Anti-Theft Technology

While society as a whole has made strides in the battle with car theft, it still occurs at a high rate throughout the United States. This crime has actually declined over the last few years, but the biggest problem is the amount of money lost by victims. The FBI claims that around $6.4 billion was lost due to auto thefts.

The highest prevalence of auto theft occurs in urban areas. This can be explained by thieves have more cars available to steal, and the higher population of people allows them to more inconspicuous compared to rural areas. However, car owners today have more anti-theft technology available to them than ever before. Not only is this technology better equipped to prevent thefts, but recovery their vehicles should they get victimized.

The latest in anti-theft technology is the use of GPS that will monitor and track your vehicle should it be stolen. This makes it much easier for the authorities to locate and recover stolen vehicles. Should a thief cut the battery cable, the GPS can still provide information.

OnStar by GM has made some advances in the recovery process. They offer a vehicle slowdown service that includes the use of GPS. Not only does this system find the vehicle's location, but can even slow it down. It starts with the owner reporting the theft to the police. Then the police contact OnStar to find the location of the car.

When they are closing in on the stolen car, OnStar can debilitate the accelerator to eventually stop it. And should the thief park the vehicle somewhere, OnStar can also block the ignition and prevent anyone from starting it.

LoJack has a system that reportedly has a 90% success rate for stolen vehicle recovery. They install radio transceivers into the vehicle as well as motion detectors. Should the car be moved while activated, an alert will be sent to the owner via text, email, or phone. Because the owner is notified immediately, it can save a lot of time. The police will then be contacted quicker and begin searching as soon as possible. Law enforcement in over half the states have LoJack tracking computers in their vehicles.

While the chances of recovery are pretty good with the newest anti-theft technology, the most advanced thieves are catching on. Because there is lag time from the theft being reported to the police actually searching for it, thieves have plenty of time to disable the system. Some will even try to hide a vehicle in an underground garage, where GPS won't be able to track it.

However, this latest technology still is recommended as many believe it's one of the reasons why car thefts have dropped recently.