Catalytic Converter Protector

How come when I click on the video icon in my own posts it doesn't play a YouTube video

 

Not sure, but I'd guess it's an ad blocker setting. I hate ads, but I finally had to give up on them because they kept blocking the wrong stuff.

 

Video views ok for me, using Ghostery (Ad Blocker with FireFox on Windows 10).

Ditto using Ad Blocker with Safari on iPhone SE2.

 

Yeah, but I don't see how that can do much when its so easy to transport stolen goods from anywhere in Connecticut to another state.

 

“The only thing necessary for evil to triumph in the world is that good men do nothing.”

It’s a start. Perhaps more states can also step up.

 

Ups, it is wrong tread, gen3 Prius instead.
We should install catalytic converter protector regardless how our insurance coverage is. Deterent is the best solution.

I just put on mine. this 3mm steel plate need 4 washers on the rear bolt. It works fine without vibration and any clunck sound over bumps. It added some rigidity to the front frame too. The rear bolts has 93 Nm torqe specs and the long middle bolts is 145Nm. I painted black because carbon steel will eventually have surface rust.

 

Think back to the first gen Pri. They were trying to make a World Car, something that would fit and work with what was it, 95%? 98%? of the people in the world. They wanted a car that could be operated comfortably by a 4'8" woman who weigh 98#, but also could be used comfortably by some strapping 6'5" guy who weighed 250# in his speedos. They wanted it to work, and work well for many different people in a wide variety of places, conditions, and circumstances.

What they got was the king of the small economy cars, something clean enough to make a salty old Green Peace warrior cry for happiness, safe enough that you would trust it to carry around the grandchildren, and cheap and reliable enough to tempt even the grumpiest New England miser to almost smile.

They did this, and did it well, but there were compromises. Thousands upon thousands of them. They took their time, worked carefully & well, but still, as with any physical object, there are always compromises.

I believe these traits are part of the DNA of the car, the corporate culture if you will. Some people like a snazzy stereo. There are people who will buy one of those boom stick bass amplifiers and mount them in the trunk. Other people (me) have maybe six or eight JBL speakers hidden around the cabin, or just the cheapest radio Toyota carries, and call it good. Others may have one of those CD changer carousels in the trunk, or prefer satellite radio, or stream music from their phone. All slightly different, all supported perfectly well by the car.

The car is a rolling compromise, but it will support your efforts to change it in the direction you care about. Some people plunk down thousands of dollars for a sound system. Others for soundproofing. Others for fancy seats, or a different suspension, or to drop the frame, or color shifting paint, or whatever. To these people it matters. *I* may not notice the difference, but maybe that's because it's not something I pay attention to.

In the case of Pianobench, look at the body panel directly above the middle of the car, over the cat. It's a half a cylinder running parallel to the car. This shape should give excellent resistance to deformation from front to back, but very little for left to right. In fact if I *wanted* the two sides to move separately I would try this exact shape. Now PB says he can feel a difference. Physics suggests it would be the exact difference he reports - if you were paying attention. I don't pay this much attention, so I don't know that I would notice it at all.

I believe he has taken his car and shifted its compromises slightly towards the direction he favors. His gain will be stiffness from side to side in the back of the car. His losses will be more weight, more cost, and perhaps less comfort, I don't know. Toyota chose the other way, however they were aiming at that 95% or 98% of the human race, and that is what they thought good. PB went another way because it suits *his* preferences.

Rather than criticize, because he is reaching for something we don't really value, that we might hardly notice, let us celebrate that he is here, and he is reaching, that he is competent and bold, and willing to report back to the rest of us so that the hivemind may grow. He is reaching. He is contributing.

Let us praise such men.

 

As for the protector I saw the one where a 2021 Prime was hit. They sawed through the aluminum brace which is hollow. With easy access to cheap cordless saws and carbide cheap saw blades this isn’t going to be easy to prevent them from vandalizing cars.
One idea I had was to put steel angle iron on top of the brace then a tube filled with oiled hardened dowel pins in key places. So the pins spin in the tubes when the blade hits them, and anyway they are hard to cut being hardened. Just ideas.
There has to be a better way. I saw the chains on the cutting areas idea.

 

OK, sir, I praise your sensitive senses.

Now, have you heard of blind A-B testing?
Do you really think you can tell one Prius from another with a gee-gaw bolted onto the underside?

Of course this test will never take place, so carry on! I'm sure you're feeling what you're feeling.

 

There are various brands and models available in the market

 

I try to always park with my passenger side right up on a curb, like an inch or less away, so no one could crawl under or slide a jack under. And, I installed a shield, and used grip tight nuts with the plastic threads built in so there’s zero “finger tighteneing”, ie, it takes several minutes and awkwardly placed tools to remove each bolt.

sadly I’m aware of three gen 2 Prii being hit in the silver lake neighborhood in Los Angeles. They had cat shields which were just cut off as the cat itself was removed, all in broad daylight.

And in my tiny mountain town of crestline a friend has had his cat stolen twice from his gen 2. He never installed a shield, and insurance totaled it after second theft.

criminals are stupid and lazy, which probably has a lot to do with why they’re criminals. So, with that in mind I am going to debadge my 2017 and 2020 primes so it doesn’t say “Prius” “plug in” “hybrid”etc anywhere … hoping the stupid criminals won’t realize what type of car it actually is

 

I found some interesting stats from Carfax. These are 2022 numbers from a March, 2023 article.

Nationwide, Prius is fourth in cat thefts, but in western states it's #1.

Nationwide:



Western states