Catalytic convertor shield

Lots of threads here on the subject. The shields are “fairly” effective, albeit maybe in part because while not completely secure, they they’re enough of a deterrent that the thieves move on. Cap City Muffler is one maker; there are several.

 

I purchased a cat shield unfortunately through the Toyota dealer which up charged me for it. The one on their website is the one that I had placed on my car for a 2020 Prius prime. The local car repair shop put it on for $79. Toyota wanted more than $300 in labor.

it’s pretty secure with their proprietary bolts. I’m sure if someone had the time they could cut through it but as someone has pointed out on here it provides deterrence. If you want to quickly steal a catalytic converter and move onto the next vehicle they would probably pass on my car.

 

Buy the MillerCat Stainless Steel cat shield. That's also likely what any Toyota dealer will install.
304 Stainless Steel is much "stronger and harder" than aluminum. Stainless Steel is also a bigger PITA to cut through, or drill through.
Stainless Steel will last for the lifetime of your car. Aluminum starts to pit immediately (important for snow/rain areas).

Any cat shield is mainly a deterrent.
If the person has 10mins, and can make as much noise as they want, like 2am in an over-night commuter lot, then there's just about nothing that will stop them.
Also, any targeted theft (the thief is targettng your car), means that the thief could also bring any special bits/tools/sockets needed to get to your cat. Yes, especially in Calf, there are often repeat thefts, on the same vehicle.

Otherwise, having that full-length PITA 304 Stainless Steel cat shield, is going to be one of the best deterrents.

You may want to also consider getting a professional alarm (~$1000+) with an electronic tilt sensor installed.
After the car is turned off (and the alarm is active), there's no reason for the car to "magically on it's on, tilt 1+ degrees".
You can see with an ~$20 digital angle gauge (Amazon ), how the angle of the car changes, as you jack the car up.
There's no magic to a good alarm tilt sensor. Just software to distinguish between a gust of wind, and the car being jacked up.


Good Luck!

 

Mine just got stolen and I had a shield on there. It didn’t slow them down at all. They just went farther up into the gap between the cross frame and the engine/trans and with a long sawzall blade they were able to cut through the exhaust in the curved section and then they just cut it farther away on the back end and off they went. It was parked in my driveway So, I’d say that if you have a shield or are thinking of getting one maybe figure out how to augment it or go with a different option.

 

Ecomodders have used window screening for belly pans. Secure the metal version well enough to keep it from being easy to rip off. Cutting through it with a sawsall isn't fun.

An extreme strategy is to install and air suspension that lets you drop the car down so a jack can't be used.

 

mount this along the frame to ... protect the bugs and dirt from entering the car

 

Was this a miller cat shield or the cheap China stuff out there on Ebay?

 

I was standing near a Tesla and the car said it’s recording me. Didn’t touch it just parking my own car. Unless I was dreaming but I know I wasn’t. How about something like that? You are being recorded and it’s all on our office computer now. Smile.

 

Sentry mode was On, which is common for Teslas parked in a public space (I do too). In that mode, it's always recording but when it detects movement close to the vehicle, it saves that recording so it can be viewed later on. Since the latest update (2023.26.x), if you pull the handle without a recognized phone key (your phone is the key), it will also save that recording.

The recording is stored locally on a USB stick in the (locked) gloves compartment. There is an open-source project that converts a Raspberry Pi to a "USB stick" and sends the video to your home NAS through WiFi so you don't need to bother taking it off to save that recording somewhere else.