ikea parking lot = break-in

Someone broke into my car and stole my head-unit, amp, ipod and more. For some reason they forgot to grab the V1... Weird thing was, I came back to the car and the passenger window was down. It was not damaged. I locked the car when I left it. Any idea how they might have gotten in? This was all in a crowded ikea parking lot during the day!

Your window may have "ghosted" down when you shut the doors. It happens on some p-cars sometimes. Sorry about hearing u got robbed that sucks. But hopefully they didn't mess car up too bad

That really sucks... JB, can you explain this ghosting thing? I've never experienced or heard of that before.

I've heard of the rat-bastards busting out the driver's side door key machanism to gain access to the wiring and forcing the key-activated "windows down" feature, but this would lower both windows...?

Riad....there's been problems for years with the microswitch on the windows. Sometimes they'll just go down 1/3 and stay there, then when you hit the switch they'll return to normal. Weird stuff. I had it on my '99 (not on the '04 yet). Replaced microswitch to resolve.

sorry to hear, that really sucks... I see you are a Manhattan-ite, where abouts? I'm in Murry Hill/Grammercy area as well as a couple of other members...

window was down all the way. passenger side only. i was living on the UWS but i'm inbetween apartments right now... trying to find something in the west village.

Hope you'll get all the missing items replaced and they didn't mess up your car too badly. You should definitely file an incident report w the police and Ikea. Newark is a crime rampant area, especially when it comes to vehicle theft. I'd not go there anymore bc thieves know Ikea shoppers take a long time in the store.

WCE, Is the "windows down" feature availble on the 996? I didn't think it was.

just went out to look at the car again. they drilled or pulled the lock out of the door.r. so why was the window down?

Doesn't the 996 have an alarm installed? I would think that it would activate if someone is drilling the lock out no?

This happened to my BMW X5 earlier this year in front of my house in central NJ. Popped the door lock cylinder...quite simple with screwdriver, no drilling required. That Ikea and Jersey Gardens Mall is infamous for break ins. Hope you're able to recoupe your losses and thank goodness your car was still intact with minimal damage.

that sucks, sorry to hear about that.

There is no shock sensor installed as part of the alarm, so the alarm won't activate from simply prying out the door lock. I had a shock sensor installed as an add-on to my alarm system, but it wasn't the easiest thing to do. It's a Stinger Doublegard shock sensor, made be Viper (a/k/a Directed Electronics). What puzzles me is that 996's have an interior motion detector, so after they gained access to the car interior, that should have set off the alarm, even if they didn't open the door.

Sorry 2 hear that man..... I hate petty phukers like that. Rule #1 Never mess with some1's car.. The other day I saw 2 guys standing close to and looking at my car while I was leaving the grocery store.Made me nervous. Attention on the road is one thing, but attention in the parking lot is not wanted. I'm gonna drive the M3 to the store from now on.

This sometimes happen on my 99'. I just do a quick check now when I park the car just to make sure that the windows dont ghost down by themselves.

Sorry to hear that man.

happens once in awhile in my '99 too.....

sorry for the misfortune. Newark/Elizabeth area was 1 in the car's stolen list some years ago..I myself was a victim with my CLK430. Never again will I drive and park in any mall or store in that area. Next time try the IKEA in Paramus...best of luck to you

That's too bad, but I got news for you a Porsche isn't safe anywhere. In college I worked at a very expensive Hotel in the "well to do" Short Hills area of New Jersey and we averaged about one car theft a day! I was told by the security guys that the Mall at Short Hills (across the street from the hotel) had an even worse record. The guys who break into expensive cars aren't local kids, they do this for a living and go to all the shopping Malls, Hotels and anywhere else where there are expensive cars. And they don't take the bus! They know where urban professionals go and leave their cars for hours. Many don't even bother to lockup and leave valuables in plain sight. I would get in touch with the Ikea management. That parking lot isn't that big, security was obviously inadequate. The threat of legal action is one they don't want to hear. I had a break-in a self parking garage, they did a real number, not something done in only five minutes. I took polaroids and sent them to the management company who agreed to do the repairs through their insurance and not mine.

It seems ridiculous, but little things like blinking alarm indicator lights, remembering to lock the doors, removing the faceplate from the radio, and using something like a club (the new one that's more freon shatter resistant) often discourage thieves enough to ignore YOUR car and steal the one next to it instead. Seems a pretty cheap way to minimize (notice I didn't say eliminate) the odds of your car being taken.