NEW DELHI, April 19: In another six months or so, if Maruti Udyog Limited's (MUL) officials are to be believed, the popular 800 cc model will no longer be the car thief's delight it is today. The run-of-the-mill car thief will not be able to open your favourite 800 cc model with the key of another Maruti today most car park attendants swear (somewhat exaggeratedly) a set of 30 or so Maruti keys gives you a good enough range to open a vast number of 800 cc cars. And no, within the next few months a mere insertion of a wire through the window's rubber linings won't help open the car either.For starters, the company plans to add to the number of lock combinations that it has today. Currently, for the 3 lakh-odd cars produced annually, Maruti offers around 1,200 possible lock combinations. The number of combinations, according to MUL's executive director K Kumar, is to be increased. And after the year 2000, computerised locking systems should be possible.
MUL is also working on improving the door latchsystem, to ensure that it cannot be opened by inserting a wire from the rubber linings of the windows. The trials of the improved latch systems are being carried out currently. In another six months, the company will be implementing it in its vehicles.
A different type of ignition switch is also on the anvil, and Kumar says that this will be more foolproof than the existing genre of ignition switches available in the country.They will be introduced in another three months, and will cost Rs 500. MUL is also working on ways to check petrol pilferage. To make it tamper proof, it plans to modify the bracket design for mounting the fuel filter assembly.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
