Car Thieves avoiding Toyota Prius

I would like to see the report of how many are stolen as a theft of opportunity, meaning those of us that leave the Prius "running" as we stop for gas or a quick stop at the 7-11 (know I have done this to keep the mpg's higher) verses hard thefts of waking up in the morning to find the Prius gone...

 

That is the clue. There are no new parts available for 15+ old car. Means, you have to rely on used parts only to keep the car running. 1994 was about the time when Accord was the best selling car in USA and there lots of those cars on road and needing parts for replacement. If Prius is indeed the best selling car in CA, that could make it a big theft target 15 years from now or so when replacement batteries are in short supply and not available new from toyota.

 

You are right. I have rechecked user manual and there is no word about steering wheel lock. I was sure Prius have it as any other car with electronic key (if you sit in your car after power-off for 2-3 minutes you can hear moving mechanics - I was sure it is a sound from a steering wheel lock).

 

I guess NICB might be watching for the crossover of the salvage/parts value of a Prius vs the resale value. When the salvage value exceeds the resale value I suspect insurance fraud and theft rates tick up.

 

Seems fairly obvious they are using theft as a surrogate marker for fraud.

 

Online sites that sell genuine Honda parts seem to list parts as far back as 1984?

 

Prius parts are useless to car thieves because they steal for the parts because you cant sell a car without having the pink slip and registration in your name. the only thing you can do as a car thief is to strip it and sell it for parts. but it requires special training and special factory tools to disassemble a hybrid which only the dealership service dept. has access to. otherwise you're probably going to electrocute yourself with thousands of volts of electricity trying to take the car apart. a wrench and a pair of pliers isn't going to cut it on these vehicles lol. these are not normal cars that anyone can work on. working on hybrids is very dangerous if you don't have the proper tools and factory training. the battery packs store thousands of volts of electricity for example and if you pull out the wrong wire you're toast. it s a matter of high risk and low reward and stealing a hybrid is not worth the risk of getting fried like a bucket of KFC. conventional cars make far easier targets.

 

Years ago, around 1997, a car alarm installer in downtown oakland told me a lot about car theft. He said that most cars are stolen to go to chop shops and parted out. These are professional thieves who can dismantle the cars 100% and have a distribution network for the body and mechanical parts.

He said that it's specific models. They go after cars that are easy to steal and which can feed their network. There will never be a BMW theft network, he said, because there simply isn't a big enough demand to support a network. He mentioned some 1970's pontiacs that were very easy to sell, and said at the time it was Hondas and Toyota's.

But my new car was a BMW. He told me it had fuel cut-off, a blinking anti-theft led on the radio, and doors that won't unlock with a slimjim. So he wouldn't sell me an alarm.

 

Theft's a weird one and market dependent.

BMW's in the UK ARE sought after, but not to be stripped. They're usually in a container and on their way to Pakistan, Malaysia or other RHD countries with high import duties and/or police and legal systems of questionable moral standing.

A complete nightmare if you have certain SUV's and quality cars such as BMW and Mercedes. In fact, it is not unknown to see stolen UK RHD cars blatantly driving round places like Georgia (nr Russia) or Albania or certain African republics. No point having a tracker fitted; it'll only tell you your car is on a container ship in the middle of the ocean.

WARNING: Thieves who want to steal your car and ship it to Uganda OPERATE IN THIS AREA | Mail Online

 

There is only 200VDC or so from the battery. Don't know where you get the thousands volts from.

 

LOL, I just love your naivity. A thief can dismantle a car with a hammer and a gas torch (cutter), he needs no special tools. How many times have you been to a breakers yard and seen suspension parts, transmissions or engines with mountings still attached, burned off at the other end.
Also the High voltage (200v) side of the Prius is completely safe when the car is not in READY mode, isolated at the battery end by relays.

 

"What are you in for?"
"Murder. What are you in for?"
"I stole a Prius."
"Bwahahahahaha."

 

There just isn't a demand yet for Prius parts........once the demand is high, it will only be a matter of time

 

Having read

Confessions of a Car Thief - Edmunds.com

it seems that:

1. Older vehicles, e.g., 1994 Accord can be stolen by forcing the ignition-key system with something like a large screwdriver since these vehicles do not have transponder keys.
2. Thefts of newer vehicles are most often thefts of opportunity, e.g., stealing a vehicle that is left warming up in the morning, or ones that are left with keys in the ignition when the owner unloads.

So why are Prii less stolen? Perhaps because owners keep their keys in their pocket or purse and not in the vehicle. Also, owners tend to be sensitive about fuel consumption so they don't run the vehicle unattended to warm it up. So it's owner behavior.

 

I saw a discussion on this same thing elsewhere and the spin was different: even the thieves don't want them. Man, you can always spin positive thing into negative vibe.

 

Guess they figure the Prius is not the car to have when a fast get away may be needed...

 

At least the thieves will get great gas mileage while they're being chased.

 

Here is the special training:

Toyota Service Information


Pick your Prius.

 

Here's my belief, and I'll let you all poke holes in my belief. I believe in 1994 Honda Accord was the highest selling car in 1994 (or close to it). Once the original owner was done with it, it got sold in the used car market, and probably since then, got sold once (or more) again. Unfortunately, this last buyer has no money. So when he (I'm not being sexist, just trying to keep the typing to a minimum) needs a replacement part, he goes to the local chop shop. If you were the chop shop, you would be stealing the 1994 Honda Accord. But I also believe ease of stealing the car has its merits.

Somebody mentioned that the Prius is the highest selling car in California. I don't know whether that's true, but I believe the highest selling automobiles are generally pickups (I think it has to do with fleet sales). But assume the 2012 Prius is the highest selling car. It still has to go through the time to work its way down to the buyer with no money, who will be purchasing the replacement parts from the chop shop. I don't see that happening for a long time if ever. This is because the buyer with no money will probably buy a used Corolla rather than a used Prius because the used Corolla will be much cheaper.

Put a different way, are any of you willing to go to the nearest chop shop to purchase your replacement part? I don't think so. So the market is created, yet. And if the market is created, I still don't see any of us going to the nearest chop shop, period.

Mike

 

Here's a story about theft of Gen 3 traction batteries:
Thieves Targeting Prius Batteries in Downtown Sacramento | KTXL FOX40