[Ram]

Imagine:
A thief gets into your car to drive it away.
You stand to lose your car and you may not even know who stole it.

An American company with a Japanese name, "Fujitsu Ten" has an unusual solution. Intantly fill the car with thermocole/styrofoam.
It will trap the thief in the seat.
Police can cut away some of the foam to get the criminal.

Ref:
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/au...the_wheel.html

Ram

[ranjan united]

What if, like many current car security systems, it goes off accidentally and goes all crazy on the owner ??
Guess thats one reason why they haven't got cusomers yet.

[goldsun]

Really innovative. Won't the thief have a knife with him to cut through the foam and get off from the seen?

[ajmat]

Bit stupid, the cost of cleaning the solidified thermocole would mean escaping the car in a Western country with their cost of labour. A tracker system would be more cost effective

[Ram]

Originally Posted by goldsun

Really innovative. Won't the thief have a knife with him to cut through the foam and get off from the scene?

A human being encased in 2½ to 4 feet thick expanded polystyrene foam will be immobilized, as effectively as if his hands and feet were tied with a bedsheet. He won't be able to move at all, leave alone reach for a knife.

[ghostrider4385]

See the movie called demolition man with Sylvester stallone. This same foam technique is used to save the chappies in the car when it drove off a bridge. I thought it was a grand idea. Good to see someone executing it. I won't be suprised if our inventor got his idea from the movie.

Godspeed,

Alok

[Steeroid]

Now somebody will make this a mandatory requirement,

car makers will not offer it in their base models,

somebody will make a business of rescuing people from mis-fired stryofoam (today we only need to suffer the sound if we set the damn thing off accidentally),

somebody else will make a business of cleaning up cars that have been stolen,

thiefs will find a new avenue in stealing this equipment so that they can resell it in the grey market (a la Airbags),

manufacturers will ensure that the ECU does not start the car if the system is found to be disabled and charge you a bomb to fix the same ,

your children will now not be allowed to sit on the front seats (airbags) OR the rear seats because of the stryofoam and you will have to fit new, specially-made, boot-seats for your kids which will require custom oxygen tanks to ensure that they breathe properly,

checking this system will be part of the 'fitness test', ensuring that the RTO gets more money out of you - legally and otherwise

insurance companies will charge a premium for cars that dont have this system

insurance companies will charge additional premium for cars that HAVE this system if you want the replacement covered under insurance

banks will charge you a higher rate of interest for cars without this protection

and finally

some bloke will offer a system that suppresses this security system on the internet so harrassed car buyers can prevent it from firing stryofoam into their precious cars


ITS A MAFIA OUT THERE!

[2fast4u]

now even if u have all those controls and security systems if a thief has to take a car HE WILL.
preferably for interstate drives and unknown locations its best to buy a used car which has all the basic controls and a few comforts as accessories and obviously third party insurance. buy a couple of those weird looking steering and gear locks. thats it.

Insha allah it may not get stolen.

[turbofreak]

What if it falters or maybe fills the foam in the owners presence ...The system of controlling the cars engine through a mobule phone seems more practical..

[gunbir]

Actually 'Fujitsu Ten' is a Japanese company. It has a subsidiary in the US just like it does elsewhere in the world.

Some of you may know the "Eclipse" brand of Head Units and ICE available abroad. For the uninitiated, Eclipse is a well known and respected manufacturer who specialises in high end audio and DVD units for cars. Eclipse is a brand owned by Fujitsu Ten. They also do OEM DVD navigation systems for a few jap car mfrs.

[suren181]

Wonder if over a prolonged period he would be able to breathe at all. In that case the owner would be in serious trouble....

[Ram]

Originally Posted by suren181

Wonder if over a prolonged period he would be able to breathe at all. In that case the owner would be in serious trouble....

A valid thought! But what if the expanding polystyrene foam only rose upto his sternum?
The car could put the windows 15% down.
The thief would still be trapped until someone cut him loose
and a siren in the car can be screaming to alert everyone around.

See my drawing below!

[ghostrider4385]

And Ram,

What if a kid (can even be the car owner's pesky son) activates it by mistake? Instant death!

Godspeed,

Alok

[Ram]

None of us is privy to the design of this product, yet!
We can hope that it is not designed to kill a human.

I submit that safety gadgetry like airbags and seatbelts have also had their roles to play in killing some short human beings (and children) in freak accidents.
Yet don't our people still persist in decrying Indian cars that don't have airbags?

While your concern for the safety of a child in the front seat is valid, Alok,
why don't you draw on your creativity, drawings and ideas and propose some alternative too?

Ram

[ghostrider4385]

You can really get a guy thinking now, can't you Ram

Well, I Have thought of an idea.

Drawing my thought from your idea, if this foam can be made to rise only till the steering wheel level, I think a child's head would be well above harms way. And when this foam system is activated, if there was a system for the doors to automatically lock, and to disable the car to be opened from inside, it could serve the purpose.

It's now up to everyone else to poke holes in this idea. I feel that the best way to make any system foolproof is to find all possible faults in it first.

BTW Ram, I have a feeling my previous post has offended you somehow. Please note that it was not my intention to do so. But just, as i mentioned here, to poke holes in the theory.

Godspeed,

Alok