West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson has convened a summit with major car manufacturers to address the surge in keyless car thefts. Executives from Jaguar Land Rover, Ford, Audi, Nissan, Honda and BMW attended the meeting in Coventry on Thursday.
Figures from West Midlands Police show car thefts nearly doubled in the force area from 5,344 in 2015 to 9,451 in 2017. Mr Jamieson said manufacturers who profit from selling cars have a responsibility to make them harder to steal.
The summit focused on so-called relay thefts, where criminals use electronic devices to intercept signals from keyless entry fobs. Thieves use one relay box to capture the signal from a key inside a home, then transmit it to a second box near the car, tricking the vehicle into unlocking and starting.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said thefts affect less than 0.3% of vehicles on UK roads, but acknowledged the rise is concerning. Chief Executive Mike Hawes noted that new models include immobilisers and encrypted key codes to prevent cloning.
Mr Jamieson has also written to eBay and Amazon urging them to stop selling key programmer devices. eBay confirmed the devices are already banned, while Amazon said it would respond in writing.
