It gets worse:
http://nieuwsuur.nl/onderwerp/403997...te-stelen.html
in short: Dutch university wiz kids have cracked the starter-cut-off coding. BMW series 1, 5, 6 and 7 (and many many other brands) involved.
NXP (previously Philips semicon) admits the chip is not safe and has adviced customers to upgrade. They put the responsibility for upgrading to a safer chip (or not upgrading in our case) with the manufacturer.