Stop a Stolen Car Via SMS: Indonesian Students Create Brilliant Anti-Theft Device

Modem Microcontroller SMS Sender is an interesting product created to fight car theft. It basically allows users to control a car’s engine using only an SMS. It is developed by high school-age students (pictured right) at the Indonesian automotive vocational school SMKN 7 Surabaya.

It makes use of a modem connected to the car’s electronic system and installed just under the dashboard. It will allow the car owner to send an SMS to control the car’s engine, central lock system, and AC – so it could be shutdown in the event of the car being stolen.

Seputar Indonesia cites Marsito Muntono, the students’ mentor, as saying that originally they just wanted to solve people’s complaints that their car is hot after being parked outside, which explains the automatic AC controller.

M. Ardianto, one of the SMKN 7 teachers, believes that the main function of the modem would be to fight car theft. The modem doesn’t have a manual control override, so it can only be controlled electronically. If the car is stolen, the modem – at the behest of an SMS trigger – can turn off the car’s engine and make sure it stays that way unless the thief happens to have an engineering degree and can hack the modem.

It took around one and a half months and IDR 1.7 million ($177) for the students to create this product. They are now looking to patent the modem system and are open to meeting with interested investors.

[Sources: Seputar Indonesia and Koran Fesbuk, image sources: Koran Fesbuk and freshstartdetail.com]