He said that researchers were working on staying one step ahead of criminals. Texas Instruments, he said, had already introduced 128-bit encrypted RFID tags to make it harder for thieves and hackers to manipulate the system.

"In practicality, consumers are as safe today as they were yesterday," Allen said.

Kevin P. McHugh, president of the International Association of Auto Theft Investigators, said RFID thefts "are known and growing" in Europe, especially with expensive cars. However, because the method used to steal a car isn’t noted in police reports, the specific number of how many cars had been stolen using laptops is unknown.

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Yet these recent thefts may be no cause for alarm in America. The number of reported car thefts in the U.S. has declined; in 2004 there were more than 1.2 million cars stolen in the U.S., down 1.9 percent from 2003, according to the Department of Justice.

"It is getting harder for the amateur to steal cars," McHugh said. "The professional thief with high-tech experience who wants your car for reason ‘x’ is going to come up with a way to get it, and these days that often involves using technology."

RFID chips are used in everything from supermarket scanners to credit cards. Of the hundreds of millions of RFID ignition keys in use in the United States, most operate with a 40-bit frequency that broadcasts their number through the air. In order for thieves to get access to the numbers, they first must get within several inches of the key with a receiver.

From there, the signal can be downloaded onto a computer, processed and broken in about 15 minutes. The thieves can then feed the signal to the car and successfully hotwire the vehicle.

Nick Twork, a technology spokesman for Ford Motor Company, said that while no technology is foolproof, RFID has contributed to a drop in thefts over the last several years.

"We are always coming up with new ways to make it harder for people to steal cars," Twork said. "And if a car is stolen, we are making it easier to recover."

Twork said that Ford is also working on next-generation antitheft measures but declined to elaborate when asked for specifics.

Loretta Worters, a spokeswoman for the Insurance Information Institute, said that insurance companies are inclined to offer reduced rates to consumers who drive cars equipped with antitheft devices like RFID, alarm systems and safety devices like airbags.

"We feel that anything that can help reduce the number of thefts is a good thing," Worters said. "It benefits the owner of the vehicle and the insurance companies."

She added that RFID thefts "are not a big problem in the [insurance] industry.”

With millions of these tags in circulation, Rubin says there is not a lot drivers can do to protect themselves. "You can wrap [your keys] in tinfoil, but that's not very practical," he said. "It is best to wait until the second-generation tags come out."

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