As a driver, your car’s security is one of the top priorities; up there with insurance, maintenance and passenger safety. There is nothing worse than walking into a parking lot and finding your Passat broken into—or worse—gone altogether.
With so much invested in our vehicles, we have to ask—which security features protect our cars from thieves and which ones will act as a mere inconvenience for them (and you)?
Alarms, locks and other security technology have changed significantly over the last few decades, but the idea is still the same: Keep those criminals out of your car without annoying the crap out of everyone else. Here are the best and worst security features that keep your car—and everything else in it—where you put it.
Best
Shock sensors
Full-vehicle sensors have become an integral part of many vehicles, because it enables your car to feel like an extension of yourself. The sensor can alert you if someone is trying to break in, if someone collided with your vehicle or even if your car is being towed.
But the difference between having a sensor that protects your vehicle and a sensor that wakes up your neighbour in the middle of the night is its ability to distinguish shocks and unwelcome contact from a mere touch.
Different types of sensors work differently, but the purpose is the same—to protect your car from being broken into. Doors, movement and sound sensors remain to be popular options, and it is a worthy addition to the factory standard features.
Kill switch
When you park your car in an unfamiliar spot, it is often a security crapshoot. You lock your door and make your car look undesirable, but still you have your fingers crossed. By incorporating a kill switch, with proper wiring and mechanics, you can cut the electricity from the battery or the fuel.
Having a kill switch will turn your car from an easy target to a frustrating and risky endeavour for the thieves. You can read more about the benefits of a kill switch right here.
GPS-based vehicle recovery system
So, the crafty thief has made it through all your security obstacles, and now—after wandering the parking lot a few times—can confirm that your car has definitely been stolen. You call the police and hope that they’ll track it down sooner than later.
If you have a GPS-based system in your car, the odds are you can track the vehicle down much faster than simply relying on police, although the technology does have limitations. Because the system works off of cellular and global-positioning transmitting satellites, there needs to be little or no interference with the signals, which means that if your stolen car is in an underground parking or blocked by thick concrete, it might be lost in the “dead spots” as well.
Inaudible or private alert system
As far as security systems go, inaudible or private alert options are far less effective than the louder alternative. Some choose to have silent alerts sent to their mobile or digital devices whenever their car sensors have been activated—many new apps are able to perform this function—but because it is silent and the driver is out of range to do anything, the result is still a broken-in or stolen car.
Advice: double the reinforcement with both audible and inaudible solutions.
Worst
Stickers and decals
Many alarm companies believe that displaying the fact that your vehicle has an alarm system is a substantial part of the system itself, we should also know that having a sticker or a decal is far from a fail-safe solution.
Having a sticker or decal of an alarm system on your windshield will probably deter amateur thieves, but might actually attract experienced carjackers. By displaying the brand of car alarm on the windshield, it may instantly compromise the security. Savvy car thieves may in fact use this little bit of information to their advantage.
LED lights
LED lights for cars have shown to be limited when it comes to acting as a security system. It should be a second or even a third option, added to more effective solutions, when it comes to protecting your vehicle from theft.
When people see lights on cars, they automatically think of a few things, like emergency vehicles for instance. Because of this, bystanders may consider your compromised car a private matter and avoid assisting.
Gas cap locks and wheel locks
Fuel prices are on a rise, but gas cap locks are perhaps not the option, since the extra key you have to carry can become more cumbersome than it is worth. Like wheel locks, gas cap locks are luxury security items that focus on a sole aspect of the vehicle. Although I am not discouraging anyone from getting these enhancements, I must warn you that through their design, they may be more trouble than they are worth, since we should think of a car as a whole entity and not just the wheel or the gasoline that powers it.
Steering wheel locking mechanism (or the Clubs)
At a glance, the Clubs and other steering wheel locking mechanisms may deter thieves from taking your vehicle for a joy ride or other illegal excursions. You can learn more about those in this article. Hooligans avoid cars with simple security features such as the Clubs, but experienced thieves are very capable of sawing through the metal bar or dislodging the steering wheel itself to make a slightly less swift get-away.
While these locking mechanisms may work as a secondary enforcement, car owners should not rely solely upon them, if your car’s security is a concern.
