Thatcham standards for car security

Thatcham provides a range of rigorous quality standards to guide motorists when buying car tracking devices and other car security devices. The accreditation for stolen car tracking systems is known as Thatcham Category 5.

Thatcham Represents the Insurance Industry and ACPO

Thatcham is funded by British insurance companies to test and monitor car safety and car security systems and devices. Thatcham also works with ACPO, the Association of Chief Police Officers, who endorse Thatcham's work in accrediting car security systems.

Thatcham Category 5 Car Tracking Systems

Thatcham Category 5 car tracking systems are unique because they are linked to a driver identification tag to determine if the car is stolen with or without the keys, countering the current trend of keys being stolen to steal the car.

Covering the performance of the tracking system and services; achieving Thatcham Category 5 accreditation is not easy. Few solutions go through more rigorous approval than those that achieve Thatcham Category 5 accreditation. Indeed, Thatcham recommends Category 5 systems for all high-risk, high performance and high value cars.

Thatcham Category 5 Criteria

Thatcham Category 5 accreditation includes assessment of ten criteria:

  1. Battery Back-Up
  2. Bi-Directional Communication
  3. Street Level Mapping
  4. Police or Licensed Security Agreement
  5. Positional Data Store
  6. Illegal Motion Detection (Ignition off theft alert)
  7. Driver Identification (Ignition on theft alert)
  8. Approved Secure Operating Centre
  9. Engine Crank Inhibition (Remote Immobilisation)
  10. Level 1 Police Response

Thatcham Category Q & TQA

Thatcham also maintains a list of car tracking devices under Category Q. These devices vary in quality and none of them are able to meet requirements 9 and 10 in the Category 5 list. Devices must meet all Thatcham Category 5 criteria to provide Engine Crank Inhibition and the Police will only provide Level 1 Response to Thatcham Category 5 devices.

Thatcham Category Q is a standard applied to the functional design and manufacture of car tracking hardware. It does not extend to the installation itself or to the training or security clearance of the installer. Thatcham Category Q devices are not recognised as security devices.

Thatcham Category Q devices are not linked to a Secure Operating Centre. In the event of a car theft the owner of a Thatcham Category Q device has to report the theft to the Police.

The Thatcham web site also states: “Thatcham Quality Accreditation (TQA) does not guarantee insurer recognition as this is negotiated individually by the product manufacturer and their insurer partners. Thatcham Quality Accreditation does not infer conformance with any aspect of the New Vehicle Security Assessment or any of Thatcham's security categories.”

ACPO

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has stated that only if a car is fitted with a Thatcham Category 5 car tracking system will issue a Priority 1 Response.

“When a car is stolen and does not have a tracking device or has one that does not meet the requirements of the ACPO policy, the level of Police response will depend on the quality of information received.”.

Source: - Thatcham

Neo-Trac from Unipart not only meets Thatcham Category 5 criteria for stolen car tracking, but also in many cases exceeds it.

For more information, visit the Thatcham web site: www.thatcham.org.

Why Neo-Trac improves car security and safety