Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General so much for PATS security...

interesting read.

secure my a--, i'm sure thieves know already.

If they didn't, they do now.

Can't you just bypass the immobiliser anyways ?

I was under the impression that you could, and that it was like a 5 minute job for a seasoned car-jacker.

if you want to make it realy hard for someone to steel your car. install a stwich that controls the power to the fuel pump and put the stwich in a hidden location like ashtray or under your seat. when they hotwire it it will only run for about 3 sec then die. my aunt had this done to her civic after it got stolen for the 3rd time

The stereo places that install aftermarket alarms do it in such a hurry that it is easy to bypass the starter kill ect if you know the wire colors for most alarms. Usually everything is under the dash attached with a few zip ties with easy access to everything. They make a blank relay that you can plug in in place of the starter kill relay that bypasses the starter kill function altogether. Aftermarket alarms work fine if you spend the time to properly conceal wiring and put it in a very difficult place to reach. Back to work, it may be possible to bypass PATS but sounds like a lot of work. If you want a car most thieves will just wait at a convience store for someone to leave their car running.

uh...around here, you better not leave your car running while you run inside a conveniance store. that would be a stoopid idea.

couldnt you also pull your main engine fuse? assuming its under the dash. IIRC no other fuse is as big and will take its place (this is just a suggestion ive heard before, dont know if its completely valid)

anyone ever see that electric steering wheel lock thingy? that jolts the isht out of you if you try to fcku with it?

you want security?? at least for car-jacking....South Africa has the craziest isht in the world!! they have the highest stolen car/car jacking rate of anywhere. they actually have devices where if someone tries to car jack you flames shoot out from under the car and torch the robber or steel bars pop out on a hinge and breaker the attackers legs. NO SIHT! i read about this in Car & Driver! I then asked a colleague who was from South Africa and he said in Johannesburg, or Joburg as they call it ,, women dont even dare stop in traffic. everyone runs red lights, they just slightly pause for a second.

There is no real way to make your car 'unstealable' the best you can do is to deter thieves. That's what PATS/Alarms/Locks and so forth are all about.
It's easier to steal something which has no obvious deterring mechanism ... leaving the pro's to steal whatever they want, which is probably not a 98 Contour

Computers made after Jan 97 have the PATS module internal. The keys have a fairly unique (and long) code that is transmitted. The only way to bypass those systems is to have a key that works (and maybe make a copy of the key like the article states), or swap out the computer.

As long as you keep your keys safe, no one can copy it. No brainer.

The pre-97 computer (manufacture date) have an external PATS module that would be pretty easy to bypass.