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Catalytic Converter Theft

sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com

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Re: Catalytic Converter Theft

#91

Post by chitowneats »

jeffreyrogers wrote: post #73
_huayra_ wrote: post #52

It's things like this that make it such a shock to go to an extremely safe country / area. All the little scripts one has to keep track of to be "safe and secure" in the US (e.g. instinctively locking your doors all the way to learning that you can't park in SF to take your girlfriend to lunch on your way to drop her off at the airport because a big suitcase is a target for these rampant smash-and-grabs; unfortunatel…

Most parts of the US aren't like that. Even California wasn't like that not too long ago.

Local policy matters.

Re: Catalytic Converter Theft

#92

Post by beerandt »

dragontamer wrote: post #59
throwaway0a5e wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Then they can show their mechanic's license. Scrapyards already need licenses (permits). Adding licensing requirements will just result in the people with licenses buying from the thiefs. It's just another middleman in the chain. If anything it makes the problem worse because scrapyards often do turn away obvious thieves. A mechanic showing up with ten legit converters and forty stolen ones he bought off the thief g…

> Adding licensing requirements will just result in the people with licenses buying from the thiefs. Lets think about this situation in programming terms. "Fixing this exploit will just result in the people finding another bug to exploit". Well... yeah. That's the point. You don't necessarily want to stop all crimes (I mean, you do, but that's just unreasonable). Everyone is happy with simple deterrence: making crime…

This is the thinking that got us:

1) the mess that is DRM, whether for software or media, and

2) to the point of 10-step windows activation (including phone calls and having to reinstall because one version only takes retail keys and another only takes oem keys and another only uses network auth), and

3) video games that try and re-authenticate between every frame of play

And tons of other "fixes" that just punish users and don't really deter bad behavior.

Software is bad enough; we shouldn't need to authenticate our exhaust system before recycling it.

Re: Catalytic Converter Theft

#93

Post by tomc1985 »

_huayra_ wrote: post #52

It's things like this that make it such a shock to go to an extremely safe country / area. All the little scripts one has to keep track of to be "safe and secure" in the US (e.g. instinctively locking your doors all the way to learning that you can't park in SF to take your girlfriend to lunch on your way to drop her off at the airport because a big suitcase is a target for these rampant smash-and-grabs; unfortunatel…

That kind of advise was par for course living in Amsterdam Zuidoost, as well as travelling around Berlin, Madrid, Santiago.... I'd say it applies to being anywhere with a significant crime rate or poverty burden

Hardly unique to the US

Re: Catalytic Converter Theft

#94

Post by l320093jj »

blinkingled wrote: post #10

Easy to install shields like this one from catshield https://catshield.com/ can be a somewhat effective deterrent given the thieves have to be able to remove it quickly without making noise. Also hybrids are more targeted for cat theft because they have more of the metals than normal cars to compensate for frequent engine stops and starts from cold.

Our catalytic converter was stolen a few months ago. It was strange because we were parked in front of a government building -- library and courthouse -- and were only inside for about 15 minutes, in the afternoon. Came outside and the car sounded like the muffler was missing, or like I was driving an old tank.

Our new car came with installation of a catshield. When talking to various autobody places, they were skeptical it would matter because if they'd cut out the catalytic converter, they could just cut out the shield. It would be nice to see if they had data on this, but I haven't seen any (I even asked our insurance agency if they knew of any analyses on it but they said they didn't).

Re: Catalytic Converter Theft

#95

Post by geephroh »

This has become enough of an issue here in the Seattle metro area that the King County prosecutor's office has a special taskforce, in conjunction with several neighboring jurisdictions. It happens in the city, the suburbs, and even at busy trailheads.

It's particularly concerning because some folks are beginning to take matters into their own hands[1].

1. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/man-accused-...

Re: Catalytic Converter Theft

#96

Post by alex_c »

_huayra_ wrote: post #52

It's things like this that make it such a shock to go to an extremely safe country / area. All the little scripts one has to keep track of to be "safe and secure" in the US (e.g. instinctively locking your doors all the way to learning that you can't park in SF to take your girlfriend to lunch on your way to drop her off at the airport because a big suitcase is a target for these rampant smash-and-grabs; unfortunatel…

>Figuring out how to park on a hill to deter cat theft

Can you explain this one?

Re: Catalytic Converter Theft

#97

Post by darrylb42 »

alex_c wrote: post #96
_huayra_ wrote: post #52

It's things like this that make it such a shock to go to an extremely safe country / area. All the little scripts one has to keep track of to be "safe and secure" in the US (e.g. instinctively locking your doors all the way to learning that you can't park in SF to take your girlfriend to lunch on your way to drop her off at the airport because a big suitcase is a target for these rampant smash-and-grabs; unfortunatel…

>Figuring out how to park on a hill to deter cat theft Can you explain this one?

For a low car you would need to jack it up to get to the catalytic converter. Shouldn't do that on a hill as the car could fall off the jack. Usually you only hear about pickup trucks or larger vehicles getting their cats stolen as you can get under more easily.

Re: Catalytic Converter Theft

#98

Post by vilhelm_s »

_huayra_ wrote: post #58
Loughla wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it's your definition of 'extremely safe' areas? I don't own security nuts, or special locks for my bike, or have ever had my home/car broken into despite not even knowing where my house key is at this point and never locking my car. I don't understand the comparison to the other countries, either. Are you saying they don't have petty crime?

Ah I should be more specific: urban areas in those countries. The level of petty crime in any major city in the US is far higher than any city in those countries I mentioned. In non-urban areas in the US things are better for sure, but you still have to deal with other things like having complete asshole neighbors that you really can't do anything about because small quality of life crimes like partying every night w…

I really doubt that. If we focus in particular on bike theft (one of the examples above), some webpage says that Norway had 60k bike thefts in 2004, 20k of which was reported to the police[1]. This is out of a population of 4.5 million. Some other page says that in New York City, there are 75k bikes stolen per year with 15k reported to the police[2]. This is out of a population of 8.4 million.

So all of Norway (rural and urban areas together) had a higher per-capita rate of bike theft than New York City (which is all urban).

[1] http://www.sykkeltyveri.no/bicycle_theft.html [2] https://www.bicyclehabitat.com/articles/security-pg80.htm

Re: Catalytic Converter Theft

#99

Post by vkou »

VBprogrammer wrote: post #2

I don't quite understand why the authorities can't hit these guys in the supply line. Make it impossible to shift a bare catalytic converter by cracking down on scrap merchants who would be buying them.

> I don't quite understand why the authorities can't hit these guys in the supply line. Make it impossible to shift a bare catalytic converter by cracking down on scrap merchants who would be buying them.

For the same reason that they don't shut down the pawn shops buying stolen goods right across the street from the payday loan place.

Because it requires actual police work, and because the people running them are 'local businessmen' with pull.

Re: Catalytic Converter Theft

#100

Post by cartoonworld »

pengaru wrote: post #70
cartoonworld wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cat install costs way more than that. But aside, would you really be okay going back to the days of photochemical smog choking away your sunlight and skyrocketing rates of asthma and acid rain dissolving your ancestor's gravestones?? Federal law requires the catalytic converters. Everyone is definitely better off for them.

> But aside, would you really be okay going back to the days of photochemical smog choking away your sunlight and skyrocketing rates of asthma and acid rain dissolving your ancestor's gravestones?? You're missing the point: new CA-legal catalytic converters cost 200-400% the price of 49-state legal ones because of the CARB certification. Most vendors won't even ship a new 49-state cat to a CA address, and selling use…

200-400% hasn't been my experience, but I'll give you maybe they should expand carb nationwide to increase the demand side of the curve, lowering costs overall.

>if the cat isn't working, the vehicle should fail its regular smog test.

The vehicle ECU monitors the exhaust composition before and after the first catalyst. Downstream, the performance is not monitored by the computer. afiak the ECU doesn't have the capability to monitor nox and hydrocarons directly. The reason for this is that a cheap, reliable oxygen sensor is employed for monitoring.

Maybe it's possible to add that regulation federally.

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