Tuesday 4th November 2003

What Car Security Survey

How long would you car take to break into?

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Thanks to improved vehicle security systems, criminals are having to turn to violence to relieve us of our cars. According to research by What Car magazine, violent car crime in Britain has almost doubled during the last decade. House break ins to obtain cars keys are also being categorised as burglary meaning that overall car crime figures could be even higher than Government figures suggest.

Home office figures for 2002/3 indicate that there were more than 11,500 aggravated vehicle thefts in the UK - an average of more than 32 per day.

The annual What Car? Security Supertest advises motorists of a new weapon to combat the latest generation of car thieves – laminated glass – and is urging car makers to make more widespread use of it.

Conventional car windows can be broken in seconds by a hammer or brick. But laminated glass, which consists of two layers of conventional glass sandwiching a thin layer of plastic film, is far stronger and capable of resisting all but the most determined, sustained attack.

Laminated glass is currently only fitted as standard to luxury cars such as the Lexus LS430, the winner of What Car?’s annual Security Supertest. Now the magazine is urging car makers to offer secure glazing across their model ranges. This could cost as little as £150 per car - a small price to pay for the peace of mind that secure glazing affords.

The What Car? Security Supertest reveals that some new cars need all the help they can get. In non-damaging attack tests on 38 models, security experts succeeded in breaking into all but 10 in under two minutes – including best-sellers such as the Ford Focus, Vauxhall Astra and BMW 3-series.

The results of What Car's tests are as follows:

Pos	Car	Score	Break-in time (if applicable)
1	Lexus LS430	100	-
	Saab 9-3 Aero	100	-
3	Jaguar XJ8 3.5 Sport	95	-
	Volkswagen Beetle 2.0 Cabriolet	95	-
5	Audi A8 4.2 Quattro	90	-
	Range Rover 4.4 V8 Vogue	90	-
7	Ford Fiesta 1.4 Ghia 5dr	85	-
	Nissan Micra 1.4 SVE Auto 5dr	85	-
	Volkswagen Golf 1.8T GTi 5dr	85	-
10	Lexus IS300	80	1min 51sec
	MG ZS180	80	-
	Toyota Avensis 2.0 T Spirit	80	1min 2sec
13	Renault Espace 3.0 dCi Privilege	75	1min 5sec
14	Audi A4 3.0 Cabriolet	70	1min 55sec
	BMW 320Ci Coupé	70	22sec
	Ford Mondeo ST220 5dr	70	1min 11sec
	Honda Accord 2.4 Executive Auto	70	1min 16sec
	Mazda 6 2.0 TS2 5dr	70	54sec
	Peugeot 807 2.2 Executive	70	51sec
	Renault Mégane 2.0 16v Sport 3dr	70	1min 54sec
	Vauxhall Vectra 2.2 SXi	70	1min 51sec
	Volvo XC90 T6	70	1min 10sec
23	BMW X5 3.0d	65	55sec
	Daewoo Kalos 1.4 SX	65	3sec
	Ford Focus ST170 Estate	65	47sec
	Ford Streetka 1.6 Luxury	65	40sec
	Mercedes CLK270 CDi	65	1min 15sec
	Mercedes E220 CDi Elegance	65	1min 5sec
	Peugeot 206 D Turbo 3dr	65	14sec
	Seat Ibiza 1.9 TDi SE	65	54sec
	Vauxhall Astra 2.0 DTi SXi	65	40sec
	Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 SXi 3dr	65	1min 48sec
33	Toyota Corolla 1.6 T3 5dr	60	46sec
	Vauxhall Meriva 1.8 Enjoy	60	1min 37sec
35	Ford Ka Collection	55	19sec
	Hyundai Getz 1.3 CDX	55	8sec
37	Kia Sorento 2.5 CRDi XE	45	45sec
	Subaru Impreza WRX	45	51sec

The What Car? Security Supertest is designed to replicate the techniques of the professional criminal. Our attack tests do not physically damage the vehicle, since this would make it harder and more costly to sell it on quickly. The testing follows guidelines laid down by the Home Office working in conjunction with the Police Scientific Development Branch. Although carried out by members of the Guild of Master Locksmiths, no specialist equipment is used. Cars are comprehensively assessed on the basis of their security equipment and resistance to unauthorised entry, and can score a maximum of 100 points.

Link : www.whatcar.com

[daveh]

Quote - "The testing follows guidelines laid down by the Home Office working in conjunction with the Police Scientific Development Branch."

There are Home Office guidelines for how to break into cars??
And I thought the Govt was crazy here in NZ

[TJMurphy]

Yeah but it's an always moving target. First year my current car came out it "won" one of these surveys, impossible to break into yada, yada, yada. Second year they'd worked out how to do it and now it's not anywhere in the list.

[dick dastardly]

Doesn't make much sense to me to have the Audi A4 Cabriolet scoring the same as the BMW 320Ci Coupé. You can break into almost 6 of the BMW's in the time it takes to break into one Audi

[kevinday]

The scoring seems very suspect to me. How can a car that took just 3 seconds to break into score 65 points and be 23rd equal when other cars that took over a minute score lower.

[Ali_D]

kevinday said:

The scoring seems very suspect to me. How can a car that took just 3 seconds to break into score 65 points and be 23rd equal when other cars that took over a minute score lower.

Thats due to other deterants - ie no-one wants to break into a Daewoo!

[Balmoral Green]

The criteria is that you have to crack the locks or something like that. It is a meaningless excercise and proves nothing. All of the cars take exactly the same amount of time to break into if you smash a window which is what real criminals do. For the casual thief who wants to steal contents it is the quickest cleanest and easiest way, for the professional car thief the paint work and locks dont get damaged, through the galss is the best way to go. Personally I wouldnt want a secure car, I would rather have a window smashed than the locks or door jambs messed up.