Many of these laws are designed to improve safety for motorists by increasing penalties for unsafe driving behavior.

New computer technology to prevent auto theft is being added to more and more new vehicle keys each year. However, motorists who lose these new high-tech car keys often face delays, inconvenience and significantly more expense in replacing keys, because locksmiths and other car repair facilities cannot obtain the information they need from car manufacturers in order to reproduce electronic keys.

California is one of 34 states requiring the use of booster seats for older children, and one of 16 states that includes an educational component in its law that provides funding for public health education about the importance of car safety seats for children. All children under 6 years old or under 60 pounds are required to ride in an age-appropriate safety seat or booster seat in this state.

This law applies both to teens who have not yet received their driver's license and to those who have had their license for less than one year as of Jan. 1. We want teens to be aware that even if they have already started driving young passengers because they earned a license at least six months ago, after Jan. 1, 2006 they will be subject to a traffic violation if they carry underage passengers before the one-year anniversary of obtaining their license.

The Auto Club believes that when a motorist buys a vehicle, he or she also buys everything needed to operate it, including all the information necessary to make a replacement key.

Greater vehicle security is an asset for consumers, but security improvement should not come at the expense of placing motorists in an unsafe situation or forcing them to pay unnecessarily high prices to obtain replacement keys.