TOYOTA ANNOUNCES VEHICLE SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS
According to local automotive intelligence, thieves are now targeting high-end and luxury vehicles with keyless or smart entry systems and emergency start capabilities by employing advanced technologies. Increased car use since businesses reopened following the COVID-19-induced lockout, as well as new methods used by gangs and criminals, like keyless access theft, have all been linked to the increase in these crimes.
Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) says that it has been actively performing considerable research and development into the upgrading of its vehicle security systems, even though this situation affects all vehicle brands as well as all car makers.
The research and development team at TSAM took pre-emptive action by creating alliances with a number of parties, including the South African Police Services, in order to obtain information on the new techniques that thieves in SA are using to steal cars. The information acquired showed that highly technical cyber-attacks are employed by thieves to take advantage of the computer-controlled systems of the car.
CAN Attack, Fob Relaying, and a combination of Forced Entry and Key Cloning are three of the attack types included in these attacks. The Control Area Network of the car is breached in a CAN Attack when highly advanced electronic equipment is used to gain entry, access the computer system, and start the engine.
Fob Relaying is the process of remotely reading a car's security key while it is in the owner's hands using high-tech receivers and transmitters. This enables the attacker to unlock and start the vehicle. In the third method, which combines forced entry and key cloning, the vehicle's alarm system is first turned off using cutting-edge equipment and methods before the security key is copied.
After researching the aforementioned techniques, TSAM has created a number of precautions to reduce the risk of theft of Toyota and Lexus-branded vehicles in the nation. Through a number of useful online sessions and bulletins, these improvement steps have already been communicated to the Toyota dealer network. Additionally, VSS Administration, an independent South African organisation that specialises in automotive systems and vehicle security, has analysed and evaluated the improvements.
From the first week of December, owners of the aforementioned vehicle models can bring them to the nearby dealership for security upgrades. These improvements will be applied automatically to both newly purchased vehicles and those that are being serviced at dealers. All of these services will be provided without charging the client.
These are the affected vehicles: Hilux Legend models from 2019; all Fortuner models from 2016; Land Cruiser Prado (VX and VXL models from 2017); all Land Cruiser 200 with Smart Entry, Land Cruiser 300 and all Lexus RX and LX models from 2015.
