Patent ID: 8223002

Claim:
An electronic control apparatus for a vehicle, the apparatus comprising: a first storage unit for storing vehicle identification information unique to the vehicle; a second storage unit for storing immobilizer identification information unique to the vehicle; a command receiving unit for receiving, from an external control apparatus, an update command that commands the electronic control apparatus to update the vehicle identification information stored in the first storage unit; an information acquiring unit for acquiring immobilizer identification information from another electronic control apparatus that is installed in the same vehicle as the electronic control apparatus; and an information handling unit for handling all the information stored in the first and second storage units, wherein upon receipt of the update command by the command receiving unit, the information handling unit updates the vehicle identification information stored in the first storage unit, and initializes the immobilizer identification information stored in the second storage unit to default immobilizer identification information when the information acquiring unit fails to acquire the immobilizer identification information from the another electronic control apparatus, and in next starting an engine of the vehicle, when it is checked out that the default immobilizer identification information is stored in the second storage unit, the information acquiring unit acquires the immobilizer identification information from the another electronic control apparatus, and the information handling unit rewrites the default immobilizer identification information in the second storage unit with the immobilizer identification information acquired by the information acquiring unit.