No, my anecdote is more about a data point (well, three actually) indicating we don't really know how many ways there are to break into these cars, and that manufacturers are playing dumb, hence me not being surprised at the news that another one was found.
If really the problem was relatively trivial, VW should have warned me on how to avoid it, and they didn't. It can't be a simple amplifier: it's not just proximity, you actually have to press a button on the dongle to open a door, so whatever they were doing, it wasn't just repeating an existing signal; and as I said, I can tell you that making sure the car is locked has become a nightly ritual.
I'd caution you against thinking that having to press a button on a dongle means that there's a required intermediary step.
I can imagine a design where the RF signal is being generated on a very low voltage/low power device that's always/permanently on, and pressing the button enables an integrated antenna that suddenly boosts the signal to a usable signal strength.
In that case, the attacker just has to simulate a increase in signal strength if they are already tapping your signal.
Electronic design doesn't follow the same rules as physical device designs - for example, that power button on your PC, it doesn't really close any circuit! It just tells the motherboard that it's ok to let voltage through a certain electrical pathway, the computer is already permanently on and is trickling power from AC / Mains.
You can use software to tell the motherboard to activate the same way that "pressing the button" does - ie remote server control over pxe, etc.
Most cars are always on trickling power from their battery waiting to hear that signal, I wouldn't be surprised if dongle design follow the same principle.
Well sure, but this is just a RF signal here, the objection to your anecdote is that on the face of it it has nothing whatsoever to do with good crypto
But my point is that it should. Any digital lock should use good crypto, it doesn't matter if for ignition or doors. The fact that it's been proven that they did it badly even when they tried, aligns with my experience that their digital locks are not secure.
Whether my locks open with an easily-spoofable RF signal or with a bruteforceable key, the bottom line is still that they are not doing good crypto in situations where it's clearly necessary.
If really the problem was relatively trivial, VW should have warned me on how to avoid it, and they didn't. It can't be a simple amplifier: it's not just proximity, you actually have to press a button on the dongle to open a door, so whatever they were doing, it wasn't just repeating an existing signal; and as I said, I can tell you that making sure the car is locked has become a nightly ritual.