That's the key thing there - they broke into the car because the items were visible - smash and grab, they could look in the car, see what they wanted, smash the window grab and go... They know before they break into the car that there's something they want and they can get in and get out quickly.

What's in the frunk is out of sight. A thief needs to A) know the frunk is there, B)know how to get into the frunk and C) be willing to take the extra time to open the frunk to see if there's something there. The Risk vs Reward isn't there for the average thief when then can just move on to the next SUV or hatchback where they can see immediately if there's something with grabbing.

Hell - it's more attractive to just steal a Kia or a Hyundai right now...

 

Where do you live that you're so concerned about ppl smashing your windows and stealing your ****? I might take a min to move a laptop under the seat, but that's it. Modding the frunk to hide things in it is next level paranoid.

 

Exactly... I parked for four years in a high theft/break in area and never had an issue while others in the same lot did...

Why?

Because I didn't leave anything that looked to have any value in a location where it could be seen from outside the car. Every single car that got broken into in that lot had something (phone, GPS, backpack, etc) visible from outside the car... I kept my GPS unit under the seat, and anything else under the retractable lid in the hatch - and didn't have a single break in.

 

San Francisco. I have friends who’ve had break-ins with nothing in their cabins, not even in the glove boxes. One friend was about to get in his car to go to work and found someone had broken in and was sleeping in it. Another has suffered three catalytic converters thefts. The climate has changed here. I would have agreed with you 15 or 20 years ago, but the environment is different now.

 

The climate is this way across the entire U.S. And it’s gonna get a lot worse before it gets better.

 

buy a beater and sleep well at night otherwise you're going to be a neurotic mess worrying about your car and its contents. Sorry but truth.

 

I disagree. This seems like such a simple feature that goes a long way towards creating a more secure storage space in the vehicle. I know BMW and Audi have had it. I’ve found it incredibly useful and thought it would become more common, but cars have (unfortunately, in my opinion) trended towards hatchbacks and crossovers.

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/h...deo-65214.html
https://www.audiworld.com/forums/a8-...-door-2868656/

I assume that there are ways to defeat this by removing lights to pull the release, but I maintain that it’s a pretty good theft deterrent.

 

The idea that the locked / inaccessible frunk will make the car more secure seems pretty illogical. The biggest issue with someone breaking into the car is smashed glass and potentially other damage to the interior that is much harder to fix than it is to replace loose items that were taken from the car. And if someone is so desperate to get into the frunk and you've disabled the interior release, well they're probably going to break that handle trying to open the frunk, or do even more damage trying to pry it open from the outside. You mention groceries or shopping that are in the car when you make a pit stop. Is it really likely that an opportunistic thief will spend the time to get into the frunk in the short amount of time they have to do so without being seen? Finally, the examples you give of people breaking in to sleep in the car or steal catalytic convertors wouldn't be stopped by a locked frunk anyway.

I understand it's crappy to live in an area where break ins are common, but I don't think the frunk release is any kind of solution to this problem.

 

It would probably cost more to replace/repair the damage from a glass break in and some sort of attempt to pry open the frunk than replace whatever goodies you need (or are too lazy to bring inside, not a slam, just being honest because I have done that, yet while parked inside my garage) to leave in the frunk.

Seems to me if you live in an area that has high crime, buying a 911 isn't exactly a good life move, unless you store it elsewhere (storage unit, buddy's garage) and use it on the weekends.

 

I’d much rather just have to replace a broken window than a broken window and stolen luggage or gear. Again, the use case here is not while the car’s parked at home in a garage; it’s while it’s out. And the functionality I’m describing, I think, was the case for most cars over time, when there was no release in the cabin and you needed a physical key to open the trunk.

 

From my experiences in San Francisco, the key has always been to not have anything visible in the cabin of the car. If you leave a T-Shirt on the back seat, they'll break into it to see what else is inside. I used to have an office at the Palace of Fine Arts. On multiple occasions during lunch, every SUV would get broken into, because you could easily see the contents of the trunk.

No one can see what's in your frunk. It's the logical place to put things that are valuable... and even non-valuable things. When traveling and parking in any city, my stuff goes into the frunk. I've done a bunch of that. Parked my cars in sketch areas. No big whoop. If you treat it as a "car", a 911 is a great car for the city.

Frankly, if you engaged in any chicanery to disable access to the frunk, someone is going to go to the trouble to open it, because you would have peaked their curiosity. You're considering doing this for a laptop? Why? I don't get it. A laptop is practically a disposable thing in 2023. Yes, they will even cut through the back seats of your Audi to get to your trunk.

You can't go walking around in life in fear of everything. If the fear and risk of keeping a 911 in San Francisco is too much to bear, get something boring, but spoiler, that "boring" car is just as likely to get broken into.

I presume that you have a secure place to park your car at night, because if you're forced to street park your 911 every night, you probably should save up for a spot in a garage somewhere first.

 

You do know that you can easily access the trunk of your A4 through the folding rear seats.

 

Easily? The seats lock in the upright position with the physical key, so you’d either have to cut/pick one of the locks/latches or break the seat. Sure, it’s not absolute security, but it’s enough of a deterrent for me, easy or not. (This was a common feature on VW/Audi during the 2000s, for sure. Don’t know if that’s still the case.)

 

I don't see any security issue -- The electronic frunk release will not open the trunk if the car is locked / not powered up. I just tested it by rolling down the window, locking my 992, and then reaching in to pull the frunk release. Nothing happens.

 

Yes, easily. 15 seconds max with a pry bar or large screwdriver. Less time than it would take to figure out how to open the frunk. And 99.99% of people never lock those so the thief won't know until after they have broken in and that is the real damage.