Wasn't there a story about a year ago about two jail escapee's stealing an Insight and trying to run towards Mexico?
Insight Thefts?
Does anyone have the NHTSA figures on Insight thefts? I tried to find them on their website, but didn't have any luck finding any year except 2000.
I will soon be going to school in an area with a high car theft rate, and am considering ways to speed the recovery of my car in the event it is stolen. I looked at lo jack, but at $500+, I would say it is out of my price range. Is anyone aware of a transponder that is more reasonably priced?
I will soon be going to school in an area with a high car theft rate, and am considering ways to speed the recovery of my car in the event it is stolen. I looked at lo jack, but at $500+, I would say it is out of my price range. Is anyone aware of a transponder that is more reasonably priced?
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All they'd need is an insider in a dealerships parts department and they could have a working key. All they'd have to do is walk up and start it. Or if they had some repo tools they could have it gone in a few minutes without a trapsonder key. Unfortunately there is no "unstealable car", but I'd call the Insight an unlikely target. You'd be much more likely to have a window broken out to quickly grab whatever might have been sitting in the open which appears of value. Factory radios are even of some value, I recall someone posting here a little while back needing a new dash because his car had been broken in to for a few valueables and the radio.
An interesting story:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4265482
An interesting story:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4265482
Aaron Cake, not necessarily true. A friend of ours runs a repo lot. I got to see some of his goodies he uses. They don't always tow cars away. For example a certain year range of Ford vehicles there was only something like 15 transponder possibilities so all they had to do was get a key cut then put this device near the key while it was in the ignition then start trying until they found the one that worked. Others are more complicated not as well, but with the proper tools anything is possible.
Now would the easiest way be to tow it away? Yes. You can never assume a car is unstealable.
Dgate, actually you've got a good point there if you wanted to put a kill switch on. You wouldn't want to kill 12 volts entirely as your car would constantly be recalibrating, however... I'd have to look at the wiring diagrams to confirm this, but there should be two 12 volt inputs going to the ECU, one thats always on so it can keep things stored in memory, then another that goes hot when the ignition is turned on. Simply put a kill switch to the ECU's turn on line and there's no way the car would start. I can't say for sure this may or may not cause problems with things, but might be worth investigating if you wanted a kill switch.
BTW, a car cover also makes a great theft deterent because as far as random hits taking the time to remove the cover first is probably not worth the effort to them.
Now would the easiest way be to tow it away? Yes. You can never assume a car is unstealable.
Dgate, actually you've got a good point there if you wanted to put a kill switch on. You wouldn't want to kill 12 volts entirely as your car would constantly be recalibrating, however... I'd have to look at the wiring diagrams to confirm this, but there should be two 12 volt inputs going to the ECU, one thats always on so it can keep things stored in memory, then another that goes hot when the ignition is turned on. Simply put a kill switch to the ECU's turn on line and there's no way the car would start. I can't say for sure this may or may not cause problems with things, but might be worth investigating if you wanted a kill switch.
BTW, a car cover also makes a great theft deterent because as far as random hits taking the time to remove the cover first is probably not worth the effort to them.
1 - 3 of 15 Posts
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