Preventing Catalytic Converter theft

I purchased and installed one from this vendor. It was installed in a friends car. It worked perfectly.

Front Catalytic Converter For 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Toyota Prius 1.5L | eBay

 

I emailed a Canadian eBay company and but they said they don’t ship to California.

 

Yeah, C.A.R.B. rules in California only allow for OEM replacements on Prius cars.

 

I know man..... ugh ‍

 

They only allow CARB certified parts. It just so happens no one has made a CARB certified aftermarket catalytic converter. The $100 ones don't go nearly as good as a job cleaning the air.

 

I was visiting family and traveling in Texas, so had Toyota of Cedar Park (near Austin) install it. I could have saved a lot of $$ by ordering it myself, and have a local shop install it, but I wasn't home. They charged $255 to install it, and $250.89 for the Millercat shield, $505.89 total. The Millercat lists for $160 on their website, so Toyota marked it up quite a bit. But the install was well done, and I've not had any issues with it rattling or anything. It gave me some peace of mind driving back home, stopping in hotels for the nights.

Once home, I installed a tilt sensor and alarm. A thief might still steal the cat, but hopefully these make it a bit harder and noisier.

 

Another option to add to the collection :

 

In addition to an alarm with tilt sensor, which sets off a deafening alarm if the car is jacked up, I installed a cat shield and $100 deductible on comprehensive. And I made two of these magnetic warning stickers, one for each side. That should do it!

 

I wonder if adding a bunch of steak knives pointing straight down would help.

 

I placed these on the bottom corner of the back windows and painted the cat, the pre-heater, and the resonator with bright orange VHT header paint.

 

There are non-flammable materials that blow up if you try to cut them with abrasives and others that catch, wrap around, shatter and break cutting devices

 

Uni for the WIN!!!

 

Awesome! That sticker is the best. What type of tilt alarm did you install?

 

Any Amazon links?

 

High pressure line of pepper spray and skunk juice running along exhaust would be nice.

 

Actually tried to edit my original post, but the window to edit lapsed. I didn't get the tilt sensor but had planned to. I couldn't find a place to do it within my budget.

 

Which aftermarket cat works well enough to keep the CEL from turning on?

 

Almost all of them

main problem is if your in a carb area that mandates OEM

 

walker or magnaflow. seen piles of others set P0420.

 

He’s one solution
Chicago shooting: Would-be catalytic converter thief killed by licensed gun owner in Wolcott shootout in Lakeview, CPD says - ABC7 Chicago

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago police said a suspect was shot to death while trying to steal a catalytic convertor Wednesday night in Lakeview.