Did you know your vehicle’s key fob can be remotely scanned, duplicated and used by car thieves to simple drive away your vehicle at will?
It’s easier than you think; car thieves only have to be within the proximity of your vehicle, perhaps even sitting in a couple cars over, and use a simple scanner (available on eBay) which grabs your key fob’s code. They then purchase key fob blanks from a dealership and simple upload your key fob’s code to it. Now they have an exact copy of your key fob and while you’re away, can just walk up and drive away with your vehicle as if they had your key!
So what can you do about this? One method is installing a hidden “Kill Switch” which makes it so your vehicle cannot be started, even if thieves have your key!
There are three primary types of common kill switches:
Let’s explore the advantages and disadvantages of each method.
BATTERY DISCONNECT METHOD
PRO: Cuts off all electricity in your vehicle which means no power to the starter, so your vehicle will not start. Of the three, is the most simple to implement.
CON: The problem with this approach is that it could reset all the clocks and other settings in your vehicle every time you disconnect.
FUEL PUMP SHUT-OFF METHOD
PRO: Cuts power to your fuel pump. No fuel gets pumped means your vehicle won’t start/run.
CON: Thieves don’t care about your car–so they can sit there cranking until they kill your starter. May be inconvenient to have to pop the hood to turn on and off the fuel pump switch every time you start your vehicle.
Another negative is that if the fuel toggle or switch for the power gets toggle accidentally while driving, your vehicle would stall in the middle of driving.
STARTER BYPASS METHOD
PRO: The best method of the three as it only affects the starter actually starting the vehicle. It is also much more convenient than the others since you can implement a switch hidden someone in your cabin to flip on and off.
CON: May be difficult to implement as it involves finding the correct wires to bypass and then running it from the engine compartment through the firewall into your cab.
Starter Kill Switch
Let’s get started with the starter kill switch! With this method, no matter what car thieves try, without power to the starter–your vehicle will not start! It would take them far to much time and effort to try and locate your switch or bypass your umm, bypass (if they even knew what was going on). In all likelihood, they would just abandoned their efforts and move on to the next vehicle.
OVERVIEW
What we need to accomplish overall is to cut power to your vehicle’s Starter controlled via a switch in which you will hide somewhere inconspicuous in your cab but within reach of the driver’s seat. The switch will bypass the power running to your starter, so essentially not allow your vehicle to start even if the thief has your actual key.
Parts List:
- Toggle Switch
- Length of wire
- 40+ Amp Relay
- Wire connectors
- Heat Shrink
- Wire strippers
Start by locating your vehicle’s starter, then find the positive lead to your starter. The wire connected is what you will need to bypass.