Car Thieves Could Be Stopped Remotely
- o3 N# a1 X8 g7 Y# u Speeding off in a stolen car, the thief thinks he has got a great catch.But he is in a nasty surprise.The car is fitted with a remote immobilizer(使车辆不能调动的装置), and a radio signal from a control center miles away will ensure that once the thief switches the engine _1_ ,he will not be able to start it again.
1 B$ g# v) V' Y: v% ~; d$ a For now, such devices _2_ only available for fleets of trucks and specialist vehicles used on construction sites.But remote immobilization technology could soon start to trickle down to ordinary cars.and _3_ be available to ordinary cars in the UK _4_ two months.
: a. ~ c; z4 k4 Q6 l! O The idea goes like this.A control box fitted to the car incorporates _5_ miniature cellphone,a microprocessor and memory, and a GPS satellite positioning receiver. _6_ the car is stolen, a coded cellphone signal will tell the unit to block the vehicle’s engine management system and prevent the engine _7_ restarted.
7 u/ G& W- c: S; N! [6 ^ There are even plans for immobilizers _8_ shut down vehicles on the move,though there are fears over the safety implications of such a system.
! }3 B/ J8 G8 z* {1 P In the UK.an array of technical fixes is already making _9_ harder for car thieves.“The pattern of vehicles crime has changed,”says Martyn Randall of Thatcham.a security research organization based in Berkshire that is funded in part _10_ the motor insurance industry.
) O+ ]) ]% A# y8 I He says it would only take him a few minutes to _11_ a novice how to steal a car, using a bare minimum of tools.But only if the cal-is more than 10 years old.) x% u/ I! h5 j. `1 e
Modern cars are a far tougher proposition,as their engine management computer will not _12_ them to start unless they receive a unique ID code beamed out by the ignition key.In the UK,technologies like this _13_ achieve a 31 per cent drop in vehicle-related crime since 1997.
e5 e( r( J/ z* i. b- i* l, ^& Z But determined criminals ore still managing to find other ways to steal cars.Often by getting hold of the owner’s keys in a burglary.In 2000,12 per cent of vehicles stolen in the UK were taken using the owner’s keys double the previous year’s figure.: W- Z2 V2 Z, @" T; m9 \
Remote-controlled immobilization system would _14_ a major new obstacle in the criminal’s way by making such thefts pointless.A group that includes Thatcham,the police,insurance companies and security technology firms have developed standards for a system that could go on the market sooner than the _15_ expects.2 C, _0 @) t/ D. C, p$ G: Y0 a
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