ECM Theft Is Skyrocketing—Right here’s The best way to Keep Forward

This submit is a part of a sequence sponsored by IAT Insurance coverage Group.

Late at night time within the Fall of final yr, thieves stole 13 ECM models from a fleet of economic vans in Chicago. Whereas cameras recorded the theft, no one checked the feed through the hour-long crime. Consequently, the thieves bought away with roughly $100,000 of stolen items.

An ECM, or Digital Management Module, is a pc in a truck’s engine that screens and controls its transmission, braking, and different programs mandatory for the truck’s fundamental operation. Vehicles received’t begin with out one and the prices are excessive to interchange. A brand new ECM can take as much as 30 hours of labor to put in and prices round $9,000 in supplies alone. The actual price of ECM theft should additionally embody misplaced income on account of downtime whereas the truck is out of fee. A scarcity of substitute ECMs solely provides to the issue.

ECM theft is rising in frequency nationwide, significantly in Freightliner vans, because it takes simply seven minutes to take away an ECM from underneath a Freightliner’s dashboard. Non-Freightliners’ ECMs are tougher to entry, however thieves have developed strategies to steal them as nicely.

Happily, ECM theft prevention is easier than you would possibly anticipate. Taking the appropriate precautions can doubtlessly save your small business hundreds of {dollars} in enterprise interruption and direct monetary loss.

Defending your small business from ECM theft

Keep a step forward of ECM thieves by defending your fleet with these 4 measures:

1. Safe your automobiles

Take into account including these fundamental safety measures to your fleet:

• Lock your automobiles when not in use, particularly in a single day.
• Park your vans in a way that makes accessing the cab harder. For example, park near a wall or one other automobile.
• Rent safety for the vacations when extra vans are idle and on website. Thieves typically goal business vans over holidays once they know they received’t be in use with much less on-site safety.
• Set up cameras alerting your small business to exercise in your yard throughout non-operating hours. Rent somebody to watch it throughout these high-risk durations and alert authorities once they detect suspicious habits.
• Hold parked automobiles in well-lit areas with restricted entry to unauthorized events. Take into account putting in fences round your lot and utilizing a gated entry system.

2. Use anti-theft bolts

4 bolts safe Freightliner ECMs. Thieves look forward to finding these commonplace bolts and are available ready with the appropriate instruments for simple elimination. Catch them off guard through the use of an alternate anti-theft bolt.

Anti-theft bolts are sometimes made to order. Commonplace instruments received’t work on them, so it’s tougher for thieves to steal ECMS secured by them.

3. Contain regulation enforcement

Hold regulation enforcement within the loop if ECM theft happens. The police can examine and doubtlessly recuperate the stolen ECMs in case you alert them shortly sufficient. It additionally helps in monitoring patterns of those thefts, which permits regulation enforcement to raised allocate assets towards stopping them.

Phrase will get round shortly amongst thieves. In the event that they know your small business is reporting each incident of ECM theft, they may transfer on to a neater goal.

4. Name Freightliner

Right here’s one other potential deterrent towards future crimes in case you’ve been hit by ECM thieves: Freightliner can remotely disable your ECMs to allow them to’t be offered. Name 1-800-385-4357 to report the theft. All you want is the truck’s VIN.

Remotely disabling the ECM renders it nonfunctional. This makes it ineffective to the thief and reduces the probabilities of them focusing on your fleet once more.

ASK A LOSS CONTROL REPRESENTATIVE

Have a query on find out how to mitigate threat? E mail losscontroldirect@iatinsurance.com for an opportunity to see your query answered in a future weblog.

By Tom MacCallum

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