Now that the cars are finally hitting the dealerships can anyone tell me if their hard to access like the Gen 4 one or if on Gen 5 they will be easy to cut ?
I also am interested. Hopefully car mfgs are taking this problem into consideration when designing new vehicles. The city where I live is plagued with this problem. Nextdoor posts about people constantly getting theirs cut off.
I’m pretty worried because I saw a picture of a 2023 Corolla ( I think) and it was completely exposed. These cars are designed in Japan and I highly highly doubt they have this kind of theft issue so would it even occur to the engineers? imagine if the epidemic were to Continue into Gen 5 ☹️☹️☹️
Has anyone have info on this? The CAT was just cut of my 2010 Prius. They botched the job and the car is essentially a total loss (6-month wait on parts). I wanted to buy a Prius again, but now I seriously doubt it, unless someone can tell me that 2023 Prius is more protected against this. I am thinking of avoiding a hybrid completely, of any type. I can't be driving around paranoid all of the time. What is the point of having a car that you are afraid to take out of your garage.
Not a single peep on the issue, by now SOMEONE would have poked their head under the car considering how important the issue is to our community. That’s a VERY bad sign IMHO . remember the Gen 4 is almost never targeted.
If I remember correctly, Toyota now offers a cat shield as an option for the 2023 prius. So it's likely one of them is somewhere accessable. In the gen4 one was stuffed way up by the engine and a 2nd was underneath. They were much smaller than in gen3 and I've only seen a few instances of gen4 having one stolen. But the news of course just says Priuses are targets without making the distinction that it's really the older model years that are most vulnerable and in high demand.
In another thread on the topic, there is a post that one of the aftermarket cat shield makers are looking for an owner to let there car be used to test prototypes. Top goal of the Prius drive train was low emissions. The cats in the early models had higher than average levels of rare metals in them for that purpose. Part of the generational improvements was getting the same result with cheaper cats. If the gen4 isn't being targeted, the gen5 likely won't be. Besides, there still could be more gen2's & 3's on the road than gen4's.
apparently, no one who has taken ownership is interested in getting under the car to take pictures. easy enough to wait until a dealer has one and do it ourselves