Swedish invention put a stop to the hjulstölder

Theft of tyres, rims and complete wheels are a large and growing problem, says Rimgard. The share of suvs is increasing and the trend is toward increasingly larger and thus more expensive and more exclusive wheels. Only in Sweden is around 10,000 complete hjulstölder each year, according to a survey Rimgard done.

Lars Ivarsson itself is one of all those affected. When he in June 2015 got to see his car lying directly on the ground and all four wheels gone it was the third time it happened. Then he decided that it would also be the last. But how would the problem be tackled?

As the inventor he is, he started to sketch on some options. He wanted something much better than the current system with a locking pin. Such a deterrent is no yrkestjuvar. Why not design a module that protects all the bolts? With the help of a constructor was a first model was ready already a few months later.

become a complete låskonstruktion which is patented in Sweden and the united states. After a few tentative years, and with the help of the new owners has come to the necessary capital it has now become a company with dozens of employees that has far-reaching discussions with a number of major vehicle manufacturers, including Volvo Cars. The original idea was to offer the product exclusively to the motor trade, but I now see the nyformade management is a significantly larger market, such as herons.

– It is how large, if you look globally, how many cars are sold every year and which states the thefts involve. The trend is an increasing number of suvs, " says ceo Martin Ljungqvist, who have been recruited to Rimgard from the telecom world.

He sees three main tracks for growth:

Rimgards lock mounted on the new cars already in the factory, either as standard or as optional.

the Sale or rental to the general agents, car dealers, car rental companies, retail and similar channels.

direct sales to private customers through online stores.

– How the allocation will be we can not say, we simply do not know, " says Martin Ljungqvist.

Rimgard has during development been in close contact with Volvo Cars. Then in the fall sold lock custom for Volvo cars of Bilia and Upplands Motor and with some of Mercedeshandlare. Also today sees the launch to retail customers have started to come.

"We have had extremely good help of Volvo during the development," says Lars Ivarsson and his colleague Cars Pettersson, who works as a product developer and co-inventor.

They are now in discussions with a number of vehicle manufacturers about the different forms of cooperation or production.

" We're talking with the twelve-thirteen manufacturers. We were recently in Paris to show the product, " says Lars Ivarsson.

the Module is easy to assemble. When the been put in place for you to set a lock in the center that has to fit in exactly with the help of gears and when the key is turned on expands the underlying parts and locks to the rear on the rim.

of the arms that covers the bolts may need to be adapted slightly for each brand, but centrumdelen fit nearly 90 per cent of all the cars. In the middle there is a hole in which the respective brand logo fit. It allows the module to be as a part of the wheel design.

– It is made of aluminum and will, therefore, ageing in line with the rim. The clean aesthetic is a very important factor, particularly if it is to be a part of a new car, " says Martin Ljunqvist.

the Locks from Assa Abloy and other parts from companies around the country and from abroad. The module is put together in Götene, sweden.

Assa Abloy's laboratory has tested our mechanism and found that it is both drill - and dyrksäker, says Carl Pettersson.

– Statens Provningsanstalt Rise and Tüv in Austria, have both certified that our product has the highest possible level of safety, " says Carl Pettersson.

On the question of how big the problem is with the complete hjulstölder " says Martin Ljungqvist that there is no specific statistics, but the number of unknown cases is huge.

– We have, with the help of the insurance companies and the police estimated that in Sweden alone is about about 10,000 thefts per year, " he says.

– Complete hjulstölder can cause extensive damage to the vehicle's undercarriage. Catalyst breaks down, the doors and screens to buckle, the tank can run a leak. It quickly becomes very high claims costs, " says Martin Ljungqvist.