Prius Cat Theft Tracking

The theft of gen2 catalytic converters in less than 60 seconds in recent years been an extraordinary development in low emission vehicle technology!

Symptoms: "You'll notice a loud rumbling or roaring sound as soon as you turn on the engine if your catalytic converter is missing. This gets louder when you hit the gas. The exhaust is not working properly, so the vehicle also drives rougher than usual, often with a sense of sputtering as you change speed." Preventing Catalytic Converter Theft | City of Garden Grove

What's worse is the sensor mounted to the cat can have the wires damaged during the theft, which can short circuit the ECU, which means yet another potentially expensive part to replace.

The theft numbers right now are out of control with more than a thousand(s) victims in California alone: Over 100 catalytic converters stolen from cars in recent weeks | PriusChat

So at this point it makes sense to create a thread to keep track of news people run across as we watch the situation/crisis develop.

This thread can also help people who have been robbed of their cat, as well as people who are considering selling their OEM cats to network.

Also as many know California and possibly the state of New York and Maine require OEM cat replacement which can cost as much as $2500, which can often mean spending more than is reasonable to keep owning your Gen2 Prius.

This could potentially mean a car designed to cut in half vehicle emissions are being taken off the road in great numbers because California and possibly other state's regulations are punishing the victims rather than the predators who are profiting off these thefts.

In terms of precious metal value, as of January 2021 here's a quote that I updated with the latest market prices:

"The platinum, palladium and rhodium are the three precious metals in the catalytic converters. The earlier converters had more precious metals where today most vehicles have multiple converters that have less rare metals in them. The second generation Prius has 6 grams of precious metals (about 2 grams each). Platinum is worth about $35 a gram, palladium is worth about $76 a gram and rhodium is about $600 a gram. So instead of destroying the earth like they have been, it's cheaper to remove it from catalytic converters that aren't used anymore (or stolen)."

For those of you looking into selling your OEM cat for states that requires OEM the cheap $130 replacement cats are proving to not increase emissions, but may even slighty reduce emissions more than OEM thanks to the initial tests of @TMR-JWAP here: OEM and Aftermarket Catalytic Converter emissions | PriusChat What's more one person on PriusChat sold their cat on ebay for $1360, which is the current record (see updates below).

Last fall when I replaced a clogged cat for someone I met on here I wanted to avoid the sellers in New Jersey as I've had lots of awful online purchasing experiences in general from that state. So I chose a California seller who ended up being a seller from China who shipped from Kentucky and shut down their business right after my order. Nonetheless, that $130 cat install went well.

The latest is this winter all the available cheap aftermarket cats on ebay are only coming from sellers in Ontario, Canada and their subsidiary just over the border in Buffalo, New York though that subsidiary says they won't sell cats to people in the state of New York, so not sure how long that will last?

in other words this is a big huge ugly mess where innovations and regulations to limit air pollution has run into precious metal organized crime in ways that are taking way too many low emission Prius off the road for good. So maybe we can build up this thread and limit the damage by giving the latest information in the thread below? Or at least I hope so.

If you've been stolen from or have sold your OEM cat, or are considering selling your OEM cat, please post your thoughts/experiences below:

 

How much has cat manufacturing advanced/improved between the 2004 design being mass produced for Prius and the inexpensive ones that they sell now?

There's not any major sellers just some small operations on ebay and Amazon and there's a transient nature to them, so that's concerning.

And is the difference in the aftermarket version lower or better quality because it was manufactured 16 years later using different/same manufacturing methods?

Meanwhile a gram of rhodium only costs $30 back in 2004 compared to $600 a gram today. So it seems rhodium would of been replaced/limited by all car builders in recents times and they'd still meet emissions requirements, right?

Meanwhile just checked and search engine says $1700-ish is lowest price from dealerships and just visited PartsGeek and seems like they're selling the Ebay-style ones for $400 with the warning:

"Not For Sale or Use on vehicles licensed in the state of CA, CO, ME & NY. Restrictions may apply in other states. Check with your state authority for details." 2004-2009 Toyota Prius Catalytic Converter - Exhaust - AP Exhaust 04-09 Prius Catalytic Converter - 18054-05938264 - PartsGeek

 

Track current price, history / industries purchasing Rhodium here: Rhodium Price 2020 [Updated Daily] - Metalary

 

The purpose of this thread isn't to help thieves, but to assist victims... How in the world/why would you think otherwise?

 

UPDATE: Looks like the cheap aftermarket cats are vulnerable to theft as well. But I guess it makes sense that most felony-minded thieves aren't that smart in the first place. Here's the details: We sure grow 'em stupid in South Carolina..... | PriusChat

 

Looks like cat thefts got picked up by New York Times... They mentioned that the high cost car manufactures are paying for cats these days is further pressuring the shift to electric cars and a more rapid demise of ICE cars, so that's kinda cool.

Also we got our first official response from Toyota about Prius being targeted to which their dismissive response borders on insulting when they dishonestly claim that lots of vehicles other than Toyota are being targeted. Lol...

Anyways here's a quote from the article as well as a link:

"Some states have started to require scrapyards and other recyclers to check photo IDs before buying used catalytic converters. 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." https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/09/climate/catalytic-converter-theft.html

 

I thought you can't pass vehicle inspection without a cheap aftermarket cat in NY?

And if you answer my question, I'll answer yours: How much do you trust thieves not to be stupid? In other words, no they sometimes can't tell the difference. Here is a link to your answer in more detail: We sure grow 'em stupid in South Carolina..... | PriusChat

 

Your claim that there's a state conspiracy to get out "gassers" out of their state in 2021... Neither of us know the details of why aftermarket cats for Prius can't get certified for use in California, but it's absurd to suggest that California thinks the most fuel efficient ICE hybrids needs to be targeted and by making it too expensive with OEM cat replacement requirements, they found a sneaky way to achieve their goal.

What's more as the article says, Prius cats have a much longer lifespand due to half the MPG is coming from electricity not gasoline.

Lastly, in all my conversations with muffler shops and their recyclers, they make clear that their business license and liability insurance is at stake here and they will do everything they can to avoid being associated with felony theft. Also they know the vehicle exhaust market better than us in their town and they have a better sense of who's involved in these illicit activities. An owner of a muffler shop in my town told me, I know who's doing these thefts and I told the detectives everything I knew and they won't go after these guys.

 

In reading through what you wrote it seems like you're sitting in front of your computer thinking up how the world works with your imagination rather than doing honest research and having conversations with people who work in the business in real life.

Especially the part where you doubt people are worried about their business insurance and license to operate if they get on the wrong side of this very active crime wave. Truth is every shop owner I talked to is very concerned about this of course you wouldn't understand that 'because you just sit in front of your computer and make stuff up that feels like it could be true to you. It's embarassing.

Do some honest research and provide some references if you want to participate in the discussion. Otherwise you're just talking at us rather than with us.