The Club or anything else to prevent car theft

[CKN]

Originally Posted by skyactiv
All you do is use a hacksaw to cut the steering wheel, bend the cut rim and pop out the club.


No-takes too long. Back in the day they use to spray a refrigerate chemical on it (Freon?) to make it brittle then hit it with a hammer to break it. Takes seconds the way I understood it.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted by BJD78
A standard transmission has proven to make stealing vehicles difficult for many car thieves. Most have never ever driven a manual transmission and have zero concept of shifting gears or using a clutch.

True, they call it the Millennial anti-theft device.

 

[michaelluscher]

Starter/Fuel/Ignition cutoff at the main relay

Relocate the hood release cable

 

[GZRider]

Replace fuel pump fuse with a busted one after you park her, and take the good fuse with you. Maybe hide a few below the spare or somewhere less likely to atttract a theifs attention in case you loose the one on you. Problem solved.

 

[ArrestMeRedZ]

My daughter bought a 96 Acura (one of the Japanese cars, like your Civic, that are very easy to steal). It was parked in front of the house then stolen. Police found it the next day in a commercial parking lot.
I gave her a Club I had. Car was safe until she neglected to use it one night. Stolen again. Recovered within 2 days. Club used religiously after that with no problem.
Her car was stolen just for part of a day of transportation both times. Easy to steal, and low risk until it was reported the next morning.
The Club won't stop the theft of a high value car, but it will deter the opportunity thieves who will pop the door lock with a Slim Jim, then use a master key or a screwdriver on the ignition. Most of the older Toyota and Honda thefts fall into this category.

 

[DGXR]

A hidden kill switch for ignition or fuel pump is probably one of the best things, they are reliable and fairly easy to install. As stated by others, visual deterrents such as the club steering wheel (or pedal) lock may provide just enough nuisance for the thief to move on. That is my hope anyway... along with choosing vehicle models that are not so desirable to thieves. (The C4 Corvette is the red-haired stepchild of sports cars, and who cares much about a 4-cylinder 2wd Tacoma anyway? I like them both and that is what matters.) Some people buy blinking LEDs that imitate alarm systems, that's cheap and easy too. Also park in well-lit areas, lock your doors, and say a rayer:

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted by paulri
My Civic was stolen Monday; yesterday it was found by the police. Today, it sits at my mechanic shop.

I was told by the two cops I spoke to that the Civic is a very common and easy vehicle to steal. Neither cop seemed to think that car alarms would help prevent car theft.

What do folks here think of a steering wheel lock, like the Club? Would that deter anyone? I will try to get it repaired unless the damages are a few grand--but even if I get a new car, I think I will install it when it is parked at home, if not at work as well.

Depends on the version. The Civic, Accord, and Integra used to be among the most stolen cars in the US. That was at a time when Honda had a fairly basic key design where I heard it was possible to just jam something into the ignition hole and then turn it to start. My 1995 Integra GS-R was stolen at night. A couple of local police knocked on my door asking if I knew where my car was. Apparently they called (used the address on my registration) because it was seen driving suspiciously along with another car reported stolen at construction site that they were monitoring for theft of building materials. I was kind of depressed about it all day until I got a call from another police dept saying that my car had been recovered stripped. Took all the factory alloy wheels with high tread tires. Pulled out all the seats including the one with holes. Ripped out the instrument cluster and radio. Also took out the power steering pump for some reason even with 140k miles on it. And the kicker was that they took the cigarette lighter (never used but pushed in a few times) but left behind a $5 bill.

However, if you look at the rates for stolen cars, newer Civics and most Hondas are no longer on the top stolen car lists since they used RF keys. They're pretty difficult to defeat. The Civic and Accord are still on the most stolen car lists, but it's almost all 90s models before they started using the special keys. They are expensive to replace, but the system works. I've gotten the key copied with a standard blank. It will open the doors but I get weird stuff happening. The alarm goes off if I open the door/trunk and I don't use the RF key. I can start the car with the copy if I place the RF key near the steering column. I've heard of some people who damaged the mechanical part of the key and just used it with a copy and an original RF key on the keychain.

Quote
https://www.carfax.com/blog/10-most-stolen-cars-2015
Notably, older Accord and Civic models were at greater risk. Of the 52,244 Accords stolen in 2015, 7,944 came from the 1996 model year. Meanwhile, the 1998 Civic accounted for 7,376 of all Honda Civic thefts. NICB notes that these models were built before anti-theft technology made cars much more difficult to steal.

There are also a lot of them out there. An IHS Automotive report indicates that the average vehicle is more than 11 years old, and there are 44,000,000 vehicles on the road that are between 16 and 24 years old. Much like the current best sellers, Civics and Accords from the 1990s were popular at the time, and these older models can be a target for thieves since their parts are in demand.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted by paulri
My Civic was stolen Monday; yesterday it was found by the police. Today, it sits at my mechanic shop.

I was told by the two cops I spoke to that the Civic is a very common and easy vehicle to steal. Neither cop seemed to think that car alarms would help prevent car theft.

What do folks here think of a steering wheel lock, like the Club? Would that deter anyone? I will try to get it repaired unless the damages are a few grand--but even if I get a new car, I think I will install it when it is parked at home, if not at work as well.


Vehicles with a key with a chip are very difficult to steal. Cars with chip keys significantly reduced theft even for vehicles that were ones the thieves wanted.

 

[Donald]

If you are on a safari and a lion starts to chase your group, you do not need to be the fastest person in the group just as long as you are not the slowest. Similar with a car and thieves. Do enough so the thieves pick another car.

I have also read than many cars (or some at least) with push button start, the owners just leave the keyfob in the car as a matter of habit. Although I do not know how you could lock the car with the keyfob in the car. But that is what I read. These cars are now getting stolen.

 

[Chris142]

A Honda Civic is stolen and stripped here every day.
Then dumped out in the desert. The steering wheel is very soft metal. Does not take much to defeat the club. As steviec said kill switches or pulling a certain fuse is better. Put a switch in line with the fuel pump relay or fuse?

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted by brages

first time trying to attach a picture, does this work?

As someone who grew up with stick shifts that's funny! Don't know if you saw the video of my 13 yr old female cousin driving my Jeep. She caught on real quick! She does not know it yet but her first car will be a stick. That way none of her friends will be driving it.
Here she is

. At one point she had us going 65 mph on this dry lake!
https://youtu.be/ebcdQnBowfU

 

[StevieC]

My brother and sister are both Millennial (just) and they can both drive stick.

 

[emg]

Originally Posted by Donald
I have also read than many cars (or some at least) with push button start, the owners just leave the keyfob in the car as a matter of habit. Although I do not know how you could lock the car with the keyfob in the car. But that is what I read. These cars are now getting stolen.


You don't need the key fob, you just need a signal repeater.

From what I've read, the cars that use an immobilizer and still require the key in the ignition are the hardest to steal, while the new keyless cars are easy to steal if the crooks are willing to go to those lengths to steal it. Unless the car has technology to prevent it, if the thief can get a repeater near your key fob, the car is theirs... but that does require knowing who owns the car they plan to steal.

As for the older vehicles, I remember opening the door of my friend's Ford with my Lancia key one time, and he started a bulldozer with his Ford key. I'm guessing those were the kind of locks that unlock just as well with a screwdriver as a key.

 

[Pelican]

Originally Posted by skyactiv
All you do is use a hacksaw to cut the steering wheel, bend the cut rim and pop out the club.


They also use a can of liquid nitrogen to freeze the bar that becomes so brittle you can shatter it with a hammer.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I think it was 7 or 8 years ago, there was a gang of people running around the city stealing Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep vehicles. With only 10 keys (if you have the right keys), you can steal almost any 90s/early00s Chrysler non-Sentry product. I caught someone trying to get my Jeep out of a Lowes parking lot. Luckily, the key fobs worked so I could set that off and it did deter them.

After that, any time I'd leave it parked in the apartment parking lot, I would pull the fuel pump relay. I figured they wouldn't take the time to troubleshoot why it wasn't starting.

 

[Oldtom]

A buddy of mine had a Toyota Supra and lived in a high crime area. He installed a toggle switch under the driver seat that cut power to the fuel pump. With the switch off, the car would start, move a few feet and stall. This would probably cause the crook to panic and run. Thankfully, no one ever tried to steal his car. Cost about 5 bucks because we did the install ourselves.

 

[tiger862]

Had a customer with jeep that got stolen and or broken into more than once and he was tired of it. We put locking console in with a kill switch then went and installed a very expensive alarm. Once set if someone moved certain items (moved seat or certain items) alarm would go off. Customer always went to beach with top off so it was easy for things to go missing. We even bolted sub down with break away bolts with locking nuts.

 

[Lolvoguy]

You can wire it into something simple like the rear defrost button, or cigarette lighter.

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted by Donald
Originally Posted by paulri
My Civic was stolen Monday; yesterday it was found by the police. Today, it sits at my mechanic shop.

I was told by the two cops I spoke to that the Civic is a very common and easy vehicle to steal. Neither cop seemed to think that car alarms would help prevent car theft.

What do folks here think of a steering wheel lock, like the Club? Would that deter anyone? I will try to get it repaired unless the damages are a few grand--but even if I get a new car, I think I will install it when it is parked at home, if not at work as well.


Vehicles with a key with a chip are very difficult to steal. Cars with chip keys significantly reduced theft even for vehicles that were ones the thieves wanted.


Those need to worry about snatch and grabs. I've had that happen a few times.

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted by emg
Originally Posted by Donald
I have also read than many cars (or some at least) with push button start, the owners just leave the keyfob in the car as a matter of habit. Although I do not know how you could lock the car with the keyfob in the car. But that is what I read. These cars are now getting stolen.


You don't need the key fob, you just need a signal repeater.

From what I've read, the cars that use an immobilizer and still require the key in the ignition are the hardest to steal, while the new keyless cars are easy to steal if the crooks are willing to go to those lengths to steal it. Unless the car has technology to prevent it, if the thief can get a repeater near your key fob, the car is theirs... but that does require knowing who owns the car they plan to steal.

As for the older vehicles, I remember opening the door of my friend's Ford with my Lancia key one time, and he started a bulldozer with his Ford key. I'm guessing those were the kind of locks that unlock just as well with a screwdriver as a key.

Don't a lot of these systems use rolling codes like a newer garage door opener? Or even like credit card authentication?