Theft Prevention?

They shouldn't be able to shift to drive...

 

Do what is practical and what will get you the most bang for your buck.
- Make sure your insurance is paid.
- Fuel pump kill switch.
- Put a “club” on the steering wheel.
- Leave *nothing* visible. No accessories. Not even a power cord for your phone, or a map, stick of gum, or anything shiny.
- Tint your windows to the max you can get away with in your area.
- Put a sun shade in to cover the windshield.
- Put a decal in the front window: “This vehicle is protected by Smith and Wesson”. (LOL)
- Close all windows.
- Lock your doors.
- Arm the alarm.
- Walk away and try not to worry.

BTW, when I was in college, living in a sketchy neighborhood, I had an expensive bicycle that I worried would be seen and get stolen. So I spray painted it the ugliest poop brown flat color I could find, and made it look real ugly. I had it for 4 years there, no problems. When I graduated I cleaned it all off with nail polish remover.

Maybe you could do something like that, with ugly vinyl wrap.

 

Ok, I totally understand where this is coming from. You can have the best insurance in the world but you wont get YOU 4R back. Insurance will depreciate its value 25% the moment it leaves the dealership parking lot. New car replacement only last for the first year on those few policies that offer it. But more importantly, there is the emotional violation when you put so much work and money into your vehicle, to have some low life break into it, or worse steal it.
So, a deterrent I looked into, was Shatter Resistant Window Film. It Stops the smash and grab thieves, and it comes in different strengths, from a simple rock smash, to a .357magnum round. The Feds use this stuff on a lot of their buildings. Its a bit pricey... depending on strength and how many windows you want covered, it can range from $1k-$2k last time I checked a few years ago. 3M makes it as well as some other companies.
A starter kill switch will keep it from leaving except by tow truck.
Then well lit area, warning of recorded surveillance, motion activated lights, a garage with a decent lock, all add to the layers of security. No clue how to stop a simple slim jim though.
Now if anyone knows how to wire some stun guns to the door handles, with out frying the trucks electronics, I would love that. Otherwise that level of security is reserved for james bond, and robocop..

 

I have to ask: No Garage, right?

 

Here's a "potential" solution but obviously it would have to be installed out of sight - it's kind of a throw back to my racing days back in the 70s...

https://zips.com/parts-detail/mico-...sb74iXVKPQ86qHK97bRhQAljjfhq1U7gaAi0bEALw_wcB

It ain't cheap but either is the vehicle you're trying to protect. If you happen to have a winch installed you can always anchor it to a well placed "pad eye" rooted in several inches of concrete? That's what holds my Rhino in place on its trailer.

 

Buy a stick shift, no one these days knows how to drive one...

 

Living in the bay area, nothing is going to keep somebody from breaking into your car, it’s too easy to smash a window.

And nothing is going to stop a motivated and/or sophisticated thief from stealing your car.

To keep damage from stupid criminals to a minimum, do not leave anything remotely valuable in plain sight, I’ve seen people smash windows to get at coins in the ashtray.

 

Sad but so true. Leave nothing in sight. No power cords, shopping bags, clothing, nothing. Take it, hide it, cover it up in the cargo area.

And put it all away before you park and leave your vehicle. Don’t let the vultures see what you have.

 

$ 1,000 bike ? whoa....my neighbor just spent 9800 for a new road bike.........as for our vehicles...what about a ' kill switch ' ? to disable it starting up ...??

 

I had a '83volvo back in college that my dad helped me wire a starter kill switch. Then in my '96 accord I had a shop install what they called a kill switch (i was worried about accidently setting off the airbags if i did the install). Had to flip a switch before cranking the ignition. Are there any posts about doing that to a Gen5 4R? My worry isn't a stolen vehicle or smash and grab at home... its while I'm out and about. I know its impossible to stop 100% of theft, but it doesn't mean I have to make it easy for them. If they want my stuff then they gotta work for it.

 

One of these will help take a bite out of crime. Simply place under seat cover and don’t forget

 

Cute. So you chose to insult my comment. I see you live in California, which means you have chosen to live in an area with an extremely high rate of auto thefts. I used to live in Arizona. Another area with extremely high auto thefts. Why? because of the proximity to Mexico.

Don't accept that reality? Fine. That's on you.

But don't insult those of us who have chosen to become educated on the facts and reality and adjusted our lifestyle.

https://www.autoinsuranceez.com/cities-highest-vehicle-theft-rates/



You also may note that the top 3 states/locations for stolen autos and all the other cities not near Mexico, are heavily democratic areas; another indicator that you are more likely to be a victim of auto theft.

 

Here's some statements by actual cops about the relationship between stolen cars and proximity to Mexico.

https://www.kold.com/story/13394453/top-10-most-stolen-cars-in-arizona/

TPD Sgt. James Wakefield says,"The older model vehicles tend to be easier to steal. Often people that own them assume that people won't be interested in the stealing them because they think their worth less."

So owners of older cars let their guard down.

Where do those cars end up?

"Sometimes the vehicles end up in chop shops where they're stripped for valuable parts. Sometimes the high dollar vehicles or larger SUV's end up in Mexico," Wakefield says.

He says Tucson's close proximity to Mexico contributes to our auto theft rate that ranked our city 24th in the country in 2009.

https://foxsanantonio.com/news/loca...g-cars-shipping-them-to-mexico-for-cartel-use

"We were able to identify two very sophisticated car thieves in the Houston area that were indicated to have stolen 600 vehicles transport them through the Rio Grande Valley and into Mexico," Lippa tells us.

One of those were arrested in Houston, but that doesn't stop them. Instead, they pickup shop and move to Harlingen or Brownsville. Once the stolen vehicles are moved to Mexico, they're used for military-type purposes.

"For example those vehicles were used to transport weapons within Mexico," Lippa said. "They were used to transport cartel soldiers across the state of Tamaulipas. They were used to drop road spikes, they were used to scout vehicles."

In most of the more than 600 stolen vehicle cases, they were in Mexico and in service before their owners even woke up the next morning.

 

Doesn’t sprint booster have a lock out code feature or some such sorcery that acts like a kill switch?

**edit**oops shoulda read the whole thread first…post 11 pointed that out already…..move along

 

You’re drawing some pretty wild sweeping conclusions from those sources. Proximity to Mexico and more democratic voters = more statewide car thefts? Huh?

The article only looked at large cities, not whole states.

“In this ranking, we look at the 15 cities in the United States with the highest motor vehicle theft rates. Only cities with 1 million or more residents were ranked.”

And New Mexico wasn’t highlighted as a high theft state even though it’s close to Mexico. That’s cause the largest city, Albuquerque, has a population of less than 600,000.

Theory is null and void.

 

God people like you are the worst with with your “heavily democratic areas” comment. Not all wheelers are cool with your fearful politicized comments & anti Mexico tropes. Leave your politics with your bumper stickers and off the forums. Some of the highest rates of high tech new car theft is actually in affluent areas. Canada has some of the worst radio frequency theft (new push button cars).

I live in one of the most beautiful states (outdoors, camping and wheeling wise) New Mexico. Are you telling me I should move away because I should be afraid of car theft because my state is “Democratic” and close to Mexico?

If you had some awareness you would realize that telling people to move is akin to insulting a person’s home and history. Imagine being a native American and reading that I should move to less “democratic” area to avoid potential crime. Try being part of a solution or offering actual helpful advice that pertains to actionable steps people can take to avoid car theft.

I will try below.



Chipped G key 4Runners 10-2019 are not that easy to steal. The real issue is modern thieves using rf radio devices that steal the codes to the 20-24 models. Rf theft allows them to make a copy of your key, start it and drive away (often to a loading dock to be shipped overseas) thieves can even have key blanks with them while trolling parking lots or neighborhoods and make a key with a laptop from the safety of their car 50ft away. This is only an issue for the push button start 4Runners.

For the push button people one neat trick to avoid theft: Make a habit of not hitting your lock button on your remote when you get out of your 4runner especially in busy areas. Instead always use the manual lock button on the actual door which does not emit radio frequencies. The RF thieves can’t use those Devices if you don’t press the remote buttons because that’s when they transmit the signal (code) in other words you are only vulnerable during locking and unlocking with the remote.

In addition

My anti theft
1) garage
2) kill switch
3) hide your stuff
4) hide an apple AirTag with the speaker disabled in your truck (it’s 29 bucks) and you can track em down.
5) insurance
6) lucky I have the old school g key which cannot be copied from the radio frequency.

 

Maybe you missed it, but this is kind of an old thread.

 

From my understanding the key fob transmits a signal all the time.... not just during locking and unlocking. This is how thieves are able to grab a signal at someone's front door in the middle of the night. The fob is the transmitter and the vehicle is the receiver. The fob is always transmitting is what I've read in the past.

 

So difficult to come up with booby traps that won’t get you into trouble (legally, and if you forget it doesn’t get you). A buddy of mine and I were brainstorming with spring blades. Have one based on seat pressure, released once truck is moving. Either between back of seat and head rest, so it would pierce the back of the neck, or seat bottom seam with seat back, which could be set up with more force leveraging the floor so goes further into the body. My buddy is obsessed with severing spinal cords on theives.

 

This is a good one. Place on seat and have a seat cover or black sheet on seat cushion. This would be able to do damage regardless of what’s on top (but, hand, etc).

 

Yup my buddy still uses that bear trap when in rougher neighborhoods. Burned once not twice. Take a bite out of crime

 

Be cool to disguise a bear trap so it looks like the steering wheel

 

https://youtu.be/mLAlxfWjOFg

 

Yeah air tag is not a bad back up idea. That works after it’s gone and on it’s way to being stripped.

The bear trap is much less high tech and most likely the vehicle will not get moved. Plus if you have Softex the mess should be relatively easy to clean up.

 

Just put a Chevy emblem on it. Also works as a contraceptive.

 

Lol, If you are going to do the hidden airtag do this before you hide it to prevent it from being found by the thief.

I did this and it only takes about 5 min.
Secondary bonus of airtag. No more losing my truck in huge parking garages or "dude where is my car" moments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vAQNedIa0o

 

You are partially correct and I have read conflicting reports on this, this is my understanding. (as an IT guy who is constantly dealing with various RF devices and someone who has watched lots of youtube videos on the subject)

from what I have gathered there are 3 kinds of RF (radio frequency) theft.

1) Signal boosting - 2 person theft that involves boosting the weak signal from an unused key fob that is close to a door or window. this type of theft involves one person snooping physically close to your keys, *like near your front door, with a device that picks up that weak signal and amplifys it, the second person has a second rf receiver device that takes that amplifed signal and allows them to open your car door and start the car via *fake proximity (the second thief at this point is basically actully using your key. just with the signal thrown over a greater distance In this case pressing the physical lock button would not help.

2) Intercept & extra key creation , This kind of theft generally involves expensive cars and supposedly is done by organized crime more than street thieves as it is complicated ,involves planning, premeditation and expensive gear that is out of the price range of petty thieves. Supposedly it is common in Canada and the cars and trucks' are stolen only to be taken right into shipping containers and shipped overseas. When the lock or unlock button is pressed the signal from the key fob is much much stronger than the short range always on proximity signal. for example the always on signal only travels about 5 or 6 feet max. but when the button is pressed it can travel 100 ft (150 with the chin trick) on certain vehicles with the right hardware thieves can intercept the signal & corresponding key code that the dealer would use to create you a "legal replacement key" this can be done from far away in the safety of the thieves own car when the lock button is pressed. Thieves have blank keys already on hand for the type of car they want to steal, with a laptop and the proper dealer provided software they can make a key for your car and walk up, open it and just drive away. I am not sure if 4runners can be stolen this way. I have heard that dodge is problematic. luckily I will never own a dodge newer than 1971. for this type of theft. using your in car button to lock the door is good for preventing parking lot theft for example. its probably not going to help to prevent theft from your house as much. using your physical lock button partially solves this

3) RF blockers - Thieves can use RF blockers to interrupt your (and everyone else in the areas) "lock" button on the key fob. if you are lazy and just assume it worked & you don't listen for the sound of your lock or look for the headlight flash. a thief can walk up and steal what's in your car. supposedly thieves are doing this in large parking lots to mall shoppers etc. and just high volume stealing stuff from inside the cars. This "lock/alarm interruption" would not let them steal the actual car (unless its a Hyundai which for years were not chipped keys). using your physical lock button fully solves this as would listening for the horn or looking at your headlight/tails

 

LOL! Triggered!

 

The dude basically said move to a more white area and avoid living “near Mexico” as a viable solution for people to prevent theft.

Nice knowing your are cool with that. I prefer actually talking about helping people prevent theft. ✌️