TIRIS(TM) Anti-Theft Immobilizer System Lowers Auto Insurance Rates
23 June 1999
TIRIS(TM) Anti-Theft Immobilizer System Lowers Auto Insurance RatesTexas Instruments' TIRIS system, the only anti-theft deterrent system to meet
Canadian national standard on electronic immobilizers for automobiles
DALLAS, June 23 -- Lowering your auto insurance rates may be
as close as your car keys. In an auto-theft backlash, insurance companies in
Canada are now offering rate discounts to owners of Ford automobiles and
trucks equipped with Texas Instruments' TIRIS(TM) anti-theft immobilizer
system. This follows a sharp increase in auto thefts in Canada -- 138,000
more cars were stolen in 1997 than in 1996 -- and a spike in the rate of
unrecovered cars, from 5 to 24 percent, which cost every policyholder an
average of $48, according to Canada's Insurance Crime Prevention Bureau.
The TIRIS anti-theft immobilizer system is the only factory-installed
theft deterrent system to pass the Vehicle Information Centre of Canada's
rigorous laboratory testing and meet the ULC standard S338-98, a Canadian
national standard on electronic immobilizer theft deterrent systems. Ford is
planning to install the system as the Ford SecuriLock(TM) in 88 percent of
their year 2000 models, which include Ford Mustang GT, Ford Focus, Ford
Excursion and Ford Winstar models.
"Ford owners can save thousands of dollars in premiums over the life of
the vehicle," said Mark Kulthol, a TIRIS technical sales associate. For
example, a Ford Winstar equipped with a TIRIS anti-theft immobilizer system
can save its owner up to 33 percent on insurance premiums compared with a
similar vehicle without the system.
According to Canada's National Insurance Crime Bureau, Ford's Mustang GT
theft reports have dropped 42 percent since Ford began manufacturing it with
SecuriLock. They also report similar reductions on other SecuriLock equipped
models.
Since its introduction in Europe in 1993, theft of TIRIS-equipped vehicles
have dropped more than 90 percent. TIRIS offers customers a simple,
transparent way to protect their cars. Compared with systems that require PIN
numbers, kill switches or contact-based keys that may wear out, the TIRIS
wireless RF system offers an easy, tamperproof method of protecting cars.
The TIRIS anti-theft technology is now in use in more than 50 million
automobiles worldwide, and manufactured by companies including Ford, Toyota,
Chrysler, Mitsubishi and Nissan.
How it works:
The transponder, a tiny electronic device embedded into the vehicle's
ignition key, is the heart of an immobilizer system. It contains a unique and
unalterable identification code and a secret encryption key.
When the driver turns the ignition, the reader "looks" for the correct
code in the key. If the two codes match, and the appropriate additional
security challenges are passed (depending upon the type of transponder
featured in the immobilizer system), the control module starts the engine. If
the codes do not match, the engine does not start, and vehicle will remain
immobile.
Texas Instruments Incorporated is a global semiconductor company and the
world's leading designer and supplier of digital signal processing and analog
technologies, the engines driving the digitalization of electronics.
Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company's products also include materials
and controls, educational and productivity solutions, and digital imaging.
The company has manufacturing or sales operations in more than 25 countries.
Texas Instruments is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the
symbol TXN. More information is located on the World Wide Web at
( http://www.ti.com )
Texas Instruments entered the radio frequency identification (RFID) market
in 1991 with the worldwide introduction of TIRIS (Texas Instruments
Registration and Identification System). Fusing together core competencies in
advanced semiconductors, microelectronic packaging and computer system design,
TIRIS has become a standard-setting technology used in thousands of object
tracking and data collection applications around the world.
