Ituran Florida Corp. introduced on October 10th the Life Trak vehicle locator and recovery system in South Florida, one of the top areas for stolen vehicles in the U.S. Using radio frequency technology originally developed to locate downed fighter pilots, the system enables law enforcement agencies to quickly find stolen vehicles and gives fleet managers the ability to track company vehicles.

"Life Trak offers real-time detection of car theft," said Ron Shamai, CEO of Ituran Florida Corp. "Our active response and recovery system provides vehicle owners and fleet managers with tracking and monitoring that is more precise than existing systems on the market today. Our system recently recovered a stolen vehicle in North Miami Beach in less than 10 minutes, and the recovery also resulted in an arrest."

Life Trak can locate and track a vehicle in real time 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It currently operates from Homestead to Jupiter, Fla., and is accurate to within approximately 100 feet.

The Life Trak vehicle locator and recovery system is available in three packages:

• LifeTrak System I: Vehicles equipped with this package can be located in minutes using the anti-theft recovery system, which includes an emergency response "panic" button that alerts Ituran and the police of the car's location when activated.

  
  

• LifeTrak System II: This system notifies Ituran and the police if an unauthorized user attempts to start an equipped vehicle, essentially offering real-time theft protection. This package also includes the anti-theft recovery system and options for a starter disabler and remote unlocking features.

  
  

• Lifetrak system III: Vehicles equipped with this system feature all of the services included in Systems I and II.

  Additonally, Ituran's LifeTrak express technology, included with every system, enables individual vehicle owners to monitor and track vehicles and view live traffic reports via the Internet. LifeTrak systems start at $699 including installation and the first three months monitoring fee, which is $10 per month thereafter. They can be purchased through authorized South Florida dealers, including Arco Global Tracking, Cel Trac, Dream Cars South, Gus Machado ford, Potamkin Auto Leasing, Toyota of Hollywood and Traffic Jams. Additional dealers can be found by visiting www.lifetrak.net.