Posts Tagged ‘Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers’
Vehicle Thefts at 20-Year Low
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
According to a study by USA Today, reported vehicle thefts have fallen to a 20-year low even though the number of vehicles on the road has doubled. The major reasons: automakers installing sophisticated anti-theft devices and police targeting organized car-theft rings.
The FBI data provided by the study shows that approximately 956,846 vehicles were stolen in 2008. That’s less than half of the figure for 1991, when 1.66 million vehicles were stolen equaling 659 thefts for every 100,000 people. And today there are more than 245 million vehicles on the road, up from just 122 million in 1989.
“It’s a much tougher job to be a car thief today,” says Russ Rader, spokesman for Highway Loss Data Institute, a research group funded by auto insurers that analyzes data from insurance claims. “The technology in new vehicles makes it much harder to make off with a car.”
One of the most prevalent anti-theft technologies currently in use is the ignition immobilizer, an electronic device that prevents the engine from starting without the vehicle owner’s key. Alarm systems and GPS tracking devices have become more widely used as well. GPS tracking technology “didn’t exist 20 years ago,” says Charles Territo, spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. “There was a time when consumers rarely chose alarm systems as an option. Over time, they’ve become more and more standard.”
In 1989, fewer than 5% of new cars included an ignition immobilizer as part of the standard package, the Highway Loss Data Institute research shows. Now 86% of new cars are built with the device.
The chances of having a car on the road stolen are about 1/3 of what they were in 1989. Yet insurance rates have held steady because cars cost more, says Steve Weisbart, senior vice president and chief economist for the Insurance Information Institute, an industry group.
Photo courtesy of wonderferret under the Creative Commons License.
Tags: Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, FBI, Highway Loss Data Institute, ignition immobilizer, Insurance Information Institute, USA Today, vehicle theft
Posted in Industry News | 1 Comment »
Government Wants a Black Box in All Cars, Including Your Fleet; Automakers Request More Time
Monday, April 6th, 2009
Airplanes have them. Your vehicles soon will. And we’re not talking peanuts.
Event Data Records will soon be mandatory on all new vehicles, and may already be in the vehicles you own.
Automakers are asking for more time to comply with new rules on data standards that apply to event data recorders in new vehicles, according to CollisionWeek. The current deadline for implementation is Sept. 1, 2012, as stated by The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers submitted a recent petition requesting a one-year extension.
Apparently automakers have some unanswered questions about specific types of data capture about air bag and restraint deployment, plus clarification on “time zero” and “end of event,” data formatting for accelerometers, and procedures for multi-event crashes, CollisionWeek reported.
Typically used by insurance companies, police and accident investigators, the event data recorders only monitor information in the seconds leading up to and after it senses your airbags are about to go off; things such as:
- Engine speed
- Automobile speed
- Brake status
- Passenger’s airbag
- Seat belts (on or off)
- Warning lamps
- Ignition cycle
- Velocity
- Air bag timing
According to The Motoring Loans Blog, about 70% of all new vehicles have the devices. And General Motors has been installing these soap-sized recorders in every automobile since 1999.
Interestingly, some fleets with event data recorders, including ones that monitor driving habits, may qualify for auto insurance discounts.
Oh, and if you go looking for a black box in your late model delivery van, many aren’t black at all. They often come in vibrant colors for easy recovery, and it’s probably tucked away under your seat or dashboard.
Photo copyright of mvhargan under the Creative Commons license
Tags: Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, CollisionWeek, Event Data Records, General Motors, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, vehicle black boxes
Posted in Industry News | 4 Comments »
