Vehicle-Recovery Systems

[James R. Evans Jr.]

While reading through 'Car Stereo Review', I saw an article on vehicle
recovery systems. These are devices that are permantely mounted to the car,
usually on the underside, that have their own back-up power supply, and
connections to or their own security system built in. When the sensors detect
that the car is being stolen, it notifies a base system with a transmitter or a
cellular phone. The company verifies the vehicle's status, then alerts the
police, by either a FAX showing the vehicle's location within 30 ft, or with a
tracking device that may be installed in the police car. One of these systems
is supposed to be running in So. CA, IL, and NY since Jan 90. I was wondering
if anyone knew if it is operating and the success of it if it is. It is a very
interesting concept and I hope that it helps control car theft.
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Jim (of course) Evans [D-Chi]
JRE...@psuvm.psu.edu ------------------
'Yes, I drive a Pontiac Powered Big Block Firebird.'
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[Brent Besler]

The local yocal paper(Romeo Observer) this week mentions that the Lojack
car recovery system will be operational in all of southeastern Michigan in
a couple of weeks. The system goes for about $550 installed. The Michigan
State Police guy responsible for getting the law enforcement end setup mentioned
they are putting together a device to track down people who try to jam the signal
if such occurs. Detroit in particular badly needs an effective auto theft
prevention/recovery system.
Brent H. Besler

[william hunt]

From the News report I watched, the Lojack system is working very well
at finding stolen cars. However, the thieves are already using techniques
to determine if a car has a Lojack transmitter in it. Jamming the
Lojack signal was not mentioned in the report I watched, but other
methods were. Being an EE and having built RF systems, I know how to
defeat the system in a passive way. It would not be proper to spell
it out here, but you better believe that the professional car thieves
will soon learn or already use these techniques.

Willie Hunt