Catalytic Converter Theft (Warning: Potential Stupid Question)

[Boston182]

Hey, so. Here in San Francisco, catalytic converter theft is crazy high. My friend's Honda Element has had it stolen three times this year.

My issue is, given the height of the new Bronco, I feel like it'd be easy to slip under and steal parts. (Not to mention the fact these things are going to be adult Lego kits and can come apart easily if they know what they're doing.)

Has anyone ever had this happen? Any thoughts on how to prevent it? (Yes, I know to keep in the garage... But these things are meant to be driven. So try to keep the obvious ball-busting to a minimum.)

Thanks for any advice. Apologies if this is a stupid question.

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[Dlerojo]

Who cares about emissions. Do a cat delete. Can't steal one if you dont have one.

 

[Boston182]

Who cares about emissions. Do a cat delete. Can't steal one if you dont have one.

California has mandatory smog tests. Gotta have it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Boston182]

Have a garage for home. But if I drive this beaut... well, anywhere, they can take it. Seen videos of people doing it in minutes. Figure a lifted vehicle is prime for the taking.

 

[captchathis]

I'm near SF and I notice they don't go for newer cars but could just be my observation. 2nd gen Priuses are a main target.

 

[kodiakisland]

Move
It'll be cheaper in the end.

 

[Boston182]

Move
It'll be cheaper in the end.

? Cool. Thanks.

 

[AK SNO RIDER]

Full belly skids oughtta make it more of a challenge ??‍

 

[Go_Galt]

The best way to mitigate savage behavior like this, is to not live around savages. ?

 

[Bronc-O]

I remember back in the 70's, auto parts stores sold what they called a "test pipe". In the newspaper ad, it showed an illustration of the converter and the test pipe slipping into it's place. It had some line of B S description to get around selling something that was pretty much illegal.

 

[codydb19]

Wow I didn’t realize that was even a thing anymore. However I don’t think there is anything you can do, if they want it they’re gonna take it someway, somehow.

Growing up in a small town some of my friends(never I) favorite pastime was to drive around the backwoods and do drive-by mailbox demolition with a bat. That was until people starting filling the posts with concrete. Don’t know how well that would work here though...?‍. /s

 

[cowinsawdents]

park in a garage, don't live in a shitty area, remove it? How are these valid responses? I didn't have an issue on my tacoma, but I had a full set of skids. You might be able to have a fab shop make a bracket/skid just for that area. Another idea could be to replace 1 of the bolts with a longer one and weld a nut on the end. If you ever need to replace the cat just cut it off. Should be enough of a deterrent.

 

[Go_Galt]

park in a garage, don't live in a shitty area, remove it? How are these valid responses?

THREE stolen cats off the same vehicle in one year?

There's a certain point where an area is simply not conducive to fully functional adult humans living/working there. Getting a cat ripped off three times in a one year span is past this point, IMO.

YMMV.

 

[Lab00Rat]

Skid armor is the easiest option. I didn't see any armor on the emissions side of the underbelly, so it'd likely need to be custom.

It doesn't look that easy to reach the converter between the under panels, so the armor might not be that hard to fabricate.

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