Nov 30
Comment Of the Day
How a manufacturer can add $15,000 to the price of a Canadian vehicle thanks to Transport Canada.
It appears that some technically astute people are starting to look into the real differences between factory installed anti-theft devices on US and Canadian vehicles. There have been reports in various chat rooms and followed up by members of our Anti-theft team that the part numbers for the anti-theft devices are identical (however, we shouldn’t expect this to last for long – Shhh!).
One manufacturer has apparently taken it a step further by mounting the identical module in a slightly different place in the car. We understand that one aspect of the unique Transport Canada regulation is that a person should not be able to defeat the device in 5 minutes versus 3.5 minutes under the US regulation (so how do you test that?). We guess this probably translates to how many times you have to take a sledge hammer and crow bar to the interior of the dashboard of vehicle to expose the device and then rewire it. Of course, a professional thief will probably be able to do it in less than one minute especially after they transport the vehicle by tow truck to a nice comfortable location.
So apparently for the sake of a 90 second difference, we are paying a huge premium to purchase a vehicle in Canada. Maybe if you factor in the fact that Canadian thieves have to work most of the time in the freezing cold, thereby reducing their productivity, the US cars are actually meeting the Transport Canada standard today.
November 30th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
The real thieves, in this case, are the manufacturers. the Canadian Government and the Canadian Public are being fooled.
November 30th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
You are right.
They are stealing THOUSANDS or TENS of THOUSANDS of dollars
from every car in Canadian market
using the 1.5 more minutes given by Transport Canada.
So, Transport Canada, WAKE UP! STOP IT!
November 30th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
I have no doubt this requirement came about as the result of a Transport Canada study that prooved the highly advanced skills of the Canadian car thief over his brother in the U.S.
Keep in mind also that the manufacturers are charging an aggrivation tax on Canadian vehicles for having to deal with Transport Canada.
The only answer is to pressure the government for complete harmonization of Canadian and U.S. standards
November 30th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
I find it hard to understand how an auto manufacturer can state their vehicle fails to comply, and offers no explanation why each failing component does not comply. Funny how mankind could put a man on the moon forty years ago but todays engineers at GM, Toyota, Honda (and others) can’t “figure” out how to get an American immobilizer to comply with Canadian standards. And as were are learning.. surprise..surprise.. they probably share the same part number.
December 1st, 2007 at 4:54 pm
What irks me is that Transport Canada’s mandate is consumer safety. Unless I’m missing something, what does an immobilizer have to do with highway safety?
I think the bureaucrat at TC to was permitted to include this requirement as part of the US importation process should be publicly flogged.
Clearly it’s an attempt by the Canadian automotive sector to confuse the issue and hopefully garner a few more sales. Pathetic and all the more reason to BUY IN THE US!
December 3rd, 2007 at 12:08 am
i just got immigration to canada and as there was additon to my family i bought a 2008 CRV. I did not know at that time that Canada has separate rules and i have to pay 6.1% duty on my car. Then i read this new immobilizer rules. I have no problem with duty but immobilizer rule sounds simply stupid. If canadian govt wants to have this rule then have it but they should not allow manufacturers to dictate terms. Why can’t i have a MasterGard system installed in my car. Finally sense has prevailed and i think now i can import my 2008 CRV to Canada MY NEW COUNRTY. Thanks a lot guys for your efforts.