Toyota's SOS saved/found my stolen V-ATP!

Have you ever bought a new car and had trouble sleeping the first night? It's kind of a surreal story, but PriusChat forum user R2Pre2 shared the details of her first 24 hours of Prius ownership: She bought her new 2010 Prius, brought it home, had it stolen by thieves, and then retrieved by the police thanks to the Safety Connect feature installed in her package V Prius. I'm sure this isn't the first car that Toyota has retrieved for an owner using the Safety Connect system, but it's the first that I've heard or read about. Now if only Toyota would be willing to retrofit Safety Connect into "early adopter" owners who bought their Prius before September (when Safety Connect started being installed in the factory)... R2Pre2's forum post is below:

On Friday 11/6, I picked up my new Blizzard Pearl V-ATP from the dealer. In the middle of the night, someone STOLE it, and I didn't hear a thing! I inadvertently/mistakenly/stupidly left the second fob in the cup holder of our minivan, which was parked in the driveway next to the new Prius. The thieves broke into the minivan, took the fob and silently drove off with my R2Pre2. 8:30 Sat morning, my husband yells "your new car is missing - call the 911!" My second call was to the dealership to activate the GPS tracking feature on the SOS system. The police report was done by 9:30, the car registered with SOS by 9:45. At 10:15, SOS called saying my car was in their system and that they had activated the tracking beacon, then the operator said "...oh, we just located it. We're contacting the police right now and they will contact you with it's location." Fifteen minutes later, at 10:30, the police called saying the car would be towed. Fearing the worst, I had dispatch patch me through to the on-site officer who said "why don't you just come down and drive it away?" We rushed to the car's location, in an unsavory part of town of course, and there was R2Pre2 parked nicely at the curb and not a scratch on it! Of course the fob was not there - bummer. The officer checked it out then had me sign the form clearing the car from "stolen" status. He never had a stolen car recovered that fast and *never* without damage. So, in less than 24 hrs, I got the car, lost the car, got the car back. And I have SOS to thank for finding it for me! From registering to finding the car took less than 2 hrs. You gotta love that! The car needs to be re-keyed and a new fob ordered, but I consider it a small price to pay for my stupid mistake. We are using the minivan to barricade the Prius in the driveway until the parts are in, cause it would be just too freaky for the thief to use the fob to steal the car again. My husband says I'm grounded and that only he can drive the car for a week. Take away = guard your fobs + register your new car. Take advantage of the free 1st year!​

 

We live in the Richmond Hills by Tilden/Wildcat Park and the car was found off 23rd Ave on the outskirts of the Iron Triangle.

The officer told me that when he spoke with SOS, they said the car was "moving." He was really close, but by the time he arrived at the car's location, the car was parked and no one was around. Really had the feeling we were being watched.

Very lucky!

 

That would have been the ultimate way to conclude the adventure, wouldn't it? But unfortunately, no.

 

The cop did not want to fingerprint. Frankly, he seemed a bit nonplussed by everything and just said vamoose. I gotta tell you, the whole experience was surreal.

 

Just a few more minutes earlier and the cop would have gotten them. I agree, it's almost as if they knew somehow.

But I must say -- I love SOS! I've never used a service like this and they totally rocked with finding my car so fast. (and no, I'm not being paid by them.) Happy I remembered the service and that the whole experience had a happy ending. Whew!

Thanks for your kind words.

 

Great idea! Didn't think about this. I'll call Toyota. If this is so, then we can loose the "Road Warrior" look of our driveway with the minivan blocking R2Pre2 in!
eep:

 

Waaaay too funny! Since it's all downhill from our house to where R2Pre2 was found, perhaps the thieves just used the B drive and charged the battery for me.

There's some "vehicle immobilizer" language in the manual that applies to all Gen III's, but haven't had the time to find it. Does anyone know what this is?

Just saw an On-Star TV ad for "lights flashing" and "vehicle slowdown" features. Maybe SOS activated something like this and the thieves knew the jig was up.

Lucky it was standard for my late year V pkg. Would LowJack be an alternative for models without this option?