Breaking into a Prius...

Need more information - how did you lock it when you left it? Was it found unlocked? Pros have means and methods I am sure.

 

There is nothing too unusual about the door locks on the Prius. You still have a mechanical lock on the driver's door, and mechanical actuators on all of the doors. I wouldn't expect that part of the car to be any better or worse than any other new car. I wouldn't expect the SKS fob to be related in any fashion.

Tom

 

Are you sure you weren't in range for it to unlock? That seems kind of strange. Were things missing from inside your car?

 

You have a car in NYC?!?! That's insanity! When I lived in Brooklyn (Cobble Hill), I borrowed a car for a few days one time and got fed up within minutes of trying to deal with alternate side parking!

As for break-ins, the only experience I have with it is a rock through a window. Pretty low tech!

If nothing was stolen or damaged, consider the possibility that you left it unlocked. I've felt the same way more than once: I'm sure I locked it, but there it was, unlocked.

 

Sorry to hear that your car was broken into and that your laptop was stolen. The good news is that the car was still there when you returned, as it would be quite difficult to "hotwire" a Prius. (Of course it is still possible to drag the Prius, while in Park, onto a flatbed tow truck.)

My guess is that the thief used a "slim jim", which is a slender lever used to snag a rod that connects the inside door lever to the door lock, for purposes of opening the lock.

There is no need for you to replace your fobs. If you had lost a fob, you would then need to have the immobilizer ECU reprogrammed so that it would not respond to the lost fob.

I hope that your comprehensive auto insurance coverage and/or homeowner's coverage will help with your stolen items.

 

Sorry to hear about the break-in, don't you feel so violated?? I have never had my car broken into and things stolen, but one time they tried to siphon gas out of my Saturn VUE and I was so enraged and pissed off that somebody even was touching my car and fiddling around with it, I felt so... violated!!!! Hopefully this will be the first and last time it happens and that is great that your insurance is covering the loss of your personal items, especially the laptop!!

Thankfully they did not vandalize your Prius after being pissed off that they could not steal it.

And 5 hours and no cops??? OMG,,, is NY really that bad..

WELCOME to PC and enjoy the forum, this is a great place to get lots of info

 

Is it just me, or does anybody else think this story is a fantasy by somebody living under a bridge?

 

LOL! Count yourself lucky that they didn't show up! I was riding my bike in Brooklyn one day and was hit by a minivan. I flagged down a cop who was driving by and the cop basically told me to get over it because the paperwork would be a headache for him.

 

:rofl:

 

Sorry to hear of it, but it is foolish to leave anything of value inside a car, no matter what security it has. Any car can be broken into, and every place you can find to hide things is already known to any experienced thief.

Is it possible that someone you know with access to the fob is just f!!cking around with you?

 

when i lived up in the NYC area last year, these bunch of kids hit the window with a hammer, and it didnt break, although it was loud the alarm went off and the kids ran off, since then i always moved my prius to a bright location.

 

I'm a mechanic. I have a lockout tool for when people lock their keys in. I'll usually ask them to time me. I almost always have the car open before they comprehend what I ment by "time me".
Don't leave valuables in cars. It's too easy to open them.\

Rod

 

Of course the Prius can be slim-jimmed. But even easier are cars with no top metal on the doors, where the glass just fits against the rubber body seal. On those cars an unbent coat hanger is sufficient.

In a Vancouver parking lot long ago, I parked the Prius and my friend his rental car, designed as above. His was cleaned out by the next morning.

I suppose you could epoxy some sort of slim jim barrier inside the door, but it won't stop a tire iron vs. glass. Indeed, leave nothing in your parked car that you really really want to keep.

 

Don't worry about that. It's much easier to use a rock or a slim jim.

Tom

 

LMAO They listened to your ipod and left it. lol

 

Why would you expect the police to come? What would you expect them to do? Fingerprint the car? For what, $2000 max of stolen property? There are probably hundreds of cars broken into in NYC every night. There are also a few murders. They are concentrating on the murders.
Here you can't even get the police to come to a car accident, unless somebody is seriously hurt. You have to both go to their local office to fill out the paperwork.

Don't leave anything in the car. Park the car in a secure place if you can (rent a garage etc). You could have the Toyota dealer activate the alarm (which is already built into the car). It -might- scare off the thieves when they open the door. You can also purchase a "glass breakage sensor" for the Prius from the dealer. I personally think this is a waste of money however, as the expensive window would have already been broken when it causes the alarm to go off. If the alarm is programmed to function it will go off when they open the door (horn beeps and lights flash).