A method and related apparatus are disclosed of guaranteeing VIN
registration to a vehicle's ECU. A vehicle identifier is entered into a
production control system connected to a network. The entered vehicle
identifier is compared with an expected vehicle identifier. If a match is
obtained between the entered and expected vehicle identifiers, the
vehicle identifier is sent from the production control system to a
vehicle Immobilizer. A vehicle identifier acknowledgement is received at
the production control system from the vehicle Immobilizer. The
production control system verifies the vehicle identifier embedded in the
acknowledgement. If a match is obtained, an information record associated
with the vehicle identifier is sent from the production control system to
the vehicle Immobilizer. An information record acknowledgement is
received at the production control system from the vehicle Immobilizer.
The production control system verifies the information record embedded in
the acknowledgement. If a match is obtained, an authorization message is
sent from the production control system to the vehicle Immobilizer. The
vehicle identifier and the associated information record from the vehicle
Immobilizer are written into an electronic control unit incorporated into
the vehicle in response to the authorization message. The vehicle
Immobilizer then continues to write other data into the vehicle's ECU.
After all the writing is complete, the vehicle Immobilizer reads from the
vehicle's ECU the vehicle identifier and the information record, and
sends them back to the production control system for final verification.
If the two pieces of information from the ECU match the two pieces of
information held by the production control system, the production control
system sends a complete message to the Immobilizer and records the VIN
registration record in the central database. Upon receiving the complete
message, the Immobilizer resumes to its ready state and the ECU data
registration process is complete.