[Bearleener]

Are frequent engine starts causing problems with my car's anti-theft system?

I've been happily doing Engine-Off-Coasting (EOC) and engine off at stoplights for about 3 years now without any noticeable problems, but I've had one problem with my car that's happened 3 times in the last 2 years:
The electronic anti-theft system (immobilizer) has konked out, which means I couldn't start the car, had to have it towed to the shop. It's only happened when the car had been parked, so far never on the road.
This system uses an inductive coil to read a code number from the ignition key, and a nearby control unit sends that code to the ECU; if the number from the control unit doesn't match that stored in the ECU then the engine won't start.
The first time they replaced the inductive read coil (a known occasional problem in VW's). The second time (6 months later) they replaced the control unit. And recently (another 18 months later) the diagnostic computer said that the ECU had forgotten the code, so they reprogrammed that.

Now I'm beginning to wonder if my frequent starts (about 10 times as often as "normal" people would do on my route) may be causing this. Wouldn't know why, though. I wouldn't expect something like EPROM write cycles being exceeded.

Have any of you guys had similar problems?