Datadoted Subarus Foil Thieves

Media Information
June 25, 2007

DataDoted Subarus foil thieves

Subarus sold in New Zealand covered in microscopic DatDots are preventing the criminal community from successfully stealing the cars.

DataDots are a valuable tool against car theft

About 7000 Datadots are sprayed onto every new Subaru sold in New Zealand through an official Subaru dealer. They are not applied to second hand, used import Subarus.

The DataDots have the car's Vehicle Identification Number (VIN number) embedded in them, making the trade in stolen parts very difficult, for fear of detection and successful prosecution.

Subarus have been DataDoted for over four years now - since March 2003 - with corresponding reductions in theft rates of NZ new Subarus.

The exact reduction in the number of thefts is not known, because Police theft statistics do not differentiate between NZ new and second hand used import cars, which do not have DataDots.

However evidence from Australia, where the complication of used imports is not a factor, suggests DataDots are a valuable tool against car theft.

Since Datadots have been applied to Subarus across the Tasman, theft rates have dropped 93 percent. Sixty eight percent less BMWs have been stolen in Australia since they have carried Datadots and Holden HSV thefts are down 62 percent in their homeland.

Australian insurance companies are offering premium discounts of up to 18 percent to owners of vehicles, which have been Datadotted.

In New Zealand, Subaru is the only manufacturer to offer the added security of DataDot technology on every new car its dealers sell, whether it's the price leading Impreza 2.0i or the top of the range Tribeca SUV.

The Datadoting of every new Subaru is a complement to the other security measures fitted to New Zealand new Subarus, including engine immobilisers and alarm systems.

The engine immobiliser can only be de-activated with the correctly coded key being used to start the car. The engine management computer will not start the car unless it receives the corrected coded message from the key. The days of "hot wiring" are long gone.

All turbocharged Subarus sold new in New Zealand also have the added protection of an alarm system, which makes it extremely difficult to even gain entry to the cabin of a car without the alarm being activated.

Later this year Subaru of New Zealand will be offering new car insurance through its authorised dealers with lower premiums than are currently available because of the now much lower incidence of car theft of Datadotted New Zealand new Subarus.

ENDS

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