away from doors and windows, and asking a dealer about security updates |
| RAC WA, April 2026 | Keeping the fob at least 10 metres from the car at home |
| Allianz, updated 22 October 2025 | Comprehensive cover might not pay if the keys were left in the car; reasonable steps; the police report |
