Catalytic Converter Theft

Search anything prius related on the www, let me know the top result websites are.

 

No, they won't. They will charge more. Or make it a "seperate" section, so they can charge more.
You don't understand how insurance companies work.

 

without bribing I mean contributing “campaign donations” from insurers, how will politician gain from this? No ones back’s can’t be left unscratched

 

Thieves are more watchers than readers. (**)

Me?
Rather than reading a bunch of posts from people who think that it's an insurance company or a car manufacturer's job to prevent car patrs theft......I'd watch the top 5 YouTube videos and actually see where to cut and which tool to use.

(**) Oh...and if I'm wrong?
If one of the readers out there is a cat thief?

I have the four most dangerous things in the world for would-be car parts thieves:
1. Nosey elderly neighbors.
2. Ankle biter-sized dog next door.
3.12-gauge pump action shotgun.

No property crime is worth a person's life, but the first two rounds in my 870 are loaded with bird shot.
I call them "Grace" and "Mercy" and I promise that nearly 600 .08" lead pellets per shell will just about be enough to keep a body shop busy for a loooooong time and also LTL if properly employed.
The next four shells are meat cutters......in case of counter-battery.
Oh....and (4) we also have a local police force that will give me a pat on the back for expending the 2 shot shells.

Maybe that's why we don't really have much of a problem in these parts from cat thieves despite the fact that most of the trucks are raised up enough to eliminate the need for a car jack.

Oh....and if you're firearms averse, or live in a nice, safe, gun-free place there are alternatives:
Build a Net Gun : 11 Steps (with Pictures) - Instructables

Oh.....and if you're not into reading instructions?

 

Rock Auto suggests to festoon the cut zones with muffler pipe clamps, hoping it’ll be enough deterent to send them off looking for an easier target:

RockAuto November Newsletter | Early Edition

You could also replace the pipe clamp nuts with tamper-resistant. Some examples:

Tamperproof Security Nuts | LPF Tamper Resistant & Anti Theft Nuts

 

There sure does seem to be a correlation, with the communities more averse to such means generally getting de-catted first.

 

I got a Cat Security installed on my Prime within a week of the Prime's delivery. Seattle and surrounding areas are very hard hit.

I do think the solution also has to be political -- we're probably talking about interstate crime. So the thieves can easily move goods from a policed area to a not-so-well policed area.

"California even requires businesses to take a photograph or video clip of the seller, and retain those records for two years. But different rules between states makes tracking and enforcement almost impossible, law enforcement officials say."
Thieves Nationwide Are Swiping Catalytic Converters - The New York Times

Enjoy this video of Cat theft in London during broad daylight. They held up traffic to steal from a poor Prius.
Video: Shocking moment thieves steal catalytic converter in broad daylight | Daily Mail Online

 

I would suspect there's a correlation between population size and cat theft. More people = more Prii / electric cars with cleaner/higher quality cats = more thieving opportunity.

Also keep in mind ease of theft. In urban Seattle, there are always people legitimately on the street at any hour. My neighborhood is huge with many large apartment complexes. I wouldn't recognize most of my neighbors. Our cars are parked all over the place; you might need to park your car blocks from your residence. You can't get suspicious just because someone is walking by your car parked on the public street.
Not so when I lived in the suburbs of the South - much easier to spot the stranger danger. You would always have your car in your own driveway and only a visitor or delivery man would have reason to be in your driveway.

 

Not sure how safe it is in your driveway:

 

Ugh, and the one guy even had a car alarm! But they can steal it so quickly.
I feel so angry for the victims. People are suffering right now and this is a very expensive repair.

 

I'm moving next to ETC.

 

Apparently, the theif thinks your property is worth more than his(her) life.

 

Look at this. Do they think they are stealing?

 

That's actually quite true, (except for the cats on electric cars part) but there are an increasing number of Priuses in rural and non CARB states, mostly because the wokesters and HOV dodgers are upgrading to PHEVs and BEVs.
That's actually a GOOD thing because a "Prius Classic" is a low emissions, highly reliable, fuel efficient vehicle even with an aftermarket catalytic converter.
Trickle-down green.
For those of us that don't live where there are coastal inversion layers, as opposed to MARINE inversion layers ( ) this is a GOOD thing.

However (COMMA!) even if you live in a densely populated coastal corridor, and your local government is forward thinking enough to be very lenient on non-violent crime AND require all drivers to submit to annual vehicle emissions testing you STILL don't have to be a the victim of a $1000 crime.

In 51 out of 52 states you can put a much cheaper aftermarket converter on your car. A $200 crime is STILL a crime, but you get to keep your Prius.
In 52 out of 52 states you can harden yourself against "being a victim" by putting muffler pipe clamps as @Mendel Leisk suggested.
...or if you have a cat, you can use a biologic deterrent....
If you're not into cats.....for about $30 you can make a motion activated squirt gun filled with about $5 worth of Whitetail Doe Estrous Urine.
Not only will it provide for an interesting deterrent, but the getaway vehicle will be slimed for a bit when the perp bolts.

TRY a solar powered electric fence charger....

Glitter bomb....

Or?
Be a victim.

Your call.

 

Where did those other 2 states come from? I thought we only had 50 states?

 

i almost copy and pasted the statement to go along with my future quotes but it may be valid future data so I left out of the quote stash.

 

Some people here believe that the U.S. citizens of DC and PR should not continue to be disenfranchised. Both have populations greater than the smallest "real" state.

Some federal government documents already very clearly show 52 "states". Or sometimes even a few more. Here is just one example, one that I've seen running for decades:

FBI UCR: Table 5, Crime in the United States, by State, 2019

 

Sooooo close.....

^ That....with caveats.

DC is a no-brainer, but most people agree that it would take an amendment. Some people have also tinkered with "retrogression" a process which would "re-enfranchise" most of the DC residents, and probably a vast majority of the minorities - but that's off the table for now.....mostly because "re-enfranchising" most of the DC residents, and probably a vast majority of the minorities isn't what the statehood push is all about....

PR is a little tougher, because they're not a federal territory, but rather Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States classified as a commonwealth meaning a REAL Commonwealth, and not a 'fake' Commonwealth like the four US states that call themselves commonwealths.
Many Puerto Ricans consider it to be a country in and of itself. (Sorta like the Philippines used to.)

Right now, PR kinda likes living in the margins....being a state and not-a-state at the same time.
That may change but, again, it's much more about the US Senate seats than anything else....OTHERWISE the "usual suspects" would also be interested in patriating the other four unincorporated territories of the United States classified as a commonwealths
(American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands)



Citing statistics from "52" states allows me to poke fun at the "science and data" crowd (who often as not publish data WITHOUT disclaiming that it comes from 52 states) AND the 'usual suspects' both at the same time.

 

I've caught some "science and data" types that claim to cover the whole U.S., but then a peek at their underlying data reveals that they used just 50 states, leaving out the rest. And some of these are cases where that exclusion or omission is biased and appears significant, thus really amounting to cherrypicking to help get the desired result. I want to see their statistics re-run to include those jurisdictions, to see if their headline results still stand up, not vanishing or shrinking into statistical noise inseparable from the null case.

Of course, the activists will never do this when their "science and data" conclusion is dependent on keeping to just that biased incomplete data set.

=========================

FWIW, if included as states ranked by population, PR would rank in the 30-32 range, alongside UT and IA. Pre-Hurricane Maria, they were a bit higher, between OK and CT.

DC is above only WY and VT, sometimes juggling with VT.

All the rest combined add up to less than half a Wyoming.

 

you can’t just leave out gerrymandering and let that practice go to waste.