What are the methods car thieves use to steal Camarys. What a good deterrents? My car has PermaVIN, which is the VIN etched in all the windows, does it do any good? Why are Camrys so high on the desirability list and are LEs with 4 cylinder engines in that group? tnx Hank
If a thief wants your car, he's going to get it, period! Of course, this may include using a flatbed if it's a car for which parts are in demand. Parts, wheels and sound systems are the reasons cars are stolen, also just the 'joyrider', but parts are the big reason.
You can install an ignition disabler. I do my own using one of those cylindrical key switches that can be bought at Radio Shack. The car won't even crank. I also had a 'Club' clone called the Anes Big Stick. Biggest difference? It had a 'pigtail' that secured itself to the steering wheel, and when clamped in it can't be 'wiggled'. It also had a cylindrical lock, much harder to defeat than the plain old key lock like the Club. I can't find them anymore; K-Mart used to have them. Also, turn the lock facing towards the dashboard; it makes it much harder to compromise the lock that way.
I also had an alarm by CodeAlarm (we're talking just a FEW years ago here) that had an AUX input, so you could 'chain' alarms together. Attached to this AUX input I had a system, also from Rad Shack (discontinued, unfortunately...) that measured drastic differences in air pressure...like when a window breaks. This had it's own siren connection which I connected to the CodeAlarm. With the system active, rolling down the window rapidly triggered the system.
All of these defeats can be found; modern alarms include the air pressure sensors and motion detectors as options. The Club is still around, but I don't think it's as effective as The Big Stick. I still have it; my daughter lost the keys about 5 years ago...I keep hoping they show up somewhere...
The best thing about MY disabler system; even if the alarm is defeated, unless they find the switch, they can't start the car. I also got some heavy-duty plastic coated 'Aircraft' cabling and a Master lock with a plastic weatherproof coating and rigged it so the hood can't be opened without a key; even if they DO figure out why the car can't start, they can't open the hood! By the time they figure all this out, I'm there with a baseball bat (no, not really; someone who's SERIOUS about stealing your car will be carrying a gun...)
Why all the security? My 'hachiroku' ('85 Corolla GT-S) was boosted in
1990. They took everything but the kitchen sink...seats, wheels, and all my sound stuff...4 amps, 2 10" woofers, 2 8" mids, my 1" dome tweets... It took me three weeks to locate the car and another 4 to round up the parts and put it back together. But not original...They stole the car the very DAY BEFORE I was going to put the alarm and the club on it. Then, just to rub salt in the wound, at approx 1 PM on the
4th of July, TWO WEEKS after I got the thing put back together, they smashed my passenger's window and boosted my new Kenwood system!!!! God, was I PISSED!!!!! A few days later I added the pressure sensor.I could tell you HOW they did it...but I won't. Sorry...
hachiroku wrote in news:lX5pe.4898$nk4.2266@trndny01:
Also air bags. Those are BIG targets because they aren't uniquely identified, are easily removable, are small, and are very expensive to purchase.
They can be easily fenced to unscrupulous bodyshops (those don't exist, do they...?)
The LE is easier to steal than the XLE because the later has an anti-theft circuit built into the key that makes it hard to steal by jumping the ignition. You must have a Toyota key which is properly programmed to start the XLE. I am not sure about the 2005 models, but this is true for previous Camrys.
I forget about those...I'm basically still stuck in the '80's! ;)
hachiroku wrote in news:QA7pe.1120$5M2.769@trndny06:
I thought of it because my sister recently had them stolen out of her Civic. She lives in a good city, a quiet neighborhood, and the car was locked.
The thieves were in and out in what must have been a single minute, and did considerable damage to the dash. They smashed a window to gain entry.
Nothing else was taken, just the airbags.
Boy I'm glad I don't have those things.
Put a little more simply, since many vehicles are stolen or broken into for parts, the more popular they are in sales, the more popular they tend to be as parts sources.
Where I live (small town) at home I usually just throw the keys on the top of dash after I park, either that or I just leave them in the ignition.
Hope nobody runs down your header info and finds out where you live and
*needs* a Camry. ^_^...Allen
That care would last about 5 minutes or less in some parts of Chicago.
ARRRGGGHHHH!!! Must be nice! With a Corolla GT-S, Holyoke was NOT the place to park it!
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