[no_ball]

Hi all, just to advise scum bags attempted to steal my beloved 330d yesterday at 5pm. Family sitting in back room, I went upstairs then to see 2 lads on the drive way. One was the lookout and the other lad has smashed drivers side window and reaching inside doing his 'stuff'.

Opened the front door to chase them away; Police came round and without even looking at the inside of the car, told me what the lads were attempting to do. OBD connector housing trim piece lying in footwell as they tried to clone the vehicle ID.

Be on the look out please, gang working the west midlands. Is it correct there is software fix for 2007 and onwards? What happens to pre-2007 cars?

Any after market actions I can take on top of trying to re-locate the OBD connector? Steering wheel cover lock type...

[myfly335]

wow crazy

[gangzoom]

Some one at work had their 335d stolen last week, and I've also heard someone else in another department had their E92 stolen. Both in Leicester....looks like my Disklok will be staying on for a while

[DarkEnigma]

Originally Posted by no_ball

Hi all, just to advise scum bags attempted to steal my beloved 330d yesterday at 5pm. Family sitting in back room, I went upstairs then to see 2 lads on the drive way. One was the lookout and the other lad has smashed drivers side window and reaching inside doing his 'stuff'.

Opened the front door to chase them away; Police came round and without even looking at the inside of the car, told me what the lads were attempting to do. OBD connector housing trim piece lying in footwell as they tried to clone the vehicle ID.

Be on the look out please, gang working the west midlands. Is it correct there is software fix for 2007 and onwards? What happens to pre-2007 cars?

Any after market actions I can take on top of trying to re-locate the OBD connector? Steering wheel cover lock type...

A bunch of us have had these guys : http://www.securemycar.co.uk/ fit an after-market alarm system which also includes OBD modification. Would highly recommend, esp if you are in a zone that is known for this happening. There are some threads on this forum just search for Viper or Securemycar

[MEGA]

Just relocate the port ffs it takes 10 minutes to do!

I would have thought every e9x owner knew about this by now. It's been on this site forever, google shows thousands of results for "bmw obd theft" and there's even been a BBC Watchdog episode on it

[DarkEnigma]

Originally Posted by MEGA

Just relocate the port ffs it takes 10 minutes to do!

I would have thought every e9x owner knew about this by now. It's been on this site forever, google shows thousands of results for "bmw obd theft" and there's even been a BBC Watchdog episode on it

Indeed, I thought this had died down a bit since the Watchdog fiasco.

Another thing is to grab a Disklok. If you do the alarm system, OBD relocation/mod, disklok they will probably give it a miss!!

[no_ball]

thanks guys; saw the watchdog program as well! Cottoned onto it now....because I disturbed the scum bags, ECU's were not fried! BMW technician said I was lucky, Reprogrammed ECU's and we are back up and running. All in all, its cost £75 on the glass excess and a day of waiting around, been very lucky I think, if this makes sense!

Autoglass chap says he attends to about 3 BMW OBD type incidents a day at the moment, a resurgence?
Next stop disklok from amazon, I assume 'small' is the size for our steering wheels. And then to tuck the OBD away somewhere. Before which I shall be calling BMW on Monday to ask about the software for the 2006 E90. Thanks for the advice.

[chriz1]

Yeah and be prepared for bmw to tell you that your year car is not affected by the thefts! Until you tell them whats happened! Keep us informed what they say!

[Kuroblack]

Originally Posted by no_ball

Hi all, just to advise scum bags attempted to steal my beloved 330d yesterday at 5pm. Family sitting in back room, I went upstairs then to see 2 lads on the drive way. One was the lookout and the other lad has smashed drivers side window and reaching inside doing his 'stuff'.

Opened the front door to chase them away; Police came round and without even looking at the inside of the car, told me what the lads were attempting to do. OBD connector housing trim piece lying in footwell as they tried to clone the vehicle ID.

Be on the look out please, gang working the west midlands. Is it correct there is software fix for 2007 and onwards? What happens to pre-2007 cars?

Any after market actions I can take on top of trying to re-locate the OBD connector? Steering wheel cover lock type...

My understanding of this type of theft is that you don't have to smash the window at all - it's thought that the comfort opening can be activated (hence no alarm either) by jamming the lock to the right with a 'key' IIRC. (see the now infamous 1M theft video on youtube)

Cars from Sept 2011 were no longer programmed to do this, cars pre 2007 are, but there's some confusion about whether they can be coded (nicked via the OBD) in the same way - hence BMW not updating them with the fix.

This may also explain why yours could not be shifted, difficult to know how far along they were when you spotted them. There are several cases popping up of attempted thefts - ports covers off but car still sitting happy.

The best (and probably worst) thing you can do is read the Pistonheads thread. You'll see what i mean if you read it, but if you are happy to sift through the BS, rumour and assumptions, then there are some useful bits of advice.

Although I'm not affected, my E92 did wear a disklok until I could be sure, and for extra piece of mind, I also bought a lock for the OBD port, which makes life much harder for any potential tea leaves.

Also - from what I read there were two potential hotspots, Birmingham and surrounding area and London.

[xPETEZx]

I moved my ODB port when this all flared up initially, but would still just be pissed about the broken glass.
I guess thats where the disk lock comes in. Hopefully they wouldn't bother.
With mine, they wont know the port is gone till they have already caused the damage.

Did the police do anything? I am guessing they just tell you that there is a lot of this going round and be on there way.

[magic77]

I think that just proves if you are a member of this forum and read posts pull your finger out and move you port.

Its £25 max for a good extention lead from Ebay and an hours work moving few trims pieces on and off.

The amount of posts on here no reason to be surprised if you see your E9x attempted or be stolen in this way. I live in a pretty low risk area and I've done it IMO just lazy if you dont.

As for windows smashing it depends how much brain the thieves have. Affected or not I know of number of e9x prior to 2007 that where taken this way. Fact is even with the new fix they still are able to be taken as port is still live.

No excuse move your port and get a disclock to be safe.

[no_ball]

thanks guys; I'll try and find a write up for relocating the OBD connector; failing that have a go myself. What is the link lead I need via Ebay? is it the female to male fly lead?
Right on my way to see if Halfrauds sell the disklok at a discount via the trade card.

[mistryn]

i thought this died down since the watchdog programme but looks like i will be using my disklok all the time now

[no_ball]

i have had phone calls from 2 different west midlands police stations; they want to follow up on the incident. Seems this type of incident is on the increase at the moment.

[parapaul]

I moved my OBD port and picked up warning decals for both front windows. We've just had new neighbours across the road with a 1 series and 3 series - hopefully if there's any interest they'll avoid mine in favour of an easier target.

[Dragon88]

All you need to know here

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=741889

Window stickers are also a good deterrent for window smashing.

[corasdad]

hi all i am very new to the forum ,I have just put a deposit on a 2007 56 plate 320d m sport, how do i know which cars are affected by this issue (this is the first I have read about it and its made me very worried)
When i get the car i will move the odb for some peace of mind and put stickers on the window

[zltm089]

I hope that these scumbags would get death penalty or die of aids. That would be wonderful.

Sorry to hear this OP. Your insurance will probably go up now because of these cants.

And yeah, for the disklok, you will need the small size.

[bruce287]

Unfortunately this type of theft hasn't died down at all and I know as I'm a bobby from the OP's area! Some of the thieves are moving on to other vehicles as well the BM's are constantly been taken! An Alpina got nicked not too long ago too! I constantly have my disklok on when I'm not using it, and other times, its safe at the station!

[magic77]

Originally Posted by corasdad

hi all i am very new to the forum ,I have just put a deposit on a 2007 56 plate 320d m sport, how do i know which cars are affected by this issue (this is the first I have read about it and its made me very worried)
When i get the car i will move the odb for some peace of mind and put stickers on the window

To be safe do as you said move the port at least gives you peace of mind

[doughboy]

Originally Posted by Kuroblack

My understanding of this type of theft is that you don't have to smash the window at all - it's thought that the comfort opening can be activated (hence no alarm either) by jamming the lock to the right with a 'key' IIRC. (see the now infamous 1M theft video on youtube)

This is BMW's marketing guff to try and appease people.

Smashing a window doesn't set the alarm off either, and you can reach in carefully down to the OBD port without triggering the alarm too as the sensors don't cover the door area.

Another reason to move the port, as reaching further in will set the alarm off.

Cars from Sept 2011 were no longer programmed to do this, cars pre 2007 are, but there's some confusion about whether they can be coded (nicked via the OBD) in the same way - hence BMW not updating them with the fix.

But you can still nick post 2011 in the same window break way (the infamous 1M car is a 12 at least)

Pre-2007 cars are just judged to be not worth enough for BMW to bother rolliing out a fix.

This may also explain why yours could not be shifted, difficult to know how far along they were when you spotted them. There are several cases popping up of attempted thefts - ports covers off but car still sitting happy.

More likely just beat them to it. It still takes about 30 secs to add the key to the car.

There are plenty of cases of apparently "abandoned" thefts, where in fact they had successuly added the key, walked away and left the owner to get the window repaired etc. Then they come back at their leisure and take the car.

Although I'm not affected

How come yours is not affected?

[magic77]

I think to believe a certain e9x is not affected considering on the number of thefts would foolish. Maybe the latest cars with new ECUs but fact is why risk it.