According to American...
According to American Brandstand, a firm which monitors mentions of commercial products in songs, the German marque was the most popular in 2003. It appeared in the lyrics of 112 different records, and was a favourite of rap star 50 Cent, who included it in four of his six chart hits.
Ever-improving security...
Ever-improving security means thieves are increasingly steal-ing keys to gain easy entry. Now, electronics giant Hitachi, which invented the new system, hopes to slam the door on that problem. The detector is built into the car"s handle.
When the driver puts his or her hand on it, infra-red beams reveal the vein patterns in the fingers, and a scanner compares them with a database of authorised users. If they match, the door opens.
Similar technology is already used instead of PIN numbers at Japanese cash points, to make sure it is the account holder who is withdrawing money. But Hitachi hit a problem trying to adapt the set-up for car doors. "When we grip a handle, it distorts the veins in the front of the finger which we usually scan," said a spokesman. "We made it so the device checks the back of the fingers instead, because that pattern doesn"t change."