Another catalytic converter theft

A friend of mine just informed that his brother's 2020 Tacoma was a victim of cat theft. I thought that our were more difficult to cut since they are high up, plus skid plate in the way...I guess not hard enough...here are some pictures. Here in Alberta this repair is $3K. Are those cat shields effective?, anyone has installed one ?

 

Damn

 

Dude, that sucks. Here in Houston it is also an epidemic. I wonder how long until manufacturers start offering some sort of catalytic converter protection package to cars. Kind of like the VIN etching they already offer but with an even more ridiculous price point

 

I saw this yesterday about the shield. People suck.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...3rd-gen-today.399305/page-10741#post-26323774

 

Yes. Yes they do.

 

What low lifes we have in this world !!!!!!

 

Agreed

 

Make the insurance claim.

Until the public places pressure on Congress and the Insurance Companies and those companies begin losing big $$.......nothing will happen.

Many laws have been passed in the last decade to make theft a minor crime. Many times the LEO won't even investigate. So, there are 0 (zero) punitive actions and 0 (zero) risk of getting arrested.

IMHO, this needs to be solved from multiple directions. Scrappers, Insurance, Legal. Even go back a few hundred years when a thief would lose a hand as punishment without anesthetic. WHACK.

I've had a car stolen and a camper stolen.......Law enforcement basically shrugged their shoulders.

 

I just ordered one of these because they look to be the best bolt-on solution I can find

 

Hmmmmmmmm any drilling etc with that one

 

Apparently four holes for some extra bolt locations, but I've heard of folks skipping those and using the stock holes only. I'm guessing the mere presence of this will be a deterrent. I doubt thieves will look long and hard about how to remove this since they're looking for quick and easy scores.

Compared to buying big metal straps, welding loads of rebar on the cats, or hanging fish hooks all around them I think it's a pretty good option

 

Unfortunately that doesn't really matter. A lot of these guys have their own black market networks they offload these things to. The junkyards (at least in my area) don't actually receive many of these.

 

Great excuse to just stop running rear cats:

https://urdusa.com/urd-mark-2-y-pipe-tacoma-2016-v6/

 

That's the best deterrent, for sure. Except in states with smog laws.

 

Hmm, then perhaps a vibration sensor linked to an air suspension system. When the truck feels vibration it lowers itself like a lowrider

 

What do they do with these after they steal them? Sell them back to other people? Break them down for the materials inside?

 

Yeah, apparently the prize is the precious metals inside

 

They go to the recycling more often than not, due to the platinum inside( about 100$)... they are valuable. Otherwise, they go to junkyards or repair shops that resell them for 5x the recycling price.

 

Those places would have to know they are stolen. How could they purchase them? Some random dude walks in off the street with a bran new cut off cat and they just accept it? How is this possible?

 

Does that work with the TRD Pro skid plate? Do you possibly have pictures?