Auto theft on the rise...

[00tec]

I forgot, wire the electric fence charger to it. Neon light transformer will work too. Unless you have a better idea?

1" steel ball. Pneumatic gun. A couple hundred feet per second. Nutsack level

[longrange2]

A bunch of cars and trucks are also getting their catalytic converters stolen. It is rampant in Colorado.

[Irving]

Catalytic converter theft is rampant all over the country. Any time I travel my news feed switches to where ever I am and there are always stories about cat thefts.

[brutal]

I have no idea what they are. They drive dangerously. They seem to break down a lot. And they drive way below the legal limit on I-25. I never see them pulled over by CSP. Anybody else buy these cars at auctions?


https://leg.colorado.gov/content/state-speed-limits

They're auction cars. They're all junkers.

You think they steal junkers and tow them all the way across the border?

[Great-Kazoo]

Are you sure? Every time I watch one of those cartel movies they always talk about using mules.

Stu give you that one ?

[brutal]

Some cars are easier than others and make for better targets, particularly those looking for temporary transportation or valuables inside the car that may be easier to discover with time than the (lesser) time it takes to boost the car.

A friend's daughter's locked Hyundai was stolen and moved 2 lots over while she was in her apartment for just minutes.

She saw the car parked farther out in the lot and called 911. Quick enough response by the police and her call to Visa fraud that within minutes, while they were running charges at Walmart, the cops got tipped off. They sent patrol cars and SAW the guys walking out of Walmart, who turned back into the store when they saw the police and they never found them. They bought 4 x-box or PS5 or whatever the current console is that costs around $500 before the card got declined.

They punched the door lock and ignition and were able to start the car. Not sure if it disabled after out of range of the FOB or they were just after the stuff inside and moved it from a high traffic area.

[Rucker61]

The .mils chain the brake pedal to the steering wheel. Seen a few Hummers like that & some CUCV's.

I still have my CUCV key.

[FoxtArt]

Half tempted to delete my cat tbh and put it back when they eventually add emissions over here. Can't steal it if it's already gone. But, I prefer to have it if I can...

I have thought if you wired a circuit to a train horn that will trigger when cut, it would probably be pretty effective. Even if they aren't worried about arrest that would be painful to be RIGHT THERE. Hard to manage the temperatures but there has to be some kind of insulated wire that can touch exhaust, I'd think.

[SouthPaw]

….Which leads me right to my next question. How is this happening? The days when you could just pop a steering wheel lock and drive off, or pull two wires under the dashboard and cross them over like McGyver, are long gone. All cars nowadays have those chip keys that supposedly won't even start if you have an exact duplicate of the metal key - you also have to have a matching chip code.

I have a 2018 F-150 XLT (which means it doesn't have the keyless ignition.) It does have a "chip key" and when I bought a new chip key and tried to "program" it myself (using the instructions in the manual) I couldn't do it. Come to find out, Ford disabled that feature in 2018 so now it has to be done by a dealer (who charged me $50 I think.) I assume most modern cars are like this now.

So how are these late-model cars being stolen?

I figure the cops are being cagey about this on purpose because they don't want others to figure out how it's happening, which kind of makes sense. Is there some way to "spoof" a key from a vehicle? Or just bypass the electronic locks?

That's what we can't figure out. No damage to any of the locks or ignition and like I said, his original key/fob still works fine. I am still shocked that they were gambling he didn't pay for OnStar as they can pin point your location immediately. It's a mystery all the way around how they drove that many miles in that short of time or why they bothered even bringing it back. He let the insurance take it and ended buying a new truck so it kind of worked out for him in the end.

[.455_Hunter]

Our 2008 Commander has the Daimler FOBIK "key". The manual key only gets you in the drivers door if have a dead battery, etc. The FOBIK still has to be inserted into the dash and turned, which I prefer to the newer push button systems. I am not sure how the average car thug gets around that system.