Watch a Tesla Model S get stolen with a key ring

Tesla cars may be high-tech, but that does not mean they're foolproof in terms of safety. This fact is exposed in a new video that shows, without the proper protections, that it is not so difficult to steal one of the cars of the company.

The video shows two thieves flying over a Model S at night while parked in a driveway in the UK. Using a tablet and a phone in tandem, they finally intercepted the frequency used by the Tesla owner's key ring, even if it was "in the back of the house," according to the owner. The thieves then transmit this signal to the car, believing that the owner was using the key ring to enter and drive.

Flights of this type are a risk for virtually any car that allows keyless entry. (The Volkswagen group has also had to deal with this problem for a few years.) Tesla has even warned British owners of robberies like this after a small rash that occurred earlier this year. However, the company offers some specific protections that could have stopped these thieves.

Tesla recently launched a two-factor function called "PIN to drive", which requires the driver to enter a PIN code on the touch screen of the car before it goes elsewhere. The company also reminded homeowners that it was possible (and safer, though less convenient) to turn off the "passive entry" feature, in which the car unlocked and automatically opened when it recognized that the owner approached with the key. One way to prevent such theft is to keep your keychain in a "faraday pouch" when it is not in use so the signal can not be intercepted at the start.

In this case, the owner admits that he did not have any of these protections in place, which is why his car was finally stolen. Even worse, the thieves seem to have found a way to disable remote access to the car, which means neither he nor Tesla are able to locate his location. One thing nearly saved his Model S, though: the car was charging at the time of the flight and none of the thieves seemed to understand how to unplug the plug from the charging socket. After a few difficult moments, they finally understood, but not before their faces were caught by the camera with its connected doorbell. The fact that the flight was captured on video – from start to finish, nothing less – is a useful reminder that new technologies sometimes have drawbacks and that real security can not be taken for granted.