Russian car services have reported an increase in the number of cars that stop starting due to a failure in satellite anti-theft systems. The wave of reports began after mass problems with Porsche — in early December, owners across the country faced a complete blocking of the launch.
The list of the most risky models includes Audi, Volkswagen, Skoda and Lamborghini, especially those that were released after 2020 and equipped with remote access systems and remote activation of functions. Isolated cases of failure have already been recorded among Mercedes-Benz owners.
Technical Director of the Fit Service network of car services Nikita Rodionov noted that cars of all Volkswagen Group brands have a unified architecture of connected services and similar approaches to remote access. Therefore, with a similar failure, other cars of the concern's brands can theoretically be immobilized.
The risk does not concern all cars, but exclusively new cars — approximately from 2020 onwards. Such cars are equipped with telematics systems, such as Volkswagen Car-Net or Skoda Connect.
In some situations, a simple reboot of the electronic control unit helps. However, in many cases, in-depth diagnostics and expensive repairs are required.
