These gadgets are used to stop Hilux and Ranger thieves

Owners of South Africa’s most stolen vehicles can use so-called ghost anti-theft devices or mechanical drivetrain locks to make it significantly more difficult for thieves to steal their cars.

Recent data from vehicle tracking company Tracker showed a substantial increase in hijackings and car theft in South Africa in the second half of 2023.

Tracker’s Vehicle Crime Index uses information from the company’s 1.1 million subscriptions.

Tracker’s data aligned with statistics from the South African Police Service and private security company Fidelity ADT, both of which have reported surges in vehicle hijackings and car theft in the past few months.

According to Fidelity ADT, the most targeted car models, in no particular order, are the following:

• Toyota Fortuner (GD6 and D4D)
• Toyota Hilux (GD6 and D4D)
• Toyota Corolla Cross
• Toyota RAV 4
• VW Polo (especially hatchbacks)
• Nissan NP200
• Ford Ranger (both double and single cabs)

Keyless car entry and start are contributing to this increase in car thefts. This allows motorists to unlock and start their cars without pressing any buttons on their keyfob, which can be highly convenient.

However, this technology requires the car to scan for a key fob constantly.

Car thieves can follow a motorist after they lock their car and use a signal-capturing device readily available on the black market to read its signature.

This can then be transmitted to an accomplice waiting close by the car, who uses a transponder device to mimic the key’s signal and fool the car into unlocking and starting.

Installing a vehicle tracker allows the car’s location to be traced after a hijacking or theft.

However, many of South Africa’s vehicle crime syndicates are particularly advanced and often capable of removing conventional car trackers within minutes of the theft.

The issue has become so severe that multiple vehicle insurers have started requiring certain high-risk models to have more than one tracker.

Ghost immobilisers

Ghost anti-theft devices are specially modified immobilisers that prevent unauthorised drivers from moving a car unless a code is entered or a linked smartphone with an authenticated user is in proximity.

These gadgets are also designed to blend in with the other regular electronics in the vehicle to be tough to detect and remove.

While activated, the ghost device allows the car to start but will switch it off once put into gear. This is intended to confuse the car thief.

The authorised user must first input a code in the form of a sequence of button presses in their vehicle to switch the car into a fully driveable state. On some systems, these can be up to 20 presses.

Some ghost immobilisers also feature a proximity lock that automatically puts the car in a driveable state when the authorised user’s device is detected.

Ghost South Africa is one of the companies selling ghost immobilisers in South Africa.

Its system works with a mobile application rather than an in-car code by default.

In the event that the phone is lost or its battery dies, users can override it with a code entered into the vehicle.

It contends that its system is near-uncompromisable, for the following reasons:

• Undetectable via diagnostics scanning, so a thief can use diagnostics to detect circuit cuts on modern vehicles. The Ghost has no cuts, so it cannot be found using these methods.
• No radio frequency signal transmission, making sophisticated RIF scanning and code-grabbing technology redundant
• No audible sound giving away presence, so a thief could listen for the tell-tale clicking of a traditional immobilizer relay.
• No electronic control unit (ECU) swapping, which means adding a new key or replacing an ECU to bypass the ghost immobiliser will not help

The newer Ghost+ device supports a two-part arming system to provide enhanced security specifically for Hilux, Fortuner, Ranger, Everest, and Polo models with electronic start/stop buttons.

The company said although many people say they would rather have their insurance pay out for their stolen car than get it back in the state that many recovered vehicles are found, this ignores the impact of failed recoveries on insurance premiums.

Ghost South Africa said most of their recovered vehicles only needed a day or so to return cars to their original condition because they cannot be moved quickly to a location far away from where they were stolen.

It is important to emphasise that ghost devices are not completely impenetrable and could be removed.

However, this requires more advanced tools and expertise to locate and deactivate, increasing the effort and time it would take to get away with the vehicle.

Lock it down — with force

Another option to consider is a mechanical solution like HaltLock, which is physically connected to the vehicle’s drivetrain.

This system prevents the vehicle from moving at all with a mechanical lock that can be retrofitted to fit any car.

The lock is deactivated by using a separate remote or smartphone app controlled by an authenticated user.

In case of a hijacking where the system was unlocked, users can remotely activate the HaltLock with their app, which will engage when the car’s speed drops to 3km/h.

This will also disable the remote, making it impossible to unlock the stolen vehicle.

The system operates independently from the vehicle’s ECU, meaning physical removal is the only way to bypass it.

Any attempted tampering with the HaltLock unit automatically triggers a communication action.

It also has built-in location tracking to ensure the car can be recovered after hijacking or theft.