Cheap electronics and a laptop are enough to drive off in some Ford trucks, according to a class action filed in Michigan on September 9.
William Pelletreau bought a 2023 F-150 he still owns. Ford never warned him how easy the truck is to take, he says, so he paid above the odds for the vehicle and for insurance against losing it, and resale value suffered.
Four attack paths appear in the complaint. An antenna outside a house stretches the fob’s signal until the truck believes the key is nearby. Store-bought software on a laptop opens the doors. A coded duplicate key can be ordered from a VIN, or cut in about a minute with an off-the-shelf scanner. The fourth uses the diagnostic socket under the dash, where a blank fob gets programmed and the factory tracker pulled.
Attached theft statistics show 12,952 F-150s taken in 2024, a year after the truck led US most-stolen rankings. Bronco, Explorer, Mustang and Escape buyers get the same keyless hardware, branded Intelligent Access or Smart Key. Researchers demonstrated keyless attacks back in 2011, and Ford’s answer today is reimbursing some F-Series owners up to $2,500 in theft deductibles, plus a $7.99 monthly subscription that lets a phone shut it down.
Two aftermarket countermeasures appear in the filing: an OBD port lock priced under $150, and a steering-column CAN immobilizer running under $800 fitted. Ford does not build either part in, and owners who add them are said to risk their warranty coverage. The claims run from the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act to Michigan consumer protection law, seeking treble damages, forfeited profits and a court order requiring Ford to warn current owners. Buyers and lessees of keyless Fords back to January 2015 form the proposed damages class. Nothing has been settled.
