Catalytic Converter Thefts

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The Prius has a stainless steel shield but none are available for the Accord. As you are aware, the shields are only a deterrent. This picture was just posted in a tech group last week:

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Aftermarket is available for the Accord, but not for the Prius.

MSRP for the parts alone is over $2500 for the Prius. Accord is over $3K for dealer parts.

I wonder if a person could conceal some wires on top of that shield that, when cut, would activate a really loud alarm aimed under the car.

Or some heavy gauge cables that would deliver a powerful charge when cut?
 
Those were the days!

I am not sure how long you have lived in Ca but years ago the CARB set up sniffer station along the highways to detect polluters and vehicles that had a high emissions exhaust like removing your CAT.

Well they did last long, a few of got :mad: that they would set those sniffer's up and have the equipment powered by gas generators like a lawn mower engine (Briggs) and many were smokers. We took picture I used my hand held EGA to register the exhaust output of HC's and sent them to channel 6 News. Shortly statewide they shut down the sniffer stations. :cool:

I should mention that is is Felony to operate any vehicle that came with a CAT to remove the CAT and enter any Federal reservation. This means as an example Federal Parks.
Native Californian, I remember hearing about those remote sniffers, good deal on reporting them :D, after a while it got to be a hassle swapping out the exhaust so I went with a 3" single exhaust with a Magnaflow High Flow cat. ;)
 
My buddy over 25 years ago caught a guy stealing the car stereo out of his wife's car at a hockey arena. He was the victim of car stereo and car theft and the cops never caught anyone. Needless to say he beat the crap out of the guy then brought him into the arena and let the 15+ other guys have a turn. He also.smashed in the guys windshield and broke off his wiper blades.
These day's your buddy would be going to prison and the perp suing him for battery
 
It never used to be a thing up here much but has gotten bad the last few months. The worst part is, around here, they are not careful where they cut, so they end up ruining everything else all around it. Ram they got last week, tore up all 4 o2 sensors, and poked holes in floor. Year old mitsu suv on lot, ruined front pipe and o2s, and cut large section from rear pipe. Yr old Honda van, same thing ruined everything else close to cat. These are getting up around 6k+ to fix, and parts backordered for weeks or months.
A lot of the ones we get calls for are obsolete. Usually older trucks and E-vans.
 
You can only do so much. Other than using a test pipe and keep your real cat in the garage, it is almost impossible to prevent. Cat shield already installed so that's about it.

One more thing I do these days is intentionally park in parking spot between 2 cars so there are no easy access to crawl under. It is also harder for them to spot your car to begin with.
 
Most muffler shops are able to weld rebar or hardened steel rods along the pipes and/or around the cat to make it difficult to steal. This doesn't mean they are willing, but if they have a welder then they are able. A thief with reciprocating saw would go through several blades at least so it's intended as a deterrent only, not a guarantee. Although my Tacoma is not a target model, it does sit high enough for easy pickins. So I paid $100 to get some hardened rod welded to the pipes, and I am still fairly mindful where I leave the truck when not at home.
 
From what I understand the action of the theft occurs in something like thirty seconds. These varmints use cordless Dremel like tools to do the job.

Anytime I try to cut metal it takes forever and goes bad. Maybe I should get into theft of converters, it might make me a better metal cutter…
 
I should have taken a photo of an 04 Honda Element wrapping steel braided chains around the catalytic converter. The customer did a great job.
 
We were eating outside a few months ago and a loud Prius drove by, we all started laughing that a Prius was making so much noise....clearly the cat had been stolen.

I wouldn't worry about stuff like this, all you can do is avoid parking in sketchy areas but wouldn't you do that no matter what you drove?
Some people unfortunately live in said sketchy areas.
 
It’s a California thing that extends a bit to being a Pacific Coast thing. Aftermarket cats here are only 200 bucks new.
 
Anytime I try to cut metal it takes forever and goes bad. Maybe I should get into theft of converters, it might make me a better metal cutter…
Well I guess if you think you're doing God's work, have at it!
 
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