Anyone installed the MillerCat shield on their Prius 5th gen?

Why aren't more people talking about this? I feel like the millercat offering is false advertising if what it's covering is the GPF.
I get that some thieves would mistake the GPF for a cat(it fooled me and it seems like most people on this thread too) but this doesn't sit right with me.. anyone know more about the GPF?

Anecdotally it seems like gen 4s aren't targeted as much, seems like the gen 2 and 3s that have the more traditional Prius look are targeted more though not sure if it's because more thieves recognize them, or if the cats are worth more and easier to access than on the gen 4.

 

I've heard of many gen 2 and 3 Prius cats being stolen, but not a gen 4+. My friend's Honda Element had his cat stolen. I think the thieves know which cars have the valuable cats that are easy to get to.

 

That’s my concern. Either they will cut whatever they have access to or they get pissed off when they see shield and cut whatever is visible. Car should come with a shield at this point.

 

Yep. All we can hope is they reach under, feel a shield in place and quickly move on to the next one. And ABSOLUTELY the cars and trucks most affected should be getting shielded from the factory.

 

Put the SS Miller Cat Shield on my 23.
Not hard but takes some effort getting those back four bolts in, since they are under the plastic covers.
Drove up on my ramps and did everything on the ground.
It covers the Cat very well, pleased with the fit and finish.

 

After looking into the cat shields more I decided to put one on my new gen 5. I looked into why the gen 4 wasn't as targeted as the previous generations and it seems like the cat was harder to get at as was designed more into the car, and as others have mentioned contains less metals in it. For me after seeing how exposed the cat is on the gen 5 in person I decided the piece of mind was worth it for me especially since it is much more exposed than it was on the gen 4. I know it can still be stolen but even if it is still stolen I will at least have some solace knowing that I at least tried to do something about it.

I went back and forth about putting it on a lot so I hope this helps others out there who are in a same boat.

 

Look at post 10 and post 21 in this thread. I don't know if the Miller shield is covering the CAT or the GPF. Either way, I don't have faith that there are "knowledgable" thieves out there that know either. My guess is most are just willing to cut anything that looks like a CAT and let the metal recyclers sort them all out.

 

When daughters 07 prius which i bought new, had her cats taken out like slicing cake, I looked on rock auto, etc, and toyota parts. I advised the Camry hybrid, as the front cat is part of the exhaust manifold and the rear cat was like $350 or something for the carb model.
On my Prime gen 4 I believe it’s about $1000 from Toyota and also is part of the manifold. I guess they can reach up there on the gen 4, but they aren’t doing it on the Camry I don’t think. The cat on the gen 4 is really a complex thing thought it would be more. Maybe there’s another one down the line.

 

The Miller Shield covers the CAT, not the GPF.
The GPF is behind the CAT and could be confused for a CAT as it looks similar.

 

Just editorial:

GPF = Gasoline Particulate Filter

 

Thanks Mendal, was not sure what that meant. I just thought it was a silencer of some type.

 

Can you kindly look in this parts catalog where is the cat?

 

The cat is integrated into the exhaust manifold. Item 17141 in the attached picture.

 

From my perspective, you want discourage a thief from lifting the car in the first place....once they lifted it trouble started. Want to have the bad actor change their mind and keep looking...

So would there be stickers or anything to inform a bad actor the a cat shield has been installed?

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What is the work flow here? Actor sees a Prius (say Gen 3) parked in an way the car could be lifted, a person get under and cut the pipes, lower the car and go (or have cinder blocks and leave car lifted.) Think this takes 5 minutes or so?

Gen 3, it was hard to find a jack. that would lift the car enough for an oil change (up front) let alone enough room to get a sawmill on the pipes in the center of the car.

 

I was thinking it would be nice to have stickers available that say something like “cat shield on board” or “precious metals already stolen”. : )

 

I just added these stickers to the window on my Prius v and on the cat shield.



I don't think any thief will take several minutes to authenticate that the cat is OEM with a flashlight under the car.

Most all would likely move on to an easier target, I suppose.

 

Did you also get it intentionally spray painted? I need to do something to help prevent this from happening again. I often feel like a sitting duck.

 

Yes, I used this VHT high temperature spray paint.

VHT Flameproof Coating Very High Heat Flat Orange

 

Thanks. I’d have to find someone to do this for me because of my chemical sensitivities. : }