California - A Canadian company's multilayered polyester film could make breaking into vehicles more difficult.

The same plastic film used for more than a decade to keep window glass in buildings from flying around during an explosion or hurricane is now on the market for automobiles.

Called safety laminate, it joins g a growing number of anti-theft products designed to make drivers feel more secure in - and 1about - their cars.

At $800 to $1,000 per vehicle, it isn't cheap.

But once the tightly woven, multilayered polyester film produced by ACE/Security Laminates™, Inc. is applied to a car window, a thief can shatter the glass but cannot penetrate the plastic.

It puts a serious dent in the "smash and grab" technique perfected by burglars who pop car windows to harvest stereos and laptops, or even the entire car.

As an added benefit, the film screens out 98 percent of ultraviolet rays, cuts down on noise and reduces hazardous flying glass in an accident.

The concept sounds promising as a crime-prevention tool, said San Ramon Police Chief Brian Lindblom.

"We're a target area for thieves after laptops and golf clubs that people leave in plain view in their cars," he said.

People like the idea of "sitting behind windows that a thief cannot penetrate, reach in and get what they want, whether it's you or your property," said Mark Lacher at a Nissan dealership in Queens, N.Y., that sells it.

The Canadian company opened an office in Concord several weeks ago and began marketing the film to auto dealerships for the first time on the West Coast. They debuted it last fall in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey.

ACE has sold safety film for use on buildings for years, but recently perfected software that pre-cuts the laminate to fit the many different sizes of auto windows. It takes an hour to install pre-cut film, compared with five hours by hand.

In a demonstration this week, a sheet of 1/4-inch glass treated with the paper-thin laminate held together after several direct hits with an aluminum baseball bat.

The glass cracked but no shards flew until Everett Rey, a former professional baseball player for the Cleveland Indians, smacked it a third time.

But it would still have been virtually impossible to punch through the plastic-treated glass to the other side.

Rey, who works for Federal Express at the Pacheco facility, wanted to see whether it performs well enough to use on his fleet.

FedEx equips its trucks with bulk-head doors to secure the contents but the cab remains vulnerable to window break-ins.

"This product could help provide added safety and security for our drivers," Rey said.

With auto theft on the rise across the nation for the first time in 10 years, motorists should look at all the options, said Ed Sparkman, spokesman for the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

Common-sense steps such as locking your doors, parking in well-lit lots and storing your lap-top computer or other valuables out of sight in the trunk don't cost a dime.

Alarms, laminates, tracking devices, engine kill switches and steering wheel locking devices range in cost but may be worth the price tag.

"The fact is, anything you do to make that much harder to steal or break into your car is a good step," Sparkman said. "It depends on how much you want to spend."

Some devices require more commitment than others, he said. Once a motorist gets her car laminated, it's there. But the steering wheel lock doesn't do much-from the back seat.

Ted Pierce with the Diablo Commuters Alliance says he drives a "not so pristine" car to the BART station and doesn't leave anything in it worth stealing.

"If I had a brand new BMW, though, I might go for the laminate," he said.

BART, which has 42,200 parking spaces, logged 403 cases of auto theft or burglary in the first three months of this year - 9.5 incidents for every 1,000 spaces.

Elsewhere, the Contra Costa Sheriff's Office recorded a 7.6 percent hike in auto break-ins between 2000 and 2001, up from 661 to 711. It's not the only way to break into a car, but thieves commonly break windows to gain access, said Lt. Jon Cox.

For commuters who leave their cars for long hours in parking lots, such as those at BART stations, where the chances of a break-in are higher, the laminate is worth it, said Tom Eastwood, ACE spokesman.

"Car alarms go off all the time and no one pays any attention," Eastwood said. "Tracking devices are only good after your car has been stolen. Other products may keep a thief from stealing your car, but they won't keep them out of it."

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