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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 28, 1978)
THE BATTALION Page 5 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1978 utomobiles... omputerized locking system disables car, jocks doors, raises windows to prevent theft ek. kgislat, l lie fee United Press International DETROIT — A small Detroit m has come up with a device it ays disproves the belief there is no ould a[[ f ure-fire way to protect a car from a Birofessional thief. Officials of Keycon Corp. say heir new computerized device foot m ; said, 'rector ation ocks and disables a car so effectively ally use | 1 renders other antitheft devices Also, C( 'Hildbe 'on to virtually obsolete. ’ "We even consulted with some ix-car thieves, and they said the sys- the hei em would delay a thief so Ions he htcutdn JrotraWy would give up and go find 1 ' lother target,” company president nald D. Richardson said at a re- ent demonstration of the device. The Keycon system consists of a the happens lose of Snnd) ma H electronic computer fitted be- lind the instrument panel which au- omatically locks the doors, hood e a reqnj •ployees M paidt h physia roposal | ‘dicatit of the noneyfe •till hasi Cos»i •he heal nonev 1 staff: s itIt ■nter nis' irses latienti. ' probaU le-counti ed in ff nedidic in medic charge 1 ■d in tl lacy con en basi ■ could ledicati IVe «o« lersupp nicnce eapernl e store wouMii ediaSi msto he fe stuff* csandiill a matte urge sto t the SI) ster. ^ iro Gold althw- ukeil) and trunk, disables the engine, raises all windows and closes the sunroof when the driver emerges from the car. The system is activated when the driver removes the ignition key, gets out of the car and closes the door. If the keys are left in the igni tion, the device sets off the horn and prevents the doors from locking. The car becomes operable again only when the driver unlocks the door with the regular key and slips a specially coded plastic card into a slot on the dashboard. Richardson said Keycon improves upon the “limited features” of anti theft devices offered by auto man ufacturers and could go a long way toward reducing car thefts which total more than a million a year. Richardson said other systems which lock the hood and disable the engine can be defeated by a “zeal ous, skilled thief who can crawl be neath the car and attempt to discon nect it.” The Keycon system, he said, dis ables the engine from the top and can be tampered with only by open ing the hood — which is locked. The system, which the company said took 10 years to develop, is de signed primarily for luxury cars — the most frequent targets of profes sional thieves — equipped with au tomatic windows and central locking systems. Cars with manual windows and locks still could be equipped with a scaled-down system that would dis able the engine. Richardson said production of the device is getting under way and will be sold through franchised au tomobile dealers and independent Keycon dealers. (The suggested retail price of $359 includes installation.) The company is trying to con vince automobile manufacturers to purchase the device for use as origi nal equipment in some models. It said the device meets or exceeds specifications in a proposed federal regulation that would require anti theft devices in all automobiles manufactured after Sept. 1, 1980. Richardson said,“However, we anticipate a tremendous demand for our products even without this regu lation, particularly among owners of the more expensive luxury cars, sports cars and foreign cars.” S' I I I I I I I 1 WE’LL BE N OPEN FRIDAY NIGHT AFTER YELL PRACTICE! m 107 DOMINIK COLLEGE STATION 3312 SOUTH COLLEGE BRYAN Cost of auto repairs shows vast variance United Press International AUSTIN, — An insurance indus- fo, ry official Wednesday said a survey butilifi bowed vast differences in what beforeJ tune body shops charge for repair- hg damaged automobiles. ngthesiJ Jerry Johns, president of South- Wea vestern Insurance Information iervice, said estimates to repair a lamaged 1977 automobile taken rom eight body shops in Dallas and ^ even in Houston ranged from a low n Dallas of $391.76 to a high of nderlll 11,032.31 in Houston. It is difficult to understand why hair care for men & women the cost to repair the same au tomobile would vary so drastically from one city to another or even within the same city,” he said. “Facing repair costs such as th ese, it is almost not worth repairing a car with moderate damage particu larly if it is three of four years old. ” Johns said a state consumer agency cited auto repairs as the No. 1 consumer complaint. He said a federal agency estimates that 40 percent of all auto maintenance and repairs are unnecessary. 'ALTERATIONS' IN THE GRAND TRADITION OF OLD TEXAS WHERE MOTHER TAUGHT DAUGHTER THE FINE ART OF SEWING — SO HELEN MARIE TAUGHT EDITH MARIE THE SECRETS OF SEWING AND ALTERATIONS. "DON'T GIVE UP — WE’LL MAKE IT FIT!" AT WELCH'S CLEANERS, WE NOT ONLY SERVE AS AN EXCEL LENT DRY CLEANERS BUT WE SPECIALIZE IN ALTERING HARD TO FIT EVENING DRESSES, TAPERED. SHIRTS, JEAN HEMS, WATCH POCKETS. ETC. (WE RE JUST A FEW BLOCKS NORTH OF FED MART.) 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