51–57 of 57 posts
This is rebar. It's just as easy to saw/grind through rebar as it is exhaust piping. Sure, your car is less likely to get picked on than someone elses if they have this issue, but it really shouldn't take that much longer to saw through the rebar pieces with a recip saw if this was encountered in the wild.
That raw rebar will likely rust after exposure to rain and puddles. Why not to have had it painted right after the installation?
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Perhaps we could form a similar agency that could find and prosecute those stealing the catalytic converters.
Isn't that local law enforcement? Or have they decided that's not their job anymore?
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Similarly to Kia and Hyundai, and their incredibly-hot-wireable cars.
If we only had a government agency that could hold these companies to account for anti-consumer design.
You can always look back at something and say that it's dumb or that the fix was obvious, but back when those cars were made, they were cheap, and theft wasn't as big of a problem. Did you notice that they weren't getting stolen until the flaw ended up being broadcast all over?
Just about every Honda from the 70s through the 2000s can be easily stolen. All you need is a key from any other Honda. I've unlocked my Hondas and my friend's with my other Honda's keys tons of times. We even moved my friend's Nissan pickup across our high school campus with my other friend's Sentra key. Should we go back in time and go after them too? There are tons of easy tricks to steal just about any car, this is just the one that got publicity.
I mean, if they should have designed them like this, why did insurance companies choose to insure them in the first place? They are the first people who should be aware of the anti-theft measures in a car, and charge accordingly. Instead, they look back and go "woops, we didn't know this would be a problem, so now we're dropping Kias and Hyundais" It's literally their job to assess risk, and even they didn't think that the missing immobilizer was a problem.
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Toyota should be recalling every Prius to have a CatLoc or similar fitted. As an owner of two Prii that have both had their cats stolen I find it astonishing that they are admitting there is such a fundamental design flaw with their vehicles but only making the fix optional.
There is no design flaw. The catalytic converter is mounted in the same place as on most cars. It's larger than on most cars and tends to get less corroded, both consequences of the hybrid design, but that was not a problem when the cars were new. These thefts mostly affect the second-generation Prius, which was discontinued in 2009. The "design flaw" is that, in the few years leading up to 2021, the price of platinu…
They’re still selling vehicles that are vulnerable to having very valuable components removed with ease in minutes without any particular skill required, and they are admitting this is a problem by selling an optional fix for it.
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Toyota should be recalling every Prius to have a CatLoc or similar fitted. As an owner of two Prii that have both had their cats stolen I find it astonishing that they are admitting there is such a fundamental design flaw with their vehicles but only making the fix optional.
I wouldn't call "having a catalytic converter" installed in an industry standard manner a "fundamental design flaw."
I installed a cat shield on my truck that doubles as a skid plate. Took 15 mins to install. Easy peace of mind.
I installed the cat shield when it came out. Turns out there are 6 versions now, mine was version 1... Converter was stolen from my Prius in my front yard right around the cat shield. Based on the video it did nothing to slow them down.