1. Home
  2. Car Maintenance
  3. what are your opinions on effectivness of immobilisers

what are your opinions on effectivness of immobilisers

i read this(below) on wikipedia. are they really worse the manufacturing expense and adding another point of failure to a car?

know anyone whos car was saved by one?

Statistics in Australia [1] show that 3 out of 4 vehicle thefts are older cars stolen for joyriding, transport or to commit another crime. Immobilisers are fitted to around 45% of all cars in Australia, but account for only 7% of those cars that are stolen. In many instances, where a vehicle fitted with an immobiliser has been stolen, the thief had access to the original key. Only around 1 in 4 vehicles are stolen by professional thieves. The majority of vehicles are stolen by opportunistic thieves relying on finding older vehicles that have ineffective security or none at all. An engine immobiliser will deter opportunistic thieves.

Reply to
fordi2003
Loading thread data ...

News reports in the UK tend to support their effectiveness. They are gradually becoming more clever, and hence harder to defeat.

It is difficult to know if the theft of your vehicle has been prevented by having one; a potential thief is unlikely to leave a note saying that he didn't take your car because he knows it would be too difficult to get it started!

In addition to there being extra points of failure, another downside is that some components are coded to the car, and will activate the immobiliser if the correctly coded part is not present. This adds to the cost of parts replacement; the new part has to be matched to the car, often by a main dealer. The problem is particularly significant for those trying to run older vehicles as it means that second hand parts cannot always be used.

Overall, I view it as a necessary evil.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Immobilisers will stop the local scally or smackhead from taking your car. Most are so thick that on their first time they will do a lot of damage to the car. Some get a reputation for being secure, they find that out in prison. As for parts being coded to a particular car, you don't need a main dealer for that sort of thing. It's the same for when you get a mileage "corrected". Some cars can have their immobiliser and alarm sorted out but you would need to lift the car first. Tracker is no good either as that can be disabled very quickly once you use an RF detector to find where it is positioned in the car. Most makes of car have them in the same place to make it easier. All that is required is a bit of knowledge and a local scrapyard together with ebay!

Reply to
AndyT

Yes, they are obviously worth it, because 93% of cars stolen did NOT have an immobiliser?

Z
Reply to
Zimmy

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.