The National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council (NMVTRC) recently released figures showing a dramatic drop in the theft rate of Yamaha motorcycles.
This is a direct result of the company adopting DataDotDNA identification protection across its entire range two years ago.
The NMVTRC Executive Director, Ray Carroll, said the Council was especially pleased with these results as they had long been encouraging motorcycle importers to provide better, permanent identification of their vehicles to help combat theft.
"Motorcycles are very portable and easily stolen" says Carroll. "Also, with easily removed Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and engine markings they can have their identities changed or they can simply be dismantled for spare parts. DataDotDNA fixes the identity problem because the VIN is effectively applied to each bike up to 4000 times".
The latest theft rate statistics show that in the two years that all new Yamahas have carried DataDotDNA, there has been an 18% drop in theft of new models sold compared to the previous two years. That figure includes bikes stolen and recovered, but the theft rate of bikes stolen and never recovered has shown even better improvement, with the numbers dropping by almost 25%.
Also encouraging is a 23% drop in the number of stolen and unrecovered off-road Yamahas, given that dirt bikes are especially attractive to thieves.
By comparison, another leading motorcycle brand that has not fitted DataDotDNA across its range has shown only a small improvement in theft rates over the same period, which further validates the impressive Yamaha results.
Steven Cotterell, Director/General Manager of Yamaha Motor Australia, says:
"YMA is an innovator that is always looking to add value for its customers.
Yamaha is the first firm in both our outboard and motorcycle industries to protect its products with DataDotDNA, but we doubt we?ll be the last. We believe that effective anti-theft measures will benefit the whole industry in the long run."
DataDot Technology Chief Operating Officer, Ben Bootle, added his congratulations to Yamaha. ?We have long known of the proven benefits that DataDotDNA delivers to the 24 motor vehicle manufacturers around the world who employ the system on their vehicles, and Yamaha?s success proves the effectiveness and value of the application in motorcycle protection. In addition, the Australian Crime Stoppers organisation endorses all initiatives that use DataDotDNA technology."
DataDotDNA is a high grade polyester microdot, around 1 millimetre in diameter, with lines of text applied using a sophisticated laser imaging process. This text includes the unique VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) or PIN (Personal Identification Number) for each vehicle and the manufacturer's name.
Several thousand DataDotDNA are sprayed or brushed onto high value parts and the chassis/frame of each car or motorcycle using a clear adhesive containing a UV tracer that fluoresces under UV light (Black light). A final layer of security is the inclusion of a synthetic DNA, DatatraceDNA that ensures that the DataDotDNA system can never be counterfeited.
The National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council The NMVTRC is an initiative of all Australian governments and the insurance industry to develop strategies and implement programs to reduce the levels of car and motorcycle theft in Australia.
