HID Headlight Security

Hi,

I have a 2001 B5 S4. The HID xenon headlights were recently stolen. The entire headlight fixtures were completely removed from the car. I would like to replace these with another set of HID headlights, but I don't want them to get stolen again.

Are there any security measures I can take to prevent this from happening?

Thanks,

Joe

Reply to
josephsamuels
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Maybe some easy way is to use the hood alarm switch to detect that a headlight is taken out/loose? I.e. some alarm wire through the headlights which they have to brake/cut loose ?

I think now the alarm didnt went off?

I've once glued razor blades on the inner side of a grill of a VW golf 4. 2x they took out the plastic grill and screwed the headlights out. (and simply broke the upper mounting). Since then they didnt even tried anymore...

Al

Reply to
Bundy

Al,

I like where your head's at. I am not above sabotaging my own car. If someone is that crappy of a person that they will steal someone's headlights, they deserve to get hurt. I don't care how; cut, shocked, sprayed, burned, whatever.

Reply to
josephsamuels

To solve this problem I bought steel headlight brackets and a pinswitch alarm sensor kit from:

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Hopefully, this will prevent the theives from easily ripping the lights out and when they try, the alarm will go off.

I understand that if the thief really wanted to steal the headlights, they could, and only more damage would result. I'm willing to take this risk because my insurance will pay for the damage anyway. I'd risk more damage being done to the car if it will prevent the thief from easily stealing the headlights.

I also considered adding a second alarm, as pictured here:

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I'm interested to hear what anyone else has done about this. Thanks.

Reply to
josephsamuels

Be careful with that. Not only could you bizarrely get sued for injury to the thief, but most likely if they realise your car has been booby trapped and it's injured them, then they're likely to react by totally trashing your car. I'd just go with somehow securing the headlights a lot better, like drilling out the screw heads so they can't be unscrewed.

Reply to
Ed Chilada

What about getting the outer lenses etched with the VIN number. In the UK, anyone can get free etching, usually of all the glass panels, at AutoGlass (CarGlass in Europe). They usually etch the registration number, but you can ask for the last 10 numbers of your VIN - they don't usually do the polycarbonate headlamps, but then I havn't heard anyone in the UK having HID headlamps stolen !

Sean

Reply to
Juan King

Its very simple to remove any etching from glass with a polishing kit & abrasive compound,

Steve.

Reply to
Steve68s

And frankly, I doubt those that would go through the hassle of extricating HIDs would give a cr*p about serial numbers...

Reply to
daytripper

That is very true - however, the outer lens of the HID headlamp (along with virtually all halogen headlamps for the last few years) is NOT glass. It is actually polycarbonate - any polishing, partiularly when trying to remove etching, will render the headlamp useless, because of the fine scratches which you can not remove. Just ask any motorcyclist how dangerous a scratched visor is!

Yes, you may be correct - but my suggestion of etching is merely another deterrent, in the same way that visible VINs on car dashboards is a deterrent, the same as DataTag and SmartWater on motorcycles is only a deterrent, and ultimately car alarms and immobilisers are a deterrent.

At the end of the day, the most determined of thieves will not be bothered about ANY kind of security system. It will however, deter the casual, opportunist thief, who, after eyeballing your motor and noticing your differing number of security methods, will probably think twice and move onto an easier target.

The other issue you both failed to answer was that my suggestion was FREE, in the UK anyway. I don't know if the US car insurers over the pond support car glass companies with free etching, but I have noticed our US car owners seemed to be more adept with Dremel tools, so they could even use that to etch the headlamps and glass.

Sean

Reply to
Juan King

Where could i get some stickers for the headlights, or near them, that would make it look like they have an alarm?

Reply to
josephsamuels

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