National Insurance Crime Bureau File Card Catalog, ca 1950s? |
The
Rise of Federal Anti-Theft Legislation and the Technology that Followed
Auto
theft during the 1950s and 1960s, then, posed two very different challenges to
both the authorities and car owners. One
issue was how to stop joy riders and delinquents. For the most part, it was
thought that a joy rider could be easily thwarted. If a careful owner were to
just lock the car and remove its ignition keys, all but the most motivated of
this group would be foiled. Going a bit
further, it was also suggested that a car owner secure the most vulnerable
design element of a motor car built during that period – the vent window. By drilling a hole in the window frame and
then driving in a sheet metal screw, the catch on the vent was secured. But
even if a thief forced open the vent window, an owner could install as a second
layer of defense, a hidden kill switch.[1]
Discouraging professional auto thieves was an
entirely different matter. Organized crime rings brought with them a different
set of problems.[2] One strategy employed at the time was to set standards, and
this was particularly the case with the location and format of the Vehicle
Identification number, or VIN. Prior to 1955, a car’s VIN could be found in
several different places, including stamped on the motor, a door post, a frame,
or on the firewall. It could also be stamped on a plate that was affixed to the
vehicle by screws, rivets, or a weld.
Since many vehicles had VINs stamped on the motor, and since many owners
changed motors without notifying state authorities, motor numbers were of limited
value. That was especially the case between World War II and the mid-1950s,
when new and used cars were in short supply. In 1955 a first step was taken
solving the VIN number issue. VIN
numbers were placed on the left door hinge area, and subsequently in 1969 they
were relocated to the left interior dashboard, where they can be found to this
day. By using special rivets, thievery
was to a degree deterred. However, these special OEM rivets were often found on
the black market. The move to standardize VINs did nothing, however, in the
short run to improve vehicle recovery (See table below), since concurrently a
shift towards professional thievery was taking place, ever so gradually.
Year
|
Stolen
|
Recovered
|
Percent Recovered
|
1956
|
263,700
|
246,050
|
93
|
1957
|
276,000
|
256,956
|
93
|
1958
|
282,800
|
260,176
|
92
|
1959
|
288,300
|
265,236
|
92
|
1960
|
321,400
|
295,688
|
92
|
1961
|
326,200
|
296,842
|
91
|
1962
|
356,100
|
320,490
|
90
|
1963
|
399,000
|
366,090
|
92
|
1964
|
463,000
|
412,070
|
89
|
1965
|
486,600
|
428,208
|
88
|
1966
|
557,000
|
459,360
|
82
|
1967
|
654,900
|
550,814
|
84
|
1968
|
777,800
|
668,908
|
86
|
1969
|
871,900
|
732,396
|
84
|
One
way in which the federal government intervened during the mid-1960s in an
attempt to reduce the amount of joy-riding was by mandating that manufacturers install
technological devices that thwarted the amateur thief. As it turned out, these measures were buried
in the wave of federal safety and emissions requirements. What resulted after
1967 were a number of improved designs and new devices that laughably stopped
only the most amateurish of joy riders. In the process, the vent window was
removed, and column-mounted ignition switches and annoying key buzzers became
standard equipment.
The only significant new security device
during the first decade following WWII was Chrysler's "key operated
starter switch," which was introduced in 1949.[4] Manufacturers used data indicating that the
high percentage of auto thefts were due to the key being left in the ignition
switch as a way of avoiding any serious commitment to making cars theft
proof. From time to time door locks were
marginally improved, but little else was done.
The federal government, feeling the pressure from angry consumers, now wielded more aggressive regulatory
power. Beginning with the 1965 model
year, General Motors and Ford implemented several improvements in the theft
security system of passenger vehicles. Ford redesigned all its locks on 1965
models. The new style contained tumblers at both the top and bottom of the lock
assembly. The lock required a key cut on both edges and prevented the unlocking
by the use of a jiggler key. General Motors modified Chevrolet and Buick
ignition systems to make it impossible for the key to be removed without
locking the ignition. The new ignition switch
had five positions -- accessory, lock, off, on, and start. The key could only be removed when the
ignition was switched to the "lock "position. Furthermore, switch
wiring terminals were secured and concealed in a plastic connector. The
connector was fixed into position on the back of the switch by three projecting
fingers that snapped over the concealed lugs on the ignition housing. This made
it more difficult to "hotwire" or "jump" the ignition wires
and start the car without the key. General Motors also agreed to attach vehicle
identification number plates using rivets instead of spot welding on all GM
cars except Cadillacs. A special rivet, appearing as a distinctive rosette or
"rosehead" was used, which made it easier to detect fraudulent or
changed VIN plates.[5]
These
measures, however, did not satisfy industry critics. The National Traffic and
Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 empowered the Secretary of Transportation to
issue safety regulations to be followed by motor vehicle manufacturers. The law
was broadly interpreted to include auto theft, since joy riders and
transportation users were seen as intimately connected to the problem of auto
safety. In a related matter, the Highway Safety Act of 1966 gave the Department
of Transportation the authority to issue highway safety standards, and pursuant
to this mandate Standard number 19 dealt with motor vehicle titles and thefts.
Standard No. 19 required a birth to death uniform title, so that the title
remained with car until it is sold or salvaged. Only when a car was sold or
salvaged, was the title canceled. The old title returned to the issuing state,
and an inspection was to take place with each titling.[6]
In 1968
Congress finally held manufacturers accountable for auto theft by passing
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards 114 and 115. Standard 114 called for
manufacturers to equip their products with steering column locks and an ignition
key, while 115 mandated a single VIN marking to be placed on the vehicle.[7]
Although the steering lock was a highly touted innovation that was intended to
greatly dissuade car thieves, in reality it did very little to stop them. The United States followed the experience in
West Germany, where steering wheel locks were made compulsory in new cars
beginning in 1961, and where statistical data tended to indicate their
effectiveness. However, in the case of
the U.S., each manufacturer introduced their own lock design, since Congress
did not want to establish a restrictive standard that discouraged technological
innovation in the field of theft inhibition (33F.R. 6471, 5-27-68).[8] Almost immediately after these steering locks
were introduced, car thieves countered
by developing low-tech tools such as "slide hammers," or dent pullers to remove the lock from the
steering assembly. A screw was welded to
the end of the puller; in one rapid motion that lock was extracted. Alternatively, a screw driver driven into the
lock, and turned with using vise-grips, broke the tumblers, rendering the
mechanism useless. Ford locks proved to
be most vulnerable; studies that followed reported that a good thief could
circumvent a Ford steering lock in 10 seconds, one found in Chrysler products
in 30 seconds, and General Motors vehicles in 120 seconds. If a thief took the
route of breaking the lock by twisting, the entire operation took about 5
seconds.
However,
the twisting technique proved only workable on Ford and Chrysler cars; since
General Motors and American Motors cars had a side bar to prevent the lock from
turning. Car thieves certainly knew the
score related to these steering lock designs, as Ford vehicles with steering
locks were twice as likely to be stolen as other brands. Indeed, a subsequent
FBI survey reported that approximately 81 percent of the recovered cars with
locks removed or forced ignition were Fords, while only about 2 percent were
Chrysler and 13 percent were GM cars.
These numbers were so damning that the Ford Motor Company redesigned the
ignition steering locks on its 1976 model cars.
[1]
Ibid., pp. 110-111.
[2]
Robert S. Chilimidos, Auto Theft
Investigation (Los Angeles: Legal Book Corp., 1971), pp. 109-116.
[4]
Ibid, p. 243.
[6]
New York State Senate Committee on Transportation, National Workshop on Auto Theft Prevention, Compendium of Proceedings
(Albany, NY: New York State Senate, 1979), p.44.
[7]
Ibid, 244
[8]
David Barry, etal., Preliminary Study of
the effectiveness of Auto Anti-Theft Devices National Institute of Law
Enforcement and Criminal Justice,
Law Enforcement Assistance Administration. U.S. Department of Justice,
October 1975 (Washington: GPO, 1975). On how to use a "Slim Jim" to
open a door, see the film http://www.ehow.com/video 2331906
slim-jim-instructions.html.
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