Oct 13, 2015 · 75,069 recorded views
Around 2015, when the market became flooded with Ford Tibbe lock decoding / picking keys. Essentially a locksmith product, but one that was super easy to use, and it was available to anyone who wanted to buy one for as little as £20. The driver’s door lock on this van would unlock the front two doors if you turned it into the unlock position the first time, but if you turned it into the unlock position a second time, then the entire load area of the van would unlock. As well as unlocking the whole van with this lock-picking key / decoder, it would also disarm the factory alarm system too.
Thieves using this lock-picking tool / decoder tool basically had the same access as your mechanical key after a few seconds of using it, and the number of break-ins to Ford Transit vans went crazy with this zero-destruction attack method. Having a zero-destruction attack method was good in some ways, as if the thief didn’t take anything, then at least you wouldn’t need to get your van repaired. But the real problem with a zero-destruction attack method is that tradesmen’s insurance companies were saying that the tradesman must not have locked his van, and therefore they would not pay out for the missing tools!
Read full transcript and context →
We had many tradesmen contact us and tell us this, how their tools mysteriously disappeared from their vans without any sign of a break-in. It got to a point where tradesmen needed to know this was an issue, and also that tradesmen whose claims were being rejected by their insurance needed to be able to reference something to help them make their claim. I told this story by publishing a video on our YouTube channel, and this would lead to the BBC contacting me and featuring me as a ‘van security expert’ on the BBC news to explain the problem. We recommended to tradesmen that they replace their Ford Tibbe lock with a Replock that had a different key profile, one which was not pickable using the Tibbe decoding / picking tool. We also recommended an electronic modification, which I developed, to adapt the wiring in the van so that the driver’s door barrel would no longer unlock the whole van no matter how many times the key was turned. I also introduced a bypass switch so that van owners could revert the van to the driver’s door lock unlocking the whole van if their remote failed and they needed to lock / unlock the van by the manual key.
If you are a tradesman or a Ford Owner then secure your van now. The thieves already know about these tools, it is now important that you know about them too.
To find out how to get you get your van secure, go to our website at http://www.sussexinstallations.co.uk
Subscribe to both our YouTube channel and website newsletter to keep up to date with van security products and advice; as things are constantly changing as we respond and adapt to new attack techniques as we see them.
Note: Whilst we take great care in selecting products and techniques that we believe are effective to increase your van's security, we can never guarantee that any van is safe from a break in, please see our website for full terms and conditions.
The Ford Tibbe lock barrel fitted to the MK7 Transit as standard can be opened with a widely available lock-picking key, allowing it to be unlocked in seconds as if it were the owner's own key, without leaving any sign of forced entry.
Replacing the vulnerable standard lock barrel with a high-security lock that uses a different key profile the picking key can't operate, our electronic mod would also stop the driver's door from opening the load area.
Actually the name Tibbe is of the Ford lock and not the lock picking tool.
Transcript source: the YouTube transcript supplied for this project with minor corrections. Automated transcripts can contain recognition errors and should be checked against the original video.
