A new car security system that identifies UK car owners through their mobile phones will revolutionise the fight against car thieves, its maker claims.
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Auto-txt immediately identifies a car as stolen if the car is started with the keys but the mobile phone is not present. Police can track the vehicle and prevent it from restarting using remote wireless technology once the vehicle ignition is turned off.
The manufacturer, Coventry-based Richmond Design & Marketing Group, claims the new device is the first stolen vehicle protection and tracking system to get Thatcham’s Category 5 accreditation, a new insurance industry standard supported by the police.
Thatcham is the motor insurance industry research centre develops standards which contain or reduce the cost of motor insurance claims.
According to Richmond, fhe flaw with most current car tracking systems for stolen cars is that they are activated by the driver’s key or a device on the key ring. As a result, thieves are now targeting people’s car keys – then using them to drive off in their car.
In fact, this is now the UK’s fastest growing type of car theft – having risen by 80 per cent since 2002 according to the Association of British Insurers.
Most UK houses have an opening flap for mail in the front door – which often leads directly into a room or hallway and thieves resort to using ‘fishing rods’ with magnets to snare keys off side tables or out of handbags left within reach of the door.
The new Thatcham Category 5 standard requires that an additional security device supplement the keys to prove that a person is the car’s legal owner. In the case of Auto-txt, that device the Bluetooth connection facility of a mobile telephone.
Once a stolen car is stationary with the engine switched off, police can authorise Auto-txt to disable the vehicle using remote control wireless technology – without having to be with the car.
Jim Hammond, of the Association of Chief Police Officers said: “Being able to remotely prevent a vehicle from being started using a Cat 5 approved device will help us enormously in the fight against stolen vehicle crime and may lead to a reduction in the need for police pursuits. This is one of the most important components of the new Category 5 standard systems as far as we are concerned.
“Category 5 is now the only stolen vehicle theft standard that is supported both by the insurance industry and conforms to police policy,” he added.
The device is available with or without the remote disabling feature.
