That's a good point. I don't plan to keep things of high value in it but I wondered if I might want to leave the top down and temporarily leave the car with my wallet or phone in it, for example at the beach.
It looks like the plastic well protrudes through the floor pan. Did you seal the opening in the floor before bolting everything back into place. I’ve heard of moisture problems and wonder if sealing the area will alleviate them.I recently installed the cargo area safe from Console Vault and wanted to share some information and pictures for anyone considering it for their Bronco. This is the one that installs flush with the cargo floor and will not prevent the Bronco doors from being stored in the cargo area.
Ford accessories image:
My concern with this safe/vault was whether or not it would be secure enough to store anything of value. I have a soft top, which I know can be cut or removed. I may have the top down and be away from the car. I've even read that some people leave their soft top cars unlocked to avoid damage by someone intent on breaking in.
I couldn't find any install videos or reviews for this vault so I went through some extra effort before installing it, just so I could understand how it worked and how secure it was.
A normal installation would be very easy and take about 10 minutes. All you need is a 10 mm socket with a small ratchet. All you do is place the vault into the cargo area plastic insert and secure it by opening the vault door, reaching in and securing 6 screws from the inside of the vault. The screws go through the plastic insert to secure the vault.
Here is a picture of the underside of the vault:
Unfortunately I wasn't sure if the screws were going to hit anything substantial or if the vault could be easily lifted out along with the plastic insert, simply by unbolting the plastic insert.
So I removed the built in floor liner by removing the four "lasso" hooks in the corners of the cargo area. Once that was lifted up and out of the way, the four bolts holding down the plastic insert could be removed. With the floor liner down, the two bolts toward the front of the car that hold the insert down are visible but difficult to get a wrench or socket on to. That's the first challenge for a would-be thief that might want to try to unbolt the plastic liner and remove it with the vault.
Liner door lifted up:
Liner lifted up:
After removing the plastic insert, I looked for any nearby metal that I may be able to tap into with longer screws but nothing looked usable or easy. Then I realized that they key to this method of securing the vault is that the screws are long enough to go under the metal cargo floor in every direction.
This picture is after placing the vault in the plastic insert and screwing in one screw. I wanted to see how far they stick out.
The vault walls have thick, threaded screw holes. So the screws are securely connected to the vault walls. The connection to the plastic insert is mostly cosmetic because the way this thing really stays put is by having the screws extend below the metal floor.
If someone wanted to remove the vault, I hate to think about the damage they would do to the floor and plastic insert but they would likely leave frustrated. I also got under the car to see if the screws could be cut off but I couldn't get a single glimpse of a screw. The vault sits right over the muffler, which is under a heat shield. There's just too much stuff in the way. Score another point for security!
I'm pretty happy with it. It's solid and heavy. It comes with two keys. A standard installation could NOT be easier.
Pros: The metal is very heavy. It fits perfectly. Installation is easy. It's somewhat hidden. It would be very difficult to remove by someone not familiar with how it is secured.
Cons: It's not screwed into solid metal.
Depends on which one you need the quickest access toClearly this floor safe is for your kilos of cocaine, duh.The center console safe is for the grenades.
I was thinking the same thing. I think I will start off with the center console vault. The only issue with the center console vault is that you can't use the 12v adapter that in the console. I usally use that for charging my wife's phone when we are riding together. The console has a slot at the top that lets the cable come through nicely.
Ah, good point! I didn't really think that one through.
That's why I was asking him or her to test it out. It might not have a strong enough signal to let the vehicle start.
IF the fob signal is still strong enough, just wrap the fob in Aluminum Foil (aka - Faraday Cage).
There was a thread on the center consoles a while back and looking at the pictures, there may be enough "daylight" on the sides of the lid to fit a thin charging wire. I plan to get a console safe with my FordPass points. I realize it isn't Fort Knox, but it can keep sunglasses from being an easy target.
Hand-gun; wife's purse with all CC's/money, etc. There's plenty of small things that you might put in there in certain situations.
