Vehicles are best known as valuable personal possessions for individuals. Therefore, everyone is responsible for keeping their vehicles safe from theft or damage. From dash cams to accessories, ensuring your precious vehicle’s safety is something you should never ignore.
Along with other elements, the engine immobiliser is one of the most essential parts of the safety and security of your fleet. Therefore, this article suffices everything you need to know about fleet engine immobilisers.
This anti-theft system was constructed into the engine control unit in the early 1900s that should be activated every time when driving the vehicle. But fortunately, today’s automatic modules do the job for you.
What is Engine Immobiliser?
A fleet engine immobiliser is a very effective anti-theft security system that transforms into an obstructing motion. As ever-increasing crimes like vehicle theft and damage are active each year, it has become extremely necessary in today’s age.
Fitted as electronic security equipment, the engine immobiliser checks and prevents engine activation from the ignition circuit when the key is not authorised as a valid vehicle key.
In simple terms, if the system detects a key other than the authorized key officially provided by the manufacturer, the engine immobiliser is responsible for keeping the engine from being activated to prevent possible theft.
Must Read: How can eco-driving help the fleet industry reduce fuel consumption?
What does an engine immobiliser do?
The above figure from the CESifo engine immobiliser study shows that the theft rates before the introduced system rose exponentially. Whereas around 40% of thefts have reduced after the immobiliser is installed.
How does an engine immobiliser work?
The engine immobiliser can be understood in a few ways below:
An engine immobiliser is a theft prevention system sophisticatedly built into the engine ECT to prevent engine startup when the ignition key is invalid.
A valid key is equipped with a digitally designed code that is overall called a smart key in other terms. The code contains a transponder chip to store an electronic blueprint of the key with an equipped ECU.
Once a perfect match is established, the immobiliser activates the fuel ignition system.
The ECU fails to turn on the fuel system if the match is invalid. Thus, preventing the theft from occurring in the first place. In the current era of modern vehicles, the keyless entry and the engine Start/Stop features are conveniently possible because of the code transmission.
What to do when engine immobilisers malfunction?
The engine immobilisers can malfunction due to many impeding causes, such as:
- Improper locking/unlocking of the vehicle with a smart key.
- Ignoring the flashing warning lights on the dashboard.
- Frequent alarm blasting.
- Trouble at startup.
Whatever the reason may be for the malfunction, it’s best suggested to replace the batteries first before jumping to conclusions, as the key fob or smart key relies on batteries.
However, if the problem still continues to be, we recommend you consult with your local authorized dealer whenever you can.
Conclusion
The transportation industry will continue introducing new technologies, such as engine immobilisers, to help tackle vehicle thefts.
In today’s world, fleet management equipment such as engine immobilisers, smart keys, transponder chips and systems have become a vital asset for driver and vehicle safety.
