Earliest times.
Did the earliest motorists, more than 100 years ago, need to lock their motor carriages to prevent them from being stolen? Well at these times it wasn’t really necessary to lock something which people were previously unfamiliar with. The earliest cars were more of a spectacle than anything else and people generally wouldn’t have even known how to start them. But clearly, it wasn’t feasible to safely leave valuables in a carriage without lockable doors, windows, and a roof.
Modern times.
Nowadays only drivers of older cars still use a key to open the doors and start the ignition. Drivers today are more likely to open their car doors by remote control, and then start the ignition by pushing a button. Some cars even unlock their own doors as their owners approach when an application in the driver’s phone sends a signal to a receiver in the vehicle to allow access to it. However, even in times of remote locking, it’s still essential to protect cars and their contents from thieves.
The first cars needed no protection from theft.
Around 1900 when cars were becoming more available, starting them was quite a complex task involving several steps. So car theft hadn’t yet really developed, and deterrence was not even considered by car makers. The first locking mechanisms were rotary ignition switches which were used to turn the flow of current in the vehicle on and off. Only the use of the correct key could perform this operation. Drivers who mislaid their car keys now had to ask the question, “Can I find an auto locksmith near me?”
The first real car locking system.
By 1911, the first ignition switches requiring a key had been developed and installed in cars. With this development drivers had to insert a key into the ignition console and physically turn it on to start the car. This heralded the beginning of theft deterrence systems in cars. Until around 1920 however, all cars were open so there was no point in developing a system to lock the doors. In actual fact, many early cars did not even have doors. So, although protecting cars and their contents from theft is the main focus of automotive locking systems today, a century ago that was not the case. Nowadays car locking systems have evolved from ignition switches to the keyless systems of the early 21st century.
From the dual-purpose door and ignition key to digital solutions.
A combined key for all purposes in vehicles started to become popular during the 1960s. However, over the past ten years, we have witnessed the reintroduction of a separate start button in cars which was a common system in the 1920s. A century later, we can open car doors wirelessly with an application on the driver’s smartphone. As the driver approaches his car it opens automatically. This system can be monitored and managed via the cloud to protect vehicles from access by unauthorized parties. We have come a long way since the days of the first open motor carriages.
