How attacks progressed from handle and barrel vulnerabilities to direct latch attacks, holes through thin door skins, cutting, folding and attacks around existing security products.
Earlier attacks commonly exploited existing openings around handles and lock barrels. Thieves pushed screwdrivers between a handle and the bodywork, tore handles from doors or attacked exposed barrels. Products such as Armaplate could provide genuine value on vehicles where the handle area was the route being used.
As the attacks changed, the point being protected also needed to change. Driver's door barrels were decoded, gripped and twisted. Doors were folded. Wiring and locking logic were exploited. Eventually thieves stopped working around the door skin and began making holes straight through it to reach the latch or central locking module.
The Renault Trafic, Vauxhall Vivaro, Nissan NV300 and Fiat Talento rear-door attack was the first example I had seen of thieves making a hole straight through the metal bodywork of a van to attack the latch or factory locking module inside the door.
Modern van panels were extremely thin and powerful cordless drills and cutting tools were widely available. The panel itself had become the route into the locking system. This started a new, destructive era of hole-in-the-door attacks.
At the time, the established van-lock companies did not have a suitable answer. The best-known plate company was still largely developing handle shields. I bought a 3D printer, taught myself CAD and repeatedly prototyped an internal and external shield set that could cover existing damage while protecting the latch inside the door.
The initial concept used a Sussex Installations branded external shield to tell both owners and thieves that the visible plate represented a more comprehensive internal-and-external system—not merely a decorative plate that could be bypassed by making another hole nearby.
The market taught us that customers often compared only the visible external plate. Other companies introduced external-only shields, making our combined internal and external set appear expensive even though it was not a like-for-like comparison. Many buyers wanted only the external shield, despite the internal component typically providing more meaningful latch protection. Other owners wanted concealed protection with no visible security at all.
We therefore evolved the range into standalone but compatible products: external shields, now known as OG Shields, and internal shields, now known as Stealth Shields. Customers can choose either layer or combine them.
An internal shield that is simply bolted to an external shield is not a genuinely independent layer. Once the external component is defeated, the internal component may be defeated at the same time. We increasingly designed the concealed protection to remain effective independently and to include wrap-around features protecting the likely tool path from above, below and around the latch.
Attackers also adapted to anti-drill materials by cutting around shields with tin snips or shears, then folding the shield and the attached section of thin door skin outward together. Flat plates immediately behind the original attack point could therefore be bypassed. This observation drove more complete internal geometry, anti-cut and anti-fold features rather than relying only on harder metal.
Observe the attack. Understand the route to the vulnerable mechanism. Then design several independent layers that continue to matter even when one layer is defeated.
These extracts are from genuine five-star Google reviews.
★★★★★"Van was broken into on Tuesday, after a call on Wednesday the van was booked in for Thursday morning. All new deadlocks fitted and they put on extra large cover plates so we didn't have to replace the damaged doors!"
Chris Jinks · Google review, July 2026
★★★★★"Thanks to the team for repairing and securing my Transit within 2 days of it being broken into."
Mark Steel · Google review, May 2023
★★★★★"After our van door was drilled by crooks we got in touch with Sussex Installations who had several solutions that we could use."
Graham Roach · Google review, April 2023
Review wording has been lightly shortened for display without changing its meaning. Full reviews remain available on the Sussex Installations Google Business Profile.
I first saw it around 2018, on the Renault Trafic, Vauxhall Vivaro, Nissan NV300 and Fiat Talento rear doors, where thieves cut straight through the thin metal bodywork to reach the latch or factory locking module rather than working around existing openings.
Customers often compared only the visible external plate, and other companies began selling external-only shields, which made our combined internal-and-external set look expensive by comparison even though it was not a fair like-for-like comparison. Splitting them into standalone but compatible OG Shields for external protection and Stealth Shields for internal protection let customers choose either layer or combine them.
Not on its own. Attackers adapted to anti-drill materials by cutting around a shield with tin snips or shears and folding it outward together with the attached door skin, which is why I moved towards separate multi-layer internal Stealth Shields with wrap around features to deflect angled attacks.
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Each page preserves the original description, historical context and the full available transcript.
What is the difference between a SLAMLOCK, a DEADLOCK or ARMAPLATE? What is the best way to SECURE your VAN? What are the best VAN LOCKS for my VAN SECURITY. Contact us via our website http://www.sussexinstallations.co.uk or 01323
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