BMW have given me their official response.
Dear Maz
Thank you for your email dated April 19 and 20, 2012 addressed to Mr xxx and Mr xxx, Corporate Communications and Managing Director of BMW UK which has been forwarded to me for a response. I was sorry to read of the recent incidents involving your BMW 3-Series, which has given you cause to contact us under such circumstances.
I can assure you that BMW products comply with all global safety and security requirements. However there are likely to be instances where a determined criminal can establish methods to gain entry into a BMW vehicle – regrettably this is outside of our control. I am sure you will appreciate that BMW cannot be held responsible for any incidents of this nature. However, BMW and its partners continue to monitor all methods of vehicle theft to ensure our products remain in the hands of the rightful owner.
Nonetheless, any incident of this nature requires the attention of your local Police authority. We will, of course, provide support to the Police should they require our assistance.
I can confirm you that we are aware of claims that our vehicles can be stolen using electronic devices such as the ones discussed on the forums you have attached and this is an area still under internal investigation. All car manufacturers work in partnership with the requisite official organisations to ensure vehicles offered for sale meet all the legislative requirements including Block Exemption Regulations. All BMWs comply with current legislation and we constantly review the level of vehicle security to ensure our products remain in the hands of the right owners. EU legislation allows keys to be reprogrammed without forcing an owner to always visit a manufacturer’s authorised dealership.
The On-Board Diagnostics port is a method our engineers use to access the car’s data bank and carry out routine servicing. It has to be in a location that allows for the day to day servicing of a vehicle. The alarm systems of a car are designed to protect the vehicle and alert the owner should there be an intrusion. It is also an EU legislative requirement to have the OBD port accessible in the passenger compartment.
As all of our cars comply with all legislation, since the introduction of coded keys and other measures the highest method of vehicle theft remains cases of keys being stolen from a house or off a person, not through key cloning or other electronic measures of crime. Car crime is not unique to BMW either. All manufacturers of premium products are targeted because there is a market for such vehicles either elsewhere in the world or as parts to a disreputable seller.
I wish to assure you that we are doing our utmost to work with the Police to assist in the capture of these extremely organised gangs and also to ensure that our vehicle stand up to the most robust form our attack. Once again, I am sorry you have had cause to contact us under such circumstances.
Yours sincerely
BMW UK
Extremely interesting.
1) They are aware of the recent thefts (I think everyone thought as much really)
2) They are aware of these devices that cut new keys
3) Although not directly saying say they have a security flaw in their BMWs there is admission there. They state EU legislation as a reason why they leave
ODB port access etc...
Keen to have everyones thoughts.
If I do buy another BMW which is a possibility still then looks like I have to disable the
ODB port which isn't a
problem. Also get a tracker!