Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for an active wheel theft prevention system, Ford Authority has learned.
The patent was filed on June 29th, 2021, published on December 29th, 2022, and assigned serial number 0410839.
The Ford Authority Take
In recent months, Ford has filed a handful of patents related to vehicle security, including one for a vehicle-to-vehicle security system, as well as another for a vehicular key fob relay attack prevention system. Now, this new Ford patent filing introduces an idea for a new way to prevent a common theft problem revolving around something that’s become more and more valuable in recent years – wheels.
While security systems for vehicles have existed for many years at this point, none really take into account the prevention of wheel theft, save for things like locking lug nuts. In the meantime, security systems have become more and more technologically capable, using things like GPS, digital keys, and various other measures to thwart potential thieves. With the prices of wheels on the rise, this Ford patent aims to make up some ground in that regard.
The premise of how this idea might work is pretty simple – use sensors that send signals to a computer in the vehicle indicating the position of the wheels, and if the sensors detect that the wheels are moving when they shouldn’t be – such as when the vehicle is parked – it could in turn trigger an alarm. The system would also know if a vehicle is being jacked up, which is an indication that someone may be trying to steal its wheels as well.
It’s a simple idea, yet one that deserves to come to fruition as thieves continue to target individual parts in lieu of entire vehicles, particularly as the cost of those parts continue to rise. As such, we wouldn’t be surprised to see this Ford patent become a reality in the coming years.
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Comments
Who wants to steal those hideous Wheels, you’re wasting a patent on something no one wants anyway.
Wait- my Silverado will alarm if the doors are locked and I try to jack it up- isn’t that what the passive system does on all cars after about 2008 or so?