Re: Slim jim
There was a period when cars had physical locks as well as an RFID tag in the key. The security with them was pretty damned good. I had a late 90s Volvo with that set up and no remote fob until fairly recently.
I watched an expert try to "steal" it once as part of a demo. Modern cars he was driving away in seconds. My old Volvo defeated him. He had to admit the only way he was opening the door was would be by causing serious physical damage - breaking the window being the easiest route. But even inside the car he was stumped. With the key in the house (the house was actually the police station where the demo took place) the range on that old RFID tag was so low he couldn't activate it. But even with the RFID tag right next to his reader although he couldn't manage to crack things enough to start the car within the 15 minute limit he'd been set.
With access to the RFID tag - for example if the keys were right next to my front door he could fool the ECU into thinking the key was present, but the physical security was too much for him. He had to admin that in order to steal the car he would need to smash the window and then rip the steering column apart. Not just to hot wire the ignition switch, but to bust the steering lock.
And that's all it takes. If the potential thief has a choice of cars they are always going to go for the easy target. Time taken stealing a car is time at risk of being caught in the act. Also there is the risk from failure. Fail to steal a car and you risk leaving physical evidence on the car which is just another way of getting caught. The thing is that most modern cars are pretty easy to steal so the thief is spoiled for choice. Back in the day of course it was GM products every time because you could steal one as quickly as if you had the key.
Car security has gone backwards massively in the name of convenience. But I never found a physical key an inconvenience in the first place.