Cops say thieves can easily steal cars. Experts say manufacturers need to do more

The rise in car theft has prompted the federal government to increase the funding for police forces to fight the phenomenon. But what about car manufacturers? Are they doing enough to prevent cars from being stolen? York Police says it has become easy for thieves to get around cars. Technology. There’s a number of different types of devices, but essentially the the reprogramming device tricks the vehicle into thinking that it’s it’s reprogrammed the key to the vehicle and it defeats that security mechanism. Manufacturers defend their product. Their association reacted today by saying that every vehicle is sold with an engine immobilizer, which is mandatory in Canada since 2007. On top of that, updates are constantly made to vehicle security systems, but those updates are publicized because this has to be kept confidential to ensure that companies can stay one step ahead of organized crime groups. But the Automobile Protection Association thinks manufacturers could do much more, like implement A2 factor identification, like for emails. Its president, George Any, says manufacturers are not encouraged to put in place those new technologies. When a car is stolen, a car maker gets to replace it with another car, so there’s no financial incentive for them to do it. But the the major reason is just that they don’t feel that they should pay for the social cost of using a car. About that immobilizer that is mandatory since 2007, Ini says. That protection is now out of date and it’s probably time to come up with something new.