European manufacturers take the glory, but the message is clear that well-designed, factory-fit security is most effective in the fight against vehicle crime.
Volkswagen were the biggest winners in Australia as they won first place in 4 of the 6 categories in NMVTRC’s 2012 Secure By Design Awards – winning best Small Car with the Polo, Small Medium Car with the Golf, the SUV class with the Tiguan and sharing best Medium Car between the Passat and the Audi A4.
The Jaguar XF won the Large Car category and BMW shared the Coupe/Convertible award between their 1 Series and 3 Series, to show that the European brands perform best for car security in Australia.
To find the country’s most theft-proof vehicles, the security features of over 70 new vehicles were assessed by NRMA Insurance across three categories:
- Entry Systems (including door locks, steering locks and alarm systems)
- Immobilisers
- Vehicle Identification
Two of SBDs latest reports
Immobiliser Adoption across World Markets(SBD/SEC/2303) and
A Global Strategy for Vehicle Identification(SBD/SEC/2313) explore the global requirements for immobilisers and vehicle identification; follow the links to find out more.
For NMVTRC, the re-launch of their annual awards is just the latest step in their long-term commitment to lowering vehicle theft rates across Australia, and for them the message for manufacturers is clear. NMVTRC Chairman, David Morgan, said “
Experience has shown that the level of secure design applied in the manufacturing process is the single most important factor in determining the theft rate of a particular model”.
Watch the following video provided by the NMVTRC to find out more their about ongoing plans for reducing vehicle theft rates.
However, whilst the overall volume of theft is decreasing in Australia, there are a growing number of vehicles being stolen by OCGs – often targeting the most popular vehicles to break down and sell for spare parts. With this in mind, vehicle identification is a particularly important area for manufacturers to consider.
“Despite the results, there is still more that can be done in tackling the issue of professional car theft in Australia by updating vehicle identification technology with the adoption of high-security self-voiding labels, in-place of current aluminium compliance plates and low security labels,” said NRMA Insurance Head of Research Robert McDonald.
Once again, it is clear that good feature design and a multi-layered approach in security is necessary for manufacturers to maintain the reductions in vehicle theft rates – from theft prevention methods such as locks and immobilisers, to improving recovery rates with vehicle identification markings.
To find out how SBD could help you to develop an effective strategy for vehicle security, contact us at
security@sbd.co.uk or on +44 (0) 1908 305101.
