Hello All,
I know this horse has been beaten already, but I didn't think I needed to actually do anything about it. About a month ago I had the converters stolen out from under the 2009 prius right in my driveway. I won't get into the details of the theft, but I should have listened to the warnings and put a shield on it. Due to being in CA, I bought the Toyota part (over $2k). New parts should arrive soon and if there is interest I'll show what I do to protect the new one.
Protect your Cat!!
No way.... ugh. That's probably half the value of the car!
On my 05 prius I welded several loops of thick cable to my converters and bolted them to the body.
I figured a sawzall wouldn't be able to do much with the loose cables and a muffler cutter wouldn't work. A grinder would but it would take extra time and that is all assuming that they take the time to look around and figure out what they had if they ever poked their head underneath.
I figure most would rather move on down the line as there are typically priuses every 100' around here.
In reply to jfryjfry :
Wouldn't it be quicker to hook it up to a battery cable?
Yep. It's almost more common to find a Prius in California that has had a cat stolen than one that hasn't.
My daughter had her cats cut out while in a hospital parking garage. Police came took evidence and luckily caught the guy the next day. Of course he got out of jail at the bond hearing. She is out $600 for parts and I get o spend an afternoon under the car.
Stole my next door neighbors right in her front driveway recently as well. I like the battery idea.
I think I'll bolt a thick aluminum plate across the bottom and fasten it in with a few different sizes/styles of bolts.
In reply to Shavarsh :
Use torx. Ain't nobody got time for that.
A coworker had her husband catch someone trying to saw off the converter of his F250 parked on the street yesterday. Nice neighborhood, Southern California area.
He ran out, they ran away. They came back to pick up the sawzall as he walked back up the driveway.
My son scrapped his 1998 Mazda b3000 and first he cut the cats out and put them on Facebook marketplace for $250.00. He had an instant bidding war and someone drove an hour to pay him $300.00 For them. Weird.
Haven't seen too many Prius around here but they're popping all the church vans and U-Hauls like crazy.
We had a lady get hers stolen in the parking lot of Costco. She paid to have it replaced ($$$) and a week later it was stolen again. In the same parking lot.
Toyota is offering aluminum shields for a few hundo that should at least slow someone down. We must have done 7-8 of them this month. And most of those were only after we replaced their stolen cats.
The dodge dealer next door had 7 diesel trucks robbed in one night on the lot last year.
The lesson here is simple. Lower your ish so folks can't steal your cats.
Apparently this is now a thing in DFW too. I keep waiting for one to hit the news as being deterred by the "get off my lawn" crowd. That will happen here someday.
Are Prius cats worth that much as scrap or just real easy to take?
In reply to spitfirebill :
Both.
spitfirebill said:Are Prius cats worth that much as scrap or just real easy to take?
If you have a nickel there is someone out there willing to steal it or hurt you to get it. Catalytic converters are worth a lot more than that.
In reply to spitfirebill :
Yes, prius cats are really worth that much.
I just figured as low as they are the cats would be safe. Obviously not. We used to have crackheads go through our parking lot at work at night and steal the cats off every freaking for work truck. And our cheap ass dipE36 M3 boss wouldn't put up any cameras.
Lets see if this works
There are a couple hidden tricks under the plates. Hopefully it slows them down next time. There is more incentive for the thieves to hit the same car twice because they know the cat is fresh the second time.
Just thinking - what's the nastiest surprise you could put in there without getting sued for reckless endangerment? Wrap the converter in stainless steel wool? Ceramic rods? Aramid fabric? Trying to think of something that would wreck a saw.
Shavarsh said:Lets see if this works
There are a couple hidden tricks under the plates. Hopefully it slows them down next time. There is more incentive for the thieves to hit the same car twice because they know the cat is fresh the second time.
Claymores?
I'd be tempted to put a carbon fiber cover over it. When they try cutting through and getting carbon fiber splinters in their skin they might reconsider their choice.
clutchsmoke said:I'd be tempted to put a carbon fiber cover over it. When they try cutting through and getting carbon fiber splinters in their skin they might reconsider their choice.
Nah, the meth already makes them itch so they probably wouldn't even notice the difference.
I was thinking something obnoxious that would tangle up or chew up sawblades.
Maybe something like this silicon carbide sanding brick.
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