And there is goes, my cat got stolen

Yes, due to California law. The car could be repaired with a much cheaper part in the other 49 states, just in case it's worth it to sell/ship it to family elsewhere.

It's an all-too-common retirement for those older models.

 

No emissions testing here in Florida

 

I am starting to believe that the whole stolen Cat in California is because of this unnecessary rule to replace it with OEM.

Catalysts are stolen for their recyclable metals and thiefs are getting just $50 for them. Prius is more popular because the cat can easily be unbolted and not cut. However, the problem is bigger for Prius owners in California cause of the OEM replacement rule. Replacement cost becomes prohibitive.

Here in Virginia my 2006 Prius is exempt from emissions inspection so technically I could even drive with a damaged cat. However, the safety inspection checks that there is a cat even if not working or replaced by used or aftermarket.

 

I've been hearing considerably more, at least for some models. Even from dad's part time farmhand, who does scrap metal recycling as one of his several gigs. (Not by thieving, to our knowledge, and only a few non-Prius cats given to him. Prii never became popular there, his were truck/suv units.)

 

''Just last night my cat got stolen, ugh.
It it true I need to replace it with OEM Toyota cat''?

I'm going to be selling my OEM CAT.,.Let me know if you're interested.

 

Mine too, on the 29th. I'm bringing it in to see how much it's going to cost to fix. I recommend looking into a cat protector. I just bought the millercat cat shield after doing my research. If they really want it, they'll get it but if they see its notna 2 minute job they'll move on... hopefully

I can show my insurance company I'm pro actively protecting my car in Hope's of getting a discount.

Glass half full? ‍

 

If you're in Boston, it's no big deal. You can get a cheap aftermarket catalyst, any exhaust shop can install it, it is likely to pass MA state emissions on the first try without drama, and because it is not the Toyota cat nobody will steal it from you.

They only steal the original Toyota catalysts because those have extra precious metals in them. The aftermarket replacements use much less, so they aren't as valuable.

 

Yes you are correct, not as much as OEM but most of these thievs probably dont know the difference and are looking for a quick buck. It's no big deal? I'm looking in the thousand dollar range to get it fixed.. I'd say it's a big deal no matter what part of the country you live in

 

The thieves are going around doing this all the time. They know exactly what they are looking at and which cars to abuse.
In many parts of the US you don't have to replace it with the OEM one so can use a lot cheaper version that is not going to get stolen.
I feel great sympathy for those that live in California et al. Where they have no choice.
I'm glad I live in the UK where they don't test the emissions on hybrid cars.
Any number of owners have said they have had OEM cats stolen but no one has ever said they'd had an aftermarket one taken. Indeed, some are now taking their own OEM cats off, selling them and replacing with after market kits. I wish I'd thought of that before I had mine whisked away.

 

I didn't mean to make light of your loss, my apologies for the thoughtless wording.

In Boston, you can legally use an aftermarket replacement ($200-400) while in California it must be a genuine Toyota part ($2,500+) so there is a big difference by location.

 

I appreciate it, even though they may not be going for after market cats, i felt the need to still buy a protector anyway to prevent any criminal from making a quick buck on my expensive. (If they want it, they'll take it regardless of oem, imo)

I truly feel for those that have to buy oem and then pay for the labor (if not, do it themselves) to put it in. Another state politic to make some money in some way shape or form. Do you really think it has to do with pollution?

 

Not to sure about that Coal..

The guy who bought mine was in the Boston area. But maybe he had other plans for it...

 

I sold mine to a guy from the Boston area also...Probably the same guy...
I wonder what he's doing in with them???

 

As a former resident of Los Angeles? Yes, without reservation.

Other cities have weather patterns that regularly spread daily polution over a wider area. Los Angeles features one that concentrates the problem.

Neither really does anything about the actual problem, it's just about where the consequences are dumped.

CARB requirements are tough to the point of sometimes being cruel, but for the population density of breathing drivers in southern California it's a necessity.

 

I lived in LA briefly in 1976. The pollution was pretty bad even then. If they had not gone to carb extremes it would be unlivable now.

 

On top of people, weather, and inversion-trapping topography, Los Angeles is also naturally pre-primed for smog by a high rate of natural gas seeps, both on- and near-off-shore. So much so that some of the oil companies earn some pollution credits by building "umbrellas" over some larger underwater gas seeps to trap and harvest it before they bubble up to the surface.

Videos of some of the unharvested seeps show rough "boiling" water at the surface.

 

Uggh, mine was just sniped from my gen2 last night. Had heard reports of thefts in the area but (stupidly) didn't think mine would be a target - I had replaced the front part (resonator?) with a new one when it threw the code a few months back, and for some reason I thought the frankenstein'd nature of mine would deter. Fair enough - probably should have put the cover on it or put in an alarm system. My porch cam didn't catch anything and probably would have just seen a set of legs underneath anyway.

It looks like there are several after market ones on amazon and ebay, all around ~$150 - that's better than the almost predatory price of $750 from the muffler shop down the street! (wonder if his is CA certified or something... probably not - I'm in Oregon for the record so no need to overengineer esp on my 2006 w/ 250k!)

Is there a better cat out of the bunch, that's proven to work without issues?

I see the reviews on Amazon, but slightly better pricing on eBay - what's the recommendation here? I'm having a hard time finding any links to successful ones on the past few threads about cat thefts. What did you all go with and is it flawless in terms of codes and all that?

Also need the o2 sensor, yes? Is there apparently 2 options there?

It doesn't look like anything else was damaged when they cut it out, although the o2 sensor wire is dangling and might need extended or a new connector - no major worries there. I'll say it's quite jarring when you start it up - wow what a racket.

2 other questions - while I'm getting those in place, what's the consensus on protecting the new cat? Are the thieves really smart enough to leave a non-original ("cheap") cat alone? Because even going aftermarket with this, it's still going to cost me $500 all up, and I don't want it to happen again. Should I just go ahead and put on a protection plate regardless of if it's protecting the newer cheaper cat?

2nd question - as long as nothing is dripping or anything, it's ok to drive this down to the muffler shop a few miles away, right? I mean, not ideal but I'm not going to do any further damage if I don't have it towed, correct?

thanks - figured it's ok to tack onto this recent thread since it was the original topic.

 

DJBILLS

I purchased a CAT from Ebay= It works perfect on my Prius.
Very fast shipping also...

 

Gen 2? Do you happen to know the name of the seller? The eBay ones do seem to go for a bit less, so I'd definitely be interested in a known "good" supplier + part.