London: Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover is re-evaluating its keyless technology after a spate of thefts of luxury vehicles by new-age car thieves, a media report said on Sunday.
The Britain-based luxury car firm, which hopes to produce a driverless vehicle within the next decade, has filed a patent application in America that suggests it is developing a new security device that will lock and unlock the doors, but not be used to start the vehicle.
New-age thieves use technology similar to that employed by breakdown services to bypass locks, then plug in a gadget that programs a blank keyless fob to enable them to start the engine, 'The Sunday Times' said in a report.
However, the reinvention may simply be an old-fashioned metal key that would fit into a lock on the doors, although it might also be a remote key fob or an electronic chip in a mobile phone, it said.
The patent gives no indication of when the new key might go into production.
The problems with keyless technology were illustrated in a test conducted last year on a Range Rover Evoque which was reprogrammed in just 10 seconds.
More than 1,000 luxury cars, including Audis and BMWs, were stolen using the technique in London alone last year.
In common with other luxury car manufacturers, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) abandoned metal ignition keys because of concerns that they were becoming embedded in the knees and legs of some drivers involved in high-speed collisions.
JLR is one of the UK's largest exporters and generates about 85 percent of its revenue from exports.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, June 28, 2015, 16:48