GEN 2 Catalytic Converter Theft

Arrived at Denver International Airport’s long term lot to pick up our 2009 Gen 2 Priuscar only to hear the unmufflered sound we all dread. Quick check under the vehicle for wires, debris, or liquid revealed ok to drive home. NOTE: this is not true for newer Prius models as many of you will know – check this first before driving. An inspection at home revealed the thieves had unscrewed the bolts at the exhaust manifold and cut the exhaust pipe cleanly downstream of the resonator. How kind! I filled out a police report and checked my car insurance coverage. Good news was that our comprehensive insurance coverage covered the repair except for deductible.
TIP: Do file the police report and check your insurance coverage before doing the repair.
After calling a couple of Toyota dealers, I contacted my trusted local muffler shop. Toyota dealer would not give me an estimate without me driving it to them which seems ridiculous to me. The local shop (and the insurance company) were happy with photos and a brief facetime session.
TIP: Find a shop that has done this many times and get a detailed estimate to submit to insurance when they invariably give you less based on their nationalized estimate. Make sure the shop plans to use OEM parts as much as possible.
I worked closely with the local shop and they were quite helpful in closing the gap between their estimate and the insurance company’s estimate. The shop took 4 hours-ish to repair. As I walked out the door, the owner noted that the Red Triangle of Death light was on; he’d seen this on a few previous repairs but that it usually resolved after driving and charging the hybrid battery. Armed with this knowledge and happy to get the car back, I left the shop. I quickly noticed that the acceleration was not great but did not quickly realize that the gas engine was not running. I made it about a mile before the car died and I pulled over. I reset the codes by unhooking the 12V battery negative lead and, unbelievably, was able to coax the car another 1/2 mile to a gas station parking lot where I could safely diagnose. The Red Triangle of Death was gone and the hybrid battery was completely depleted – not good. I called the muffler shop – the owner called a car repair buddy and came back to me to tell me to look at the EFI fuse in the box under the front hood. The O2 sensor wiring can short out during the theft or repair process and this, apparently, blows the fuse and prevents the gas engine from starting/running. Sure enough it was blown and Toyota conveniently provides a 15A spare in the box which I put in place. Still no joy on starting the engine despite the use of an instant charger and then charging with cables from my wife’s capable SUV. It was now Friday night at 5pm and there was no hope of a timely tow. When I called the local hybrid repair shop, their first question: “do you have a catalytic converter guard?” I had ordered it after the airport theft but had not installed it yet. They recommended I do NOT tow it to them as it would be a theft target. I quickly settled on my typical default approach – get it home myself and I’ll figure it out. I keep a complete car retrieval setup in my wife’s SUV so I had a tow strap and was able to connect the Prius (with its ridiculously small anchor tabs underneath) to the SUV.
TIP: Carry a small but strong shackle (u-bolt) in the Prius in case you ever need to use a looped tow strap.
There is a steep and long hill up and down just before our home so I reviewed our towing protocol with my extremely capable wife and we were off using as many local streets as we could. In this situation, the vehicle being towed does the majority of the braking to keep the tow strap reasonably taut and avoid jerks and snaps. Heading up the big hill, the Red Triangle of Death suddenly appeared again on the dash and it occurred to me that, because I was braking, the hybrid battery was getting charged and even more so since I was slowing down a moving SUV too! I really laid on the brakes going down the steep hill and managed to get the hybrid battery up to two bars. I’m not sure if the Prius would have started its gas engine with a completely dead hybrid battery - maybe it would but it can’t hurt to have a couple of bars on the hybrid battery.
TIP: power button on when towing to allow you to see if the hybrid battery is charging and allow use of turn signals, etc.
We got home with no drama – thanks to my incredible bride – and I hooked up the Prius to my home battery charger. It still took quite a while to get the 12V battery happy enough but sure enough I was able to start the car, the gas engine quickly kicked in and immediately started charging the hybrid battery. I left the slow charger on for a long time to get a full charge on the 12V and all ended well. I’m grateful for the EFI fuse tip as it might have taken me a while to figure that out although I have now seen that sprinkled on this forum and other places. I installed the Cat Shield by Millercat converter guard a few days later – highly recommend this guard as it took me maybe 45 minutes and I was moving very carefully and slowly. I think the most effective part of the kit may be the two smallish stickers that I put on the car. Hope this story helps.