SmartWater forensic marking is to be made openly available to the commercial vehicle sector for the first time.
A new High Temperature Marker developed by SmartWater Technology Ltd, will tackle the problem of catalytic converter theft that blights fleets and private motorists. The company’s latest product was unveiled at the Commercial Vehicle Show, at Birmingham’s NEC (April 9 to 11).
The marker provides forensic traceability to catalytic converters and other vehicle exhaust components. Unlike other products which need regular re-application, the mnakers say that it is guaranteed to last a minimum of five years or 100,000 miles if applied according to the simple instructions and comes with no recurring fees beyond an affordable one-off kit price.
SmartWater has long been deployed in a variety of scenarios by the likes of BT Openreach, Network Rail, National Grid and G4S.
Each marking kit contains a unique code which is registered to an vehicle, providing traceability and a deterrent to thieves.
The precious metals in a typical catalytic converter, plus the ease of access underneath a car, van or truck, has made them a target for thieves. Despite being worth only £100 to £200 in resale value, replacement costs run into the thousands for motorists or fleet managers, besides the disruption to businesses and personal lives.
SmartWater chief executive, Phil Cleary, said: “SmartWater’s High Temperature Marker has been thoroughly tested and proven to withstand the extremely high operating temperatures of catalytic converters and other exhaust system components. The identification of catalytic converters has historically represented a problem for the police, as without traceability it is very difficult for them to prosecute a suspected thief. SmartWater’s High Temperature Marker provides durable, long term traceability that will assist in prosecutions thereby creating a powerful criminal deterrent. We have used expertise gained in adapting SmartWater for a range of industrial environments and arrived at this point, where we can say that the SmartWater High Temperature Marker could put the brakes on runaway cat theft figures!”
The firm’s patented forensic coding is deployed tactically on railway networks, water processing installations and critical telecoms cabling. Millions of pounds of cash-in-transit is guarded.
