Keyless theft
Do Faraday pouches actually work?
Faraday pouches do block your key signal, and we recommend one. But there is a reason we never treat them as a solution on their own. The honest answer.
Short answer: yes, a decent one works. Longer answer: it works right up until the evening somebody leaves the key on the worktop, and that is the problem.
What they actually do
A Faraday pouch is a bag lined with a conductive mesh. Put your key inside and the mesh blocks the radio signal going in or out. No signal means nothing for a relay device to pick up, so the attack described in our relay theft guide simply has nothing to work with.
The physics is sound. This is not a gimmick.
How to check yours is any good
Pouches vary enormously in quality, and a cheap one that has been in a coat pocket for a year may have worn through at the fold.
The test takes ten seconds. Put the key in the pouch, seal it properly, then walk up to your car and try the handle. Then try the start button with the pouch inside the car.
If the car responds at all, the pouch is not doing its job. Replace it. And if you would rather not depend on a habit at all, an immobiliser removes the question entirely.
Do that test every couple of months. The lining wears, particularly along the fold and around the seal.
Why we do not stop there
Here is the honest bit, and it is the reason we still recommend a proper immobiliser alongside.
It only works if it is used every single time. Not most nights. Every night, by everybody in the house, for years. One evening where the key gets dropped in the usual bowl because someone’s hands were full, and you are back to square one.
Spare keys get forgotten. Almost every household has a second key, and it is almost never in a pouch. It is in a drawer, or a bag, or the kitchen. A relay device does not care which key it finds.
It does nothing if a key is stolen. House burglaries where the only thing taken is a car key are not rare. A pouch protects against relay attacks, not against somebody who now physically holds your key.
It protects the key, not the car. That distinction matters. Every other method of taking your car is entirely unaffected.
The sensible combination
Think of it in layers, cheapest first.
- A Faraday pouch tonight. A few pounds, works immediately, no reason not to.
- A spare pouch for the spare key. The most commonly missed step.
- A hidden immobiliser. An Autowatch Ghost means the engine will not start without your code, whether the thief relayed the signal, cloned the key or is holding the real one. It does not depend on anybody remembering anything.
The pouch is a good habit. The immobiliser is what covers you on the night the habit slips.
What we tell people on the doorstep
If somebody rings us and money is genuinely tight, we tell them to buy a pouch and use it religiously, and we do not push further. It is the best few pounds you can spend on car security.
But if you want to stop worrying about it entirely, the answer is a system that works whether anybody remembered or not. That is the difference between a habit and a lock.