Yamaha Australia Deters Theft Using 'Microdots' - Dealer News Jul 22, 2009

Although motorcycle theft is on the rise in Australia, the National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council (NMVTRC), an initiative of all Australian governments and the insurance industry, says its figures show a dramatic drop in the theft of late-model Yamaha motorcycles and links the result to the OEM adopting microdot identification across its entire range two years ago.

The latest theft statistics show that there has been an 18 percent drop in theft of Yamaha models sold in the past two years that have carried microdots compared to the models sold in the previous two years.

NMVTRC Executive Director Ray Carroll says the organization 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.

According to Carroll, while its easy for thieves to strip expensive parts off of a bike or alter the vehicle identification number (VIN) and engine number in order to launder a stolen bike, "Microdots fix the identity problem because the VIN is effectively applied to each bike up to 4,000 times and provides the evidence needed for prosecution."

"Yamaha is the first firm in both our outboard and motorcycle industries to protect its products with microdots, but we doubt we'll be the last," says Steven Cotterell, director/GM of Yamaha Motor Australia. "We believe that effective anti-theft measures will benefit the whole industry in the long run."

Certified Secure Identification Corp. (CSI), headquartered in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, is one of the companies offering microdots. The CSI-trademarked microdot is called the I-DOT.

Measuring .05 mm to 1 mm in diameter – roughly the size of a grain of sand – each I-DOT is uniquely encoded with microscopic, laser-applied information that can be either a VIN, the hull identification number of a boat, serial number of a trailer, or a unique personal identification number.

Several thousand of the I-DOTs are then applied to assets in both overt and covert areas using a specially formulated adhesive containing an ultra-violet trace that can be detected under UV blacklight. Each unique identification number is registered online through a secure database accessible to police and other registered authorities 24 hours a day and traceable worldwide.

For business owners, such as powersports dealers, highly visible "I-DOT Protected" security warning labels are provided to be placed at entry points to the business or near the assets to be protected. I-DOT kits retail for between $54.50 and $149.90.

"Certified Secure Identification Corp. was created in 2007 to address the growing need to solve the worldwide problem of vehicle, asset and identification theft, asset management, as well as counterfeiting of brand name products," Louis Bouchard, president of CSI, tells Dealernews. "A thief knows that it will be virtually impossible to locate and remove all the microdots, thus making it much more difficult and risky to sell property."

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