Relay attacks and keyless car theft in South Africa: is your car keyless?

How does a relay attack work on a keyless car?

A keyless car unlocks and starts when its key is close by. Kia’s brochure puts it as “Unlock and start the vehicle while keeping the key in your pocket or bag”, and Mitsubishi says the ASX’s driver can “lock and unlock the doors by touching the door handle” and “start the engine by pressing the Start Button”.^19,43 A relay attack turns that convenience against you: the thieves carry the key’s signal to the car while you still have the key, which is what Toyota South Africa called fob relaying.²

A key with lock and unlock buttons isn’t keyless in this sense. Hyundai fits remote keyless entry, a remote you press, to every Grand i10, i20, Creta, Tucson, Santa Fe Hybrid and Staria, yet only the Creta, Santa Fe Hybrid and Staria have a start button.¹⁷ Cars with remotes face jamming instead, which uses devices that “interfere with the signal from a vehicle’s remote key”, in Safire’s words.⁴⁴ King Price thinks jamming is the more common method here, “Seeing that most South Africans don’t have cars that make use of smartkeys”.⁴⁵

Is keyless car theft happening in South Africa?

It’s being reported, but we found no count of how often it happens. In August 2026 TopAuto carried an Insurance Crime Bureau warning about relay attacks on high-end SUVs with keyless entry and start in Bloemfontein.¹ In June 2025 TopAuto passed on warnings from private security companies, tracking firms and insurers that replay attacks, where a key’s code is captured at a mall, and relay attacks at homes were rising. It said replay gangs watch parking lots for cars with “a high resale value … such as a Toyota Hilux or Ford Ranger”.⁴⁶

King Price calls keyless car thefts and remote jamming “a real trend”, and Safire warned in October 2026 that “criminals may also exploit keyless entry systems”.^44,45 We found no South African count of relay thefts and no list of the models most often stolen that way, so the table on this page shows which cars are keyless, not which are stolen.

Which cars are keyless in South Africa?

On bakkies, keyless usually comes with the top trims. The new Hilux Raider and Raider X have it but the SRX and the 2.4 don’t, the Ranger has it from the XLT up, the Navara double cab from the LE, and the D-Max only on the 3.0 LSE and V-Cross automatics.^7,12,14,22 On many SUVs it’s standard on every derivative: the Fortuner, Everest, MU-X, Jolion, H6 and Sportage among them.^{5,13,20,21,28,29}

Small cars are split. The Polo Vivo and Celerio don’t list it at all, and the Swift, Fronx and Picanto keep it for their top trim.^{11,18,24,25,27}

How to tell if your car is keyless

Look at your car’s specification sheet or brochure, because carmakers name the feature differently. Isuzu calls it the “Passive Entry Start System (PESS)”, Omoda “Passive-Entry-Passive-Start (PEPS)”, Mitsubishi the “Keyless Operating System”, Volkswagen “Keyless Access” and Suzuki “Keyless Entry & Push Start”.^{10,21,24,30,37} Toyota’s sheets list “Smart Entry” and a “Push Start” starting system.⁵

A simpler test: if the doors open and the engine starts while the key stays in your pocket, the car is keyless. If you have to press a button on the key or turn it in the ignition, it isn’t.

How to stop a relay attack

Block the key’s signal when you aren’t driving. Pineapple suggests a Faraday bag “to prevent the cloning of keyless access signals”.³ A metal tin or aluminium foil can do the same job, it says, but this “only works if the lid is closed tightly without leaving gaps”.⁴ Do it at home as well as when you’re out: TopAuto’s sources placed relay attacks at homes.⁴⁶

Toyota South Africa gave owners of some models a free security update in 2022, against fob relaying, CAN attacks and “a combination of forced entry and key cloning”.² For keyless Toyotas the update didn’t cover, Toyota pointed owners to “a Faraday pouch” from a dealer, or to having the alarm recalibrated.⁴⁷ Our Toyota page lists the models the update covered.

Then add something a relayed signal can’t open. Safire suggests “an additional physical anti-theft device, such as a steering-wheel lock”, and King Price’s advice is to “always check that your car is locked properly, before walking off”.^44,45

Will insurance pay if a keyless car is stolen with no forced entry?

We found no South African insurer that says either way. The wordings we read tie theft cover to your security instead: MiWay’s says “Theft and hijack cover is conditional upon the security devices, as declared by me and noted on my Coversheet, being properly installed, maintained and used for the purpose for which they were designed.”⁴⁸

Forced entry does matter for things left in the car. MiWay doesn’t cover loose items stolen from it unless they were hidden in the cubby-hole, the boot or a similar closed space “and there are visible signs of forced entry to the vehicle”.⁴⁸ If your car is keyless, ask your insurer how it treats a theft that leaves no damage, and keep the answer.

A tracker for a keyless car

Blocking the key’s signal makes a relay attack harder; a tracker with a recovery service is for the day one works anyway. On a new car, Toyota South Africa has said that fitting an aftermarket device “will not negate the warranty” if a reputable fitment centre installs it.² Our guide to anti-hijack systems covers immobilisers and steering locks.

Our deals start from R99pm for a wireless recovery unit, or R149pm for a full insurance-approved tracker. Free installation, 36-month contract.

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