My parents are away and they've left their 2004 Saturn L300 in the driveway to await their return. Unfortunately, my older (but not very car-caring) brother found the keys. He has his own, but while the Saturn's there, why drive it? So, I'd like to "break" the Saturn when he's not looking. Is there an "Engine" fuse in the fuse box? Does anyone know what it would do if I removed it, or any other good indiscrete ways (and easily reversible) to make it not start anymore? A reply asap would be appreciated. Email me at fowdawgg at no spam dot gmail dot com. Or reply to the newsgroup. Thanks! Spencer
Thanks for the sincere reply. Point being. I AM doing this for my older brother (the one in charge of my parent's estate, who can't get the keys back from the one that won't stop driving the car), and he won't give the keys back even after his parents have asked him to. I would like to somehow stop him from driving and ruining his parents' car before it's too late. Don't assume, Box134. I'm doing this to help my parents. My brother has his own car to drive, but his doesn't have A/C. I didn't ask for you opinion on my actions, I asked for information about a car.
I don't care about your family problems. See a counselor. You really expect responsible adults to help you sabotage a car? No wonder you're screwed up.
Preventing unauthorized operation of a car is of interest to all car owners. Of course in most cases we refer to it as theft. Does this family situation rise to that level?
Is the car that seriously at risk? It's probably good that the car be kept active rather than sit and rust while the battery slowly goes dead. Maybe the worst possibility is that the car will be returned with a few extra miles on it. Will the insurance cover him while he's driving it? Or will his insurance cover it? Is the guy an irresponsible slacker who leaves wreckage in is wake or are you just worried that he'll get mud on the carpets?
How much do you want to spend to protect the car?
If the car has keyless remote security and you have the other remote, you could reprogram the car to respond only to the one remote you have and then his wouldn't work anymore. That would inconvenience him for a little while. That's fairly cheap and easy.
And you could put an auxiliary lock on the car, like The Club.
Or lock the car in a garage where he doesn't have access or can't find it.
You could have all the lock cylinders rekeyed. That would cost a bit to have that done. I might consider that if my keys had been lost or stolen, but I wouldn't bother if one of my family members had them.
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