Introduction

Fortin Electronic Systems is a company that has specialized in automotive after-market electronic accessories since 1962. Over the past ten years Fortin has been acquiring expertise in manufacturing and developing bypass kit's which has made them the leading international developer and manufacturer today. The bypass and interface modules are specially designed to simplify and enhance after-market alarm, key-less entry and remote-starter installations.

Interface Kit

What is an Interface Kit?

Traditionally after-market installations on multi-loom wired vehicles required the installer to make an electrical connection for each function. With the modern multiplexed systems and computer networks, multi-loom connections are no longer possible. An interface unit makes it possible to connect multi-loom after-market electronics into networked vehicle system's. Not only does an interface kit make the installation possible, but it also decreases the installation time, which increases dealer profits.

Research and Development

In 1995 automakers introduced vehicles that utilized integrated computer networks and security systems that centralized control of the vehicles engine and drive-train managment and convenience features. With this new technology conventional after-market installation methods were no longer applicable and there became an essential need for industry to develop new products that helped leverage this new technology. From this demand Fortin's engineers, technicians and installers began to develop products that would allow the traditional after-market multi-loom components to function with the new era of automotive design.

The team of Engineers have first hand experience with all of the lastest technological developments in automotive engineering. In house they develop and prototype both the hardware and software used in all of the interface and bypass kit's.

With the use of modern hardware and software tools the engineers are able to develop interface and bypass modules that control the various vehicle systems while maintaining the integrity of the vehicles normal operation.

Using powerful CAD (computer aided design) software, prototypes are developed and produced rapidly. This allows quality control to perform rigorous testing through each stage of development so the end product is able to meet the highest standards of quality and reliability.

Throughout each stage of production, Fortin ensures reliable results from the products operation by using modern tools when developing both the hardware and software for each product.

Quality is #1. Fortin is a proud member of the SCC (Standards Council of Canada) and is ISO 9001 approved. Every component used in manufacturing either meets or exceeds the rigorous industrial standards of the motor-car industry.

All of the manufactured products are thoroughly tested before packaging to ensure they not only meet, but exceed the rigorous requirements of industry standards and more importantly of the customers who use them.

Reliability is tested by simulating extreme weather conditions in a regulated thermal chamber. Every product must perform between -40 degrees Celsius (-40 Fahrenheit) and 100 degrees Celsius (212 Fahrenheit) in order to be approved.

Over the past 3 years (2004, 2005, 2006) Fortin's manufacturing process has produced less than 0.5 percent (5/1000) defective products. This quality control has made the products reliability one of the key features for their demand."

All possible installation conditions are recreated on each make and model of vehicle. New products are thoroughly tested in-house for several months to ensure that all expected functions are operational within every vehicle.

Each product is made collectively with team spirit. The engineers put their heart into each design and settle for nothing less than perfection throughout each stage of production. Every interface module and data bypass kit meets or exceeds the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) standards, thus redefining the standards and quality of after-market mobile electronic accessories.

Installation

Success in releasing a new product depends entirely on the perception and comprehension from the technicians who will be installing them. Fortin's objective is to simplify their work and to save them time by providing up-to-date, clear and concise installation instructions. All documentation is updated frequently and is available in both English and French. After all, it will not be the Engineers who will be performing the installation.

Options

Fortin's interface module's and bypass kit's provide a multitude of functionality between the supported vehicles. In some cases function compatibility depends on the year, make and model of the vehicle. Such functions include but are not limited to features like rear-defrost, heated-seats, tachometer output, alarm disarm and rearm, park-light control and much, much more. Complete vehicle compatibility is always available online at www.ifar.ca.

Only One Bypass Kit

The first generation of integrated modules could only support one platform at a time, which obligated most dealers to stock a large inventory of products for only one automotive manufacturer. By redefining the standards of communication and design, Fortin Electronic Systems has been able to produce bypass kit's and interface module's that function with several different makes, models and years of vehicles. This has significantly reduced the cost of inventory without raising the cost per unit.

2000 Different Models of Vehicles

Fortin is proud to be the industries first manufacturer to produce modules that can manage several different vehicle platforms in one unit. Presently they have products like the KEY-OVERRIDE-SL, CAN-SL and GM-SL where each module functions with several different automotive manufacturers. With advanced Self-Learning algorithms they are able to adapt to more than 2,000 different vehicle makes, models and years.

Self Learning

For the past 3 years, Fortin has sought to simplify the installation of their products. Today, all of the interface module's and bypass kit's do not require specific knowledge of the vehicles data communication in order to perform an installation. All of the products are easily programmed in the same manner since they utilize a self-learning algorithm that recognizes the vehicle's identity automatically.

CAN-SL

Innovative.

Standardized.

Revolutionary.

The SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) are requiring CAN (Controler Area Network) communication on all vehicles sold in North America by 2008. This modern standardized protocol is already supported by the CAN-SL which is expected to function as-is on new vehicles for several years to come.

Wiring

In 2006 Fortin released a new generation of interface and bypass kit's. Beforehand the number of required installation connections with one of Fortin's products had already been significantly reduced, which in effect has saved more than 1/2 the installation time. Today, with the use of a pluggable asynchronous data-link connector installation requirements have been reduced to a single wire. Once again the installation time has been reduced by a significant amount and in most cases only requiring a single-wire to be connected for complete vehicle functionality.

Data-Link, 2-way communication

We are proud to be the first to develop a Data-Link port with bidirectional communication. This innovation can both transmit commands to the vehicle and receive information from the vehicle, while only requiring a single connection between the module and the remote-starter or alarm. It is no longer necessary to connect a wire for each and every funtion on the vehicle.

Anti-Theft Protection

With the addition of an asynchronous data-link port the communication from the remote-starter/alarm to the module, and from the module to the vehicle's anti-theft system is entirely data. This prevents a thief from injecting an analog signal on one of the wires (eg. Hard grounding the ground-out-while-running) to bypass the OEM anti-theft system, thus defeating the OEM PATS systems sole purpose. Using strictly data-communication effectively retains the vehicles security with the addition of any after-market installation.

Conclusion

Fortin offers expert technical support on all of their products. Support is offered in both English and French languages both over the phone (Toll Free), and on the newly redesigned support website www.ifar.ca. All of Fortin's technical support staff are electronics engineering technologists and certified automotive installers having over 35 years of installation experience. This kind of expertise backing each product provides unprecedented timely professional support. Not only does this expert advice troubleshoot problems after-the-fact, but it also provides an excellent opinion in the design of new products.