AVS Product Range
The AVS Series (S5, S4 and S3) along with the AVS A4 all share the same plastic case that contains the Immobiliser relays. For a security system to be effective then it is vital to have an Immobiliser case that is difficult to locate and open.
All the AVS models meet with NZSA 3 star standards or above depending on which model, but as I have pointed out in the past NZSA standards for Immobilisers are so lame that they don’t count for much in the real world!
Given that having an NZSA rating does not give any guarantee to the quality of the Immobiliser the first thing to look at is how easy it is to get past.
How secure is the Immobiliser Housing of the AVS?
The AVS case is held together with two plastic clips. There are no security screws to speak of and the case clips can simply be flipped open with a flat blade screwdriver. So the attack time is 10 seconds max! But don’t just take me word for it, the video below backs this up.
Sorry for the shaky video, but I needed both hands to open the case!
Once inside the Immobiliser points are fairly obvious and easy to bridge. It must be noted that on the S Series there is a 3rd Immobiliser cut which is in the large white plug which is not as easy to identify, however, the immobiliser Pinouts are available to find on the Rhinoco website! I know AVS claim to be 100 Kiwi but you would be a fool to think that this is anything other than marketing bullshit.
How Easy is the AVS to hide?
The AVS case is what I would describe as a Medium, It is certainly much bigger than the Cobra 8509 (Which is about as good as it gets!) or the Autowatch 446 range, but then It is smaller than The Mongoose M80 or Uniden VS2600XR. Personally, I find the size of the AVS can limit how good the installation can be which as an installer (who actually cares) can be frustrating!
Overview
Very disappointing, as an immobiliser the AVS is far to easy to defeat! It could certainly be improved if the case was glued up (see the Dynatron Immobiliser blog) or made a bit smaller.
Obsessive Rating: Don’t get one!
Attack time to open is under 10 seconds!
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One of these was installed my current car when I bought it and from an owner’s perspective it suffers from some poor design decisions that are not immediately apparent when you buy an alarm on spec. The most annoying is the design of remote which meant I was constantly arming and disarming the alarm by accident becuase the buttons are raised and too easy to press. The second one is that arm/disarm toggle with one button is poor design for an alarm – you want to know what’s going to happen before you push the button and not wait for feedback and maybe have to press the button again.
It pays to watch out for things like this when choosing an alarm since you have to live with it every day.
Sorry AVS – you need sort out these usability issues.
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