Thieves stealing Hybrid Batteries in SF !!?

How safe are these Taxi's to travel in? I understand lots are salvaged repaired vehicles too.

 

Owner of one of the prominent taxi services in town here also owns the salvage yard next county up. There's the way to do it.

-Chap

 

I always did it by the book, but then had to quit when I could no longer make money.

 

Thieves Targeting Prius Batteries in Downtown Sacramento | FOX40

 

Done I did send some ideas, if anybody sees it

 

I think that this will be great thing for Hybrids.

Everybody with 4-5 year old hybrids worries about the dreaded battery failure monster. People considering buying used hybrids are always similarly worried about dealers over charging to replace failed batteries. The batteries seem to run about $1200 in the open market, and even though I've never done it myself, it would seem that they are rather easy to replace.

The dealer's response in the story was pretty interesting.
"Roseville Toyota says Prius batteries are very difficult to remove and each has a serial number that is easy to trace."....which is two lies for the price of one.

As far as Priuses getting their batteries stolen?
There's a lot of Priuses in SoCal.

How many batteries are we talking about???

 

So you have keyless go system which can be cracked with signal amplifier, and a battery worth of 1,200 usd in the trunk. This isn't ideal combination. Are those security bolts for battery sold on the web? Is the size M12 with appr. 20 mm of thread?

 

amazing. i guess until the prius came along, there wasn't even a vocation called 'car thief'.

 

There have always been people that aren't very good at figuring odds.
That's why we have a Stupidity Tax here in America (we call it a lottery.)
There are going to be people who are struck by a meteor. It's happened at least once in recorded human history. I don't lie awake at night and worry about it happening to me though for the same reason that I don't buy lottery tickets, or worry about somebody lifting my battery.

Again......NO statistics on how many batteries have actually been stolen and where.
None.

Here's the takeaway.
There are probably a half million Priuses in Caly.
Based on that SWAG If 100,000 Prius batteries get stolen, then there is still an 80-percent chance that this won't happen to you. Those are "sleep well at night" odds if you're an adult, and if not?
There's really not a whole heckuva lot that you can do about it, since the battery is connectorized and bolted rather than welded into the car.
Why, you ask?
So that the battery can be replaced, which is sort of the whole point.

The reason why the Po-Po isn't going to be setting up sting operations for roving gangs of battery thieves is because there are more heinous battery crimes being committed out there.

What would you rather get an "atta-boy" from your shift supervisor for:

a. Preventing a pedophile from committing a sexual battery (presuming pedophilia is still illegal in California,,,,)
b. Preventing a domestic battery
c. Preventing a battery theft in a Prius

 

Well I hope that there isn't such demand for batteries that this phenomenon becomes epidemic.

 

We can only hope the Gen4 modules are not backwards compatible to Gen2 and Gen3

 

just saw this on yahoo

Daring Thieves Targeting the Toyota Prius For Its Hybrid Battery

 

I wouldn’t hope for that. If the new modules are different then there might be a day when you just can’t get new modules.

 

...perhaps you are correct, compatibility might be nice.

 

call me stupid but i fail to see how this is good for hybrids. the Foux Network is going to fixate on this and use it as anti-hybrid propaganda: the $6000, they will say, battery is either going to wear out or be stolen in every single prius.

but here is an another idea. what if this is an insurance fraud? people used to put POS cars on fire to get insurance payout instead of repairing them. what if some prius owners are doing something similar, but just to the battery only?

 

I'm not into calling people stupid.

The only reason that hybrids were slow in becoming mainstream isn't (or wasn't) the car, but rather it is/was the drivers.
This is a perfect example.

The hybrid community should respond to this non-issue with a big fat:
"meh......it's a $1000 battery. You get more damage from a shopping cart....and we're talking about what?.....3 maybe 4 a year?"

INSTEAD....you get a bunch of arm-flapping and demands for action not from our Hellen-Keller news services, but rather FROM WITHIN the hybrid community.
The whole point with hybrids is that you drive them just like you (should!) drive any other car, because they are SUPPOSED to be like any other car....except a little more mechanically dependable, and more fuel efficient.

You know......mainstream.

YMMV

 

This actually happened to one of my distant family's friend earlier this year. Then I got my battery bolts all weld down. If they want steal it, they need to put some more effort into it.

 

OK. first, new battery is not $1000. second, it's probably more than 3-4/year. third, you didn't explain how this is good for hybrids.

 

Just make a large sign that rolls out the rear hatch cover, (battery professionally rebuilt by Dorman)......thieves will not want it

I'll be selling these deterrant stickers on eBay

 

this post has link that is more informative: Bad news for Prius Owners | PriusChat

based on this information, it's wise to record a serial number of the battery. maybe priuschat can be a depository of stolen serial numbers?

i'm also thinking about this type of sticker: