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Prius Cat Theft Tracking

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by PriusCamper, Jan 25, 2021.

  1. The Lizard King

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    "tone death"?
     
  2. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Yea, was a mispelling... Just went and fixed it to 'tone deaf'
     
  3. Socal_Prius

    Socal_Prius Junior Member

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  4. Georgina Rudkus

    Georgina Rudkus Senior Member

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    The thieves are moving to Gen cats. Until I saw this video from the UK, I thought they were tougher to steal because of the preheater coolant lines.



    Not so, I figured out that will the proper technique, it requires removing the two spring loaded bolts, cutting the wires to the oxygen sensor and one cut with a Sawzall while avoiding the preheater coolant filled pipes.
     
  5. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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  6. darbeenbo

    darbeenbo Junior Member

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    I had mine stolen in Irvine last weekend from a gen 2. The dealerships are all saying that Cats are on backorder, and have already been waiting 30+ days for a replacements. This really sucks because I was planning on moving across the country with this vehicle in about a month from CA to NY, which is also a CARB compliant state yeah?

    Anyone have any leads on getting a legit cat faster?
     
  7. The Lizard King

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    Get an aftermarket catalytic converter, and move to New Jersey.
     
  8. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    Yep.
    Put a temp straight pipe on the car until you start driving east, and find out what the procedures are for getting your car smogged in New York, and which cats there are NY smog compliant (they have some.)
    Once you get out from behind the tinsel curtain you can have an aftermarket cat installed in the car.

    If you want to go for style points you can wait until your car is in NY and get a cat there, but you have ZERO incentive for replacing the cat in the SoCal, and the folks in NY may not actually crawl under your car to check and see if you have a Yota cat....or just one that....works.

    New York Vehicle Emissions Inspection Laws

    In most sane states that perform VETs they either do an OBD2 check (look for codes) or they give your car a proctology exam and actually measure the exhaust to see if your car is within standards.......and Priuses are probably compliant even without a catalytic converter....and certainly WELL within state standards with a working cat installed.

    Remember...the only reason this whole flap-a-doodle got started is that G2s were supposed to be some kinda SDESLEV (super-duper, extremely smug low emissions vehicle)
    Super ultra-low emission vehicle - Wikipedia
    Most other cars just had to be "good nuff."

    Find out what's real-world "good nuff" for the zip code that you're going to actually be registering the car in and do what it takes to meet the standard THERE!

    Good Luck!
     
    #88 ETC(SS), Jun 8, 2021
    Last edited: Jun 8, 2021
    Georgina Rudkus and Merkey like this.
  9. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    As a stopgap, can you visit Nevada or Arizona to have a temporary straight pipe or cheap cat installed? Presuming that you don't have a smog inspection due before you move out of California. This would at least kick the can down the road until you can get homed in your new state and have some waiting time available for a legitimate part.

    Though the time window there, before you must re-register in that state, may not be long enough either.
     
  10. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    donbright likes this.
  11. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    See also:
    Catalytic Converter Theft | Page 7 | PriusChat
     
  12. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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  13. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    Sounds like they were pissed he had straight piped it so they vandalized him instead.
     
  14. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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  15. prius16

    prius16 Active Member

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    Interesting, thanks!

    From the Article: Wow!
    In January 2022, undercover investigators began bringing catalytic converters to the businesses to sell. Investigators documented numerous cases where the businesses purchased the converters without the documents to make the sale legal.
    During this time, detectives determined that the individuals involved in the case were capable of dealing with up to 1,500 catalytic converters in a day.
     
    edthefox5 likes this.
  16. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Thanks for sharing... I kinda think some of the people in those mug shots had no idea their job was ever related to illegal activity. Of course those are the ones who get their charges dropped if they're willing to testify against the ones that did know what they were doing was a crime.
     
    edthefox5 likes this.
  17. Another

    Another Senior Member

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  18. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Well, it's been a while since I updated this thread... Still plenty of cat thefts going on. Just yesterday Seattle showed footage of a gunfight over a cat theft: Shooting victim confronted suspected catalytic converter thieves | king5.com

    Also another development is they are now selling brand new replacement cats on Ebay for as low as $58 dollars, which is probably cheaper than straight piping. We got any guinea pigs willing to try one of these ridiculously priced cats and report back?

    So far the only issues I've had with cats in the previous low price of the $130 range is a couple of them were too short, which made installation a huge hassle & require couplings. @ChapmanF source on Ebay has the best fitting and best quality, with warranty paper work too: https://www.ebay.com/itm/193690871378 Probably going to stick with those in the future, but curious to know what the ones for 1/2 that price are like?
     
  19. Another

    Another Senior Member

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    Just a continuation of the penalize the crime victim problem.
    Maybe the law ought to be that if your cat is stolen, you get a straight pipe license until the authorities find the thief and recover enough money for you to replace it.
     
    NOLA_Akita likes this.
  20. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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