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In Under Two Minutes: Catalytic Converter Theft

Edmunds.comEdmunds.com Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,315
edited September 2014 in General

imageIn Under Two Minutes: Catalytic Converter Theft

Thieves are now targeting your catalytic converter for the precious metal inside. Some vehicles are more vulnerable than others.

Read the full story here


Comments

  • hopefulcynichopefulcynic Member Posts: 1
    My girlfriend recently had her cat. converter stoen of her Mitsubishi. It happened to my Toyota Tundra around the same time of year two years ago in the same parking lot in Southern Upland. Now what gets me is that fact that recyclers aren't being arrested for receiving in stolen property. That is if you can get the police to even look into the matter. With no option to move away at the moment it's only a matter of time before I get nailed again by theives.
  • crzzycindycrzzycindy Member Posts: 2
    Why hasn't someone in the industry invented something that can replace this that isn't of this type of value. There are people out here like me that are beyond broke and then some low life steals your Catalytic Converter. You pay for a smog and for the first time in 9 years it fails as a gross poluter. Tags paid when do so you don't get penalties then it takes you four months to get enough money to do the flipping smog only to find some low life has stolen your Catalytic Converter. They steal because they are broke well I am too but I don't steal. My only means of transportation now disabled till I can replace it and it obviously isn't cheap to replace. If we had money you low lifes do you really think we'd be driving an old beat up car? No we'd have a car that doesn't use up gas or fail smogs. Someone invent something to replace this Catalytic Converter make it only valuable to the car but not to the scrap places. Low it's just low to mess over people like this you low lifes.
  • crzzycindycrzzycindy Member Posts: 2
    Why hasn't someone in the industry invented something that can replace this that isn't of this type of value. There are people out here like me that are beyond broke and then some low life steals your Catalytic Converter. You pay for a smog and for the first time in 9 years it fails as a gross poluter. Tags paid when do so you don't get penalties then it takes you four months to get enough money to do the flipping smog only to find some low life has stolen your Catalytic Converter. They steal because they are broke well I am too but I don't steal. My only means of transportation now disabled till I can replace it and it obviously isn't cheap to replace. If we had money you low lifes do you really think we'd be driving an old beat up car? No we'd have a car that doesn't use up gas or fail smogs. Someone invent something to replace this Catalytic Converter make it only valuable to the car but not to the scrap places. Low it's just low to mess over people like this you low lifes.
  • catcalleleccatcallelec Member Posts: 0
    there is a new product that can stop your catalytic converter from being cut off of your car, www.catcallelectronics.com, this system works great,
  • hach8hach8 Member Posts: 1
    They should also look to stop using precious metals in these cats. This will also help cut down on the amount of theft. The substitute should also be sensitive (and make an effort) to keeping the manufacturing price down as well. With older cars that don't burn as clean, this will no doubt pose a huge challenge. That "cat cage" thing will deter most but as it was pointed out in the article, some thieves carry saws with them. You even got cordless cutting wheels that can make very quick work of cutting through the exhaust pipe.
  • texasgolfertexasgolfer Member Posts: 1
    I got mine stolen a month or so ago. It cost me $800 to replace it with and aftermarket version. I'm going to pony up the $100 for the Cat Clamp to protect my new catalytic converter. Pay up now ($100) or pay later ($800). Yea, I'd like to get my hands on themas well.
  • FactomaticFactomatic Member Posts: 1
    I dont mean to knock your facts around but if you can show me someone removing one withing 2 minutes ill send the author 100 bucks. Impossible
  • patchespatches Member Posts: 2
    Someone saw mine taken this week. He said it was just over a minute. A girl was behind the wheel and the guy in a ski mask was in the bag seat. He opened the door, slid under my car and used some sort of power saw. About a minute later he jumped in the back seat with my converter and they were gone. So yes, it can easily be done under two minutes.
  • patchespatches Member Posts: 2
    The guy who owned the muffler shop where I had mine replaced said he bought a bunch of those cat clamp things and started putting them on vehicles that came in to have stolen converters replaced. Then he started getting people coming in with the entire exhaust missing. They just sawed off everything and did even more damage. Later on they could take their time and remove the cat clamp. Bad idea to use these. An alarm is your best bet. As soon as someone starts screwing around under your vehicle it will go off.
  • LjZonumLjZonum Member Posts: 1
    I own a shop that specializes in Toyota's ... from what I've seen, this won't do anything to prevent cat theft. Guys are getting under there with a sawzall, cutting the pipes for and aft of the cat (as well as typically cutting through the O2 sensor wiring) and are gone within minutes.
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