What is the real truth about effective vehicle security?
Through the years many ideas have been utilized to prevent theft of and/or entry into a vehicle. There have been keyed ignition switches, keyed door locks, ignition by-pass switches, audible and visual alarms, steering wheel locks, brake locks, steering column locks, transmission locks, wheel locks, exploding smoke bombs, taser steering locks, tracking systems, etc.
So why are vehicles owners who buy and try these solutions still being targeted? Why are the same number of vehicles (with security systems) still being stolen every year even with all the advances in technology?
Convenience Factor - How easy is it for the owner to use the system or device?
The Convenience Factor is probably the most crucial and most ignored aspect of vehicle security. How convenient is the security system or device to the owner of the vehicle? A vehicle owner will, at some point, simply stop using an inconvenient system or use it only sometimes.
The effect of the convenience factor can be seen all the time if one is looking for it. Have you ever noticed a massive, high-tech vault door in a bank that is left wide open all day? Why? Because it is inconvenient to open and close a massive vault door every time a customer wants to access their safe deposit box. Leaving the vault door open makes that vault completely ineffective in providing the security it was designed for.
Another example would be steering wheel locks. We have all seen them and if we are honest, most of the time we see them in the floor board of the vehicle rather than on the steering wheel. After a while it simply becomes too inconvenient to go through the lock and unlock procedure every time you get in and out of the vehicle. Eventually, the vehicle owner stops using the device altogether, rendering it useless in providing security.
Inconvenient = Not Used = No Security.
Difficulty Factor - The importance of "The Layered Approach"
The difficulty factor deals directly with the motivations of a vehicle thief. A thief’s motivation is always personal gain at someone else’s expense while expending the least amount of effort. Vehicle thieves embody the definition of lazy. The more difficult it is for the thief to steal your vehicle, the less likely it will be stolen.
The problem with difficulty is that once a security system has been on the market, the professional thief learns how to defeat that system rendering it less effective. This is one of the reasons why The Auto-Bolt™ was created to leverage the ‘The Layered Approach’. The layered approach, which is recommended by the National Insurance Crime Bureau, is the process of utilizing several layers of security to add difficulty and risk.
The Auto-Bolt™ is figuratively and literally ‘invisible’ to the thief. It does not come with its own remote transmitter module, but works ‘invisibly’ within existing remote devices, keeping the thief guessing, which adds difficulty. The Auto-Bolt adds even more difficulty since it cannot be accessed from outside nor inside the vehicle when the bolts are armed and the doors are dead-bolted shut.
Risk Factor – Successfully messing with the thief’s head.
The Risk Factor deals with another aspect of the vehicle thief’s psyche. Pounding in their brain on every ‘job’ is the mission statement ‘Don’t get caught!’. The risk factor is measured by how well a system can increase the possibility of the thief being caught. The longer it takes to by-pass or defeat a security system or device, the greater the risk factor and the more likely you’ll get to keep your vehicle.
The Auto-Bolt™ was designed with the Risk Factor in mind. The Auto-Bolt™ increases risk even in the midst of an attempted vehicle theft. Picture this scenario.
A professional thief approaches a vehicle they desire, your vehicle. They note a brake lock and quickly identify the installed alarm system by the sticker in the window. They are familiar with how to disarm both and decide to make their move. The thief uses his industrial strength ‘clothes hanger’ and gets the door unlocked, setting off the alarm system. No worries, he knows he can turn off the alarm in seconds once inside, but finds that even though the door is unlocked, with The Auto-Bolt™ engaged, the thief cannot open the vehicle door. The best part is….he doesn’t know why the door won’t open. The Auto-Bolt™ is not visible or accessible from outside or inside the vehicle. You have just raised the difficulty and risk of this ‘job’ for the thief.
Let’s assume the thief is undaunted. No one has paid much attention to the audible alarm, so he decides he’ll just break the glass, reach in and force the door open. He breaks the glass, reaches in, confirms the door IS unlocked and the handle is working, but the door doesn’t open and he still doesn’t know why. More difficulty. More Risk.
Most thieves are going to call it quits before or at this point, but let’s say we have an extremely persistent, desperate thief. Risking cutting himself, he decides to crawl through the window onto the front seat full of shards of broken glass. He quickly reaches for the passenger door to open it so he will have room to lie down and get under the steering panel to disable the alarm and brake lock. Much to his frustration, the passenger door doesn’t open either. Now he is really in a dilemma as he is trapped inside the vehicle with the alarm blaring and he cannot access the alarm module without literally standing on his head. Too much unanticipated time has passed and the risk has simply gotten too great. The thief abandons his attempt at stealing your vehicle.
What the thief thought was going to be a standard ‘job’ turns into his nightmare. This is exactly what real vehicle security looks like, convenient for you to use while adding difficulty and risk for the thief. The Auto-Bolt™ literally helps you ‘mess with the thief’s head’.
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Through the years many ideas have been utilized to prevent theft of and/or entry into a vehicle. There have been keyed ignition switches, keyed door locks, ignition by-pass switches, audible and visual alarms, steering wheel locks, brake locks, steering column locks, transmission locks, wheel locks, exploding smoke bombs, taser steering locks, tracking systems, etc.
Effective vehicle security has nothing to do with the security system or device itself.
