Converter thefts

[JDgreen227]

Just saw a story on AOL News that said catalytic converter thefts are on the rise again, and the story suggested that car owners who want to protect their converters from theft should have a muffler shop use high strength steel to weld the converter to the vehicle frame, which will make it more difficult to steal.

Apparently the person who authored the story doesn't realize there is a reason exhaust systems are rubber insulated from the vehicle underside...

[bcp]

Simple prevention-just remove it and take it with you whenever you park, like those removable radio fronts.



Bruce

[Groo]

maybe a better alternative would be to reroute the exhaust to place the cat directly under the driver's seat in the cab

[Bob77064]

Cat converters get hot and they are not simple to remove and reinstall. They are also expensive.

[crazyal]

Could you imagine working at a muffler shop and having some yuppie walk in and ask you to weld his converter to the frame of his BMW?

[Diamondpilot]

Could you imagine working at a muffler shop and having some yuppie walk in and ask you to weld his converter to the frame of his BMW?

Hey, I have a BMW and I am part redneck, not yuppie..

Chris

[timswi]

Could you imagine working at a muffler shop and having some yuppie walk in and ask you to weld his converter to the frame of his BMW?

Personally, I'd pull out the stick welder right in front of him.

[bcp]

Hey, I have a BMW and I am part redneck, not yuppie..

Chris

Got one of these for yours, yet?

[Cat_Driver]

I had them add this to mine and no one has toucher my converter.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDrzMGdYWZc[/ame]

[jeffsw6]

This thread is amusing, to be sure. It is also a perfect example of how "news" has been replaced with headline-grabbing, ad-selling fodder. I am no crime expert, but I do know how to use Google. I could not find one ounce of "statistics" about this kind of crime, and more than one "news" article I read about this "trend" had almost a whole paragraph exactly duplicated from the "theft" section of the catalytic converters article on Wikipedia. I guess you would have to read the edit history of that article to know which came first, that section of the Wikipedia entry, or the "news" pieces.

On the other hand, you actually can find statistics online about the rate of dog theft. If someone is keeping track of dog theft, which I don't think is exactly plaguing our cities and neighborhoods, then I'm guessing catalytic converter theft is an isolated phenomenon. I don't doubt that car insurance companies keep internal statistics on different kinds of theft and vandalism, but I don't see any of these "news" pieces referring to interviews with insurance company representatives. In fact, the only articles I found that mention even having spoken to police officials are basically regurgitating anecdotes with no hard numbers.

In case you are wondering, incidents of canine abduction are a lot harder to track than vehicular vandalism, because pets aren't usually covered by a comprehensive automobile insurance policy.