Socal Tacoma owners be on the lookout

I figured you understood, just wanted to clarify incase some others without the knowledge didn't understand. :thumbup:

 

WTF Toyota security sucks!! I could start my 2007 dc with my buddy's 2005 king cab key!!

 

Proforce, would your mod work against hotwiring as well or would hotwiring it simply bypass all of that?

 

Subscribed for later.

 

It depends on where the relay is installed. For instance, if you remove the lower steering column panel it will expose the ignition wiring. This is typically where most kill switches or alarms are installed. It is also where a vehicle is hotwired from. Therefore, if a thief is knowledgeable in electrical wiring, which he/she obviously is if they are hot wiring the vehicle, then they will easily see the kill switch relay, and can just bypass it right there on the spot. In fact, many times the installation of such kill switches or alarms actually aids in the successful hotwire of a vehicle because it actually makes the wiring more easily identified.

For example, if I go to steal a vehicle that does not have an alarm, then I need to look up that vehicles wiring info ahead of time to know which wires are starter, ignition, accessory, and battery. This is different for every model vehicle and may be hard to remember. Plus these OEM wires are well concealed in tape and loom. BUT, if you have am alarm installed in your vehicle, chances are your alarm uses standard wiring colors. I would instantly know the the red alarm wire is battery, pink is ignition, orange is accessory, and purple and green are your starter in/out. Now it doesn't matter what vehicle you have, I know exactly which wire is what, where its at, and its easy to get to. I can steal a car with an alarm faster than a car without.

Now, all that leads me to my main point. Installing alarms and kill switches is not a bad thing IF you or your installer understand that the safety device cannot be installed in the most convenient location such as the ignition harness. Instead, these things must be installed further into the system, like up by your firewall or behind your instrument cluster. I've seen alarms installed on the passenger side or stashed behind radios. The wires are tapped in a non-visible location so as to make the alarm or kill switch actually prevent a theft instead of assist the thief. Sadly, most installs are not done this way.

During an alarm install, I typically like to re-pin the main harness on the alarm and switch around the wires. Then I rewrite the manual with the new color codes for future reference. This will be different on all my vehicles, and only known to me. I were it in such a way that if a thief could even find my alarm in the first place, when they tried to bypass it using typical wire color configurations, they will only make it more difficult to steal.

So to get to my point I guess.... if you know what your doing and install things correctly, then use it will prevent against hotwire. If your just installing it the way that seems most reasonable and makes the most sense to you, then no it does no good. A starter kill relay like I have shown should be installed in the engine bay, close to the starter at possible, and in the most difficult place to access. The harder and more difficult it is to install, the harder it is to bypass or even find.

But, these trucks are pretty dam hard to just hotwire and drive away with. We have 2 starter wires at the ignition harness, both of which must be powered. We also have 2 accessory and/or 2 ignition wires iirc. This makes a hotwire WAY more complicated and dam near impossible in a short amount of time. That's not to mention of you have a chipped key then a hotwire is impossible unless the thief has connections with Toyota and somehow paid to get the unique code for your vehicle and paid for a chipped key to match your truck. In which case they would just drive off anyways. But that's where this kill switch comes into play get it?

 

Very interesting, everybody interested should really take the time to read that post^ you're obviously very knowledgeable in this subject, so thank you for your info!