Unofficial Master General Car Security Thread (theft deterrent ideas, all makes)
 

I've been noticing how cars get knocked off on youtube.

Usually car manufacturers put the car horn in an easily accessible place, easily accessible for a thief from the outside of your car.

Like your front bumper, stick your hand up underneath the front bumper of your car and more than likely you will be able to unplug your cars horn from the outside, with the bonnet down and locked.

This thread is to make awareness of these vulnerabilities and find ways to patch them.

I will be relocating my horn sometime tomorrow on my Toyota Camry SXV20..

After all we don't want our rides being stolen, granted it might be a slow get away but we still don't want them to do anything to our cars in the first place.

What else have you guys done on your cars to improve security? Besides the obvious conversion to Stick.

#1 Toyota Fortuner:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QRxQonFd5c

Vulnerability:
Disconnect 1st horn from front of car underneath front bumper.
Crowbar up the bonnet on right hand side, 2nd disconnect horn.

Patch:
Relocate both horns to somewhere else.

Or as red devil has said:

#2 ALL types of Steering wheel lock:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd2Op5VpUrg
Vulnerability:
Steering wheels are usually made of soft rubbery stuff which can be easily sawn with a hacksaw.

Even the multi-point steering wheel locks, and other variants, all have the same problem, the thing that they are attached to is soft and easy to cut.

Patch:
Got an automatic? Use a pedal lock made from steel on the floor instead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm01YrbIYLs

#3 Battery disconnect with a key:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAeD0xi9sl4

Vulnerability:
What's stopping me from buying the exact same switch online and using the key on your switch? None of them are keyed like regular locks.

Patch:
None at the moment, will update this when I find one.

Unkeyed battery disconnect:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...bC6T6sfZM#t=74

Vulnerability:
As above, what's stopping a thief using a knob and screwing theirs into your disconnect terminal? Or even better yet, whats stopping a thief from just wrapping some electrical tape around the two terminals and reconnecting the battery?

Patch:
None so far.

Apparently I buy cars that nobody thinks are worth stealing. ;)

I owned a convertible once, and always used to leave it unlocked to avoid having the roof knifed open for the sake of stealing a few coins.

I used to take the coil wire with me if I was leaving it parked for a while.

The horn relocation is a good idea, but you may as well just add a horn and leave the OEM ones where they are. That way they will likely trip the alarm and get noticed.

Put a fuse with a lower rating than the in-dash fuse in the leads to the OEM horn(s) so if they short the wires they will also leave the hidden horn enabled, as the extra fuse will blow and disconnect that from the circuit.

Drive something that looks like this and nobody will bother it:

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...0212009001.jpg

After reading the OP's initial post about the Camry and how much of a POS it was, I find it astounding to believe any competent thief would even consider stealing that car.

regards
Mech

P.S. I should have said, nobody will bother it except the cops.

hahaha

but... if I'm going to be gradually putting new parts into it I'll want to secure it.

and you never know who i might piss off and will want to steal my car as a matter of revenge or something.

Burning it out might be an improvement though.

thanks for the laugh.

It depends on what you are trying to do. Some cars are stolen for parting out, others are just broken into for the radio, gps, change, laptop thats visible.

I too like the idea of 2 horns. Having the horn up front helps for the sound to travel to the car in front of you.

In the "hood" we use fake blinking leds to make people think you got a viper or some fancy alarm system and they move to another vehicle.

When I drive a stick shift I make it a point to park it in a gear in the 2nd position so the shifter is positioned rewards vs forward like the park position of an automatic. Many people dont steal stick shift cars.

Lastly, park in a good area. It maybe worth the parking fee, walking a block, etc.

The fake LEDs are actually a pretty good deterrent but I've also seen stickers that simulate rust and scratches.

Something else to think about is the catalytic converter a friend of mine had it stolen off his car because it has good scrap value. One way to fix that is adding a set of wires from the battery to the CAT then when you come out in the morning and see shoes sticking out from the car just call the cops :D JK.

Seriously though if you want to add a kill switch to the ignition instead of using a normal mechanical switch get a magnetic reed switch glue it under the dash some where then you can only start the car by putting the magnet on the place you put the switch.

.

Just get one of these...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geynA-JYDHE

>

^Nyessss... most useful!

I wanted to run down there and smack the fool that took half a minute to back up 20 feet! :mad:

To keep someone from driving off with your car:

Unhook the ignition key switch and reroute to another horn. Use your cigarette lighter gizmo as your starter switch.

Remove battery. Or, if you are worried about someone stealing just the battery, strap it down with steel strap. You could use some of the stuff used in the shipping industry.

Hook a micro switch up under the shifter boot so that you have to be in 4th gear to start the car. This only works for manual transmissions.

Memorize how your distributor wires go and "rewire" them before you leave. Or take your rotor or distributor cap or the wires. Or make a bad wire that goes from the coil to the distributor.

Unhook carburetor fuel solenoid wire and hook to another random wire that does nothing.

Make an exhaust butterfly valve that can be closed from a lever under the seat. Make it so the engine can't start or so the engine can't go above idle. Imagine the thief puttering down the road after spending all that time to get the car running and then learning how to slowly let the clutch out.

"Fix" an old air filter so that it won't let air through, replace before driving. That would stall someone for a little while.

Add manual fuel cutoff valve somewhere in the trunk, or find a good, easy way to replace your good fuel filter with a bad one before you leave.

Never keep very much gas in your tank. Take your full jerrycan with you when you leave.

To keep car from being moved:

Add valve in brake line. Push brake and close the valve. That might be bad if your brakes leak though... The same could idea be also used for a hydraulic clutch actuator.

Add an extra button that must be pushed (preferably under the rubber boot) to release the parking brake.

Some of this is impractical, especially on newer vehicles. It would be effective, though.

I want one of those for when people pull up beside me playing loud rap music. :thumbup:

Let's not be prejudiced, here. It'll work equally well on people playing loud country music :-)

Nice! I guess that the monkey must have driven the car to the bridge, so I guess that it can drive it back.

I always thought that an EMP would work for loud stereos, tailgaters, etc.

Actually, it can't. It works only on car thieves that play loud rap&country music on a high bridge.
Nevertheless, it is good to be prepared.

Anybody playing two different types of music simultaneously deserves to be clubbed by a monkey and thrown off a bridge! :)

You can mix rap&country?!?!?!? :eek: Whats next, rap&rock? :eek:

.

Country + Rap = CRAP...

>

Just a little idea:

How about getting back on track. I would like to hear some more ideas than gorillas and monkeys, rap and country music.:D

one of those quick removable race car steering wheels seems like a good idea. Just take your steering wheel with you.

I was thinking of a kill switch that involved a butterfly valve in the exhaust.

But face it: if someone really wants to steal a car, it's gone. Car security is all about making the car next to yours be the more attractive target.

.

GPS vehicle tracking




Expensive...:(

LoJack - Recovery System for Cars, Trucks, Motorcycles, Equipment, Cargo & Laptops - LoJack



Cheap...:)

gps tracker car | eBay


;)

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There is a reason my car is from 1980. No one needs used parts, and it weights little more than a ton. I suppose it could be stolen for scrap metal, but the thief would be far better off to get some Golf MKIII.

secondary alarm seems like it would help for this particular instance. Since they pushed the vehicle out I'm thinking it was towed away from the scene, so a "secret" hydraulic brake lock would be good too (ignition switch wouldn't have helped).

Security (aside from ratmobile) can be had through a certain degree of obscurity. The thieves knew where to find the horns, so don't be so predictable. Though I would leave the stock horns as a "honeypot", if the alarm goes off and they thought they disabled it, the surprise alone will probably scare them off.

There is motion detection software too, since they have a camera it would be simple enough to have an android app that pops up any activity on your phone and streams the video to it, call the cops, get 'em off the street. Just don't call the cops on the postman :)

I added a RAVELCO key to mine a while back.

QFT! If someone who knows what they're doing really wants your car, they'll get it. Car security is to give them the idea that your car is more of a hassle than it's worth, so they move on to the next car.

I know people who have had cars stolen by towing them up onto flatbeds. Brake locks, ignition locks, fuel pump disables--none of that will help.

...He got his car back because it's a manual transmission with a very odd gear shift pattern...

-soD

That's why they should have a GPS tracking device if their ride is that important to them. (see my last post)


Let them have it.

Then get even...


>

How about a not secret wheel boot- let 'em know up front there is at least that to deal with.

Wait, you guys lock your doors?

Various gps trackers like american family insurance gps and I think the progressive insurance if you got an odb2 port.

I cant find it, but I had eyed one on the fit freak forum using an old prepaid cell phone you hide in the car so you can track it by an app if its stolen.

For some reason, I have had difficulty locking the driver's door on both of my cars, so sometimes I do not bother.

I like the cell phone idea! Wouldn't it need to be on, though?

That is a pretty serious looking security method.

If you want to increase car security beyond this, secure your home too.

All it takes is a gun pointed to you or one of your family members head for you to give up that key, or any key, to the robbers.

A key is nothing, all it is is a bit of metal that lets the car know who the owner is, if the key is stolen then it doesn't matter what security you have installed the car doesn't care who you are, robber or genuine owner.

The best method I've found is having a floor brake lock and storing the brake lock key seperatley from the other keys.

That way If you are forced to give up your keys to a robber you give him the ignition keys and not the brake lock key, this gets you a small window of opportunity where he goes down to the car to check it out thinking he has won, where you can lock the house door behind him or run away with the brake lock key.

I would at the very least install CCTV IP hardwired cameras with a 12v DC feed to the cameras via Power Over Ethernet, which then allows you to run both power and data over the same cable, I use thin ethernet cables to run through doorways to the outside of my house, then repaint them in the same color as the doors.

This combined with a battery backed up CCTV 12v power supply and a modern computer running Zoneminder on a UPS I don't see many methods which they can defeat a system like this without knowing with full knowledge of what will happen beforehand if they break in.

You can hide the CCTV cameras in plain sight, as I do, that gives you the upper hand when robbers come and visit because they won't think to put masks over their faces or get a can of spray paint and spray your cameras, or simply just grab a hammer and smash it.

Thats another good point, keep the cameras up high out of reach.

With CCTV all it is is an evidence gathering tool, thats all, it doesn't stop crimes it just reports crimes to you the owner, usually after the fact that something has been stolen. But its better than nothing.

The reason for using Wired ethernet is:
Wireless IP cameras can be easily defeated by thieves with a 2.4GHz ISM band Jammer.
Wireless is subject to interference from other access points which may change channel onto yours, in effect knocking out the CCTV system.

If they have a gun then I WANT them to leave, unless they have a hostage, then I want them to go nowhere and be distracted so I can go get a gun and finish them. No talking, no negotiating, not leaving a hostage at your "mercy" while you drive off.

The best thing to do is move. It's not worth any of this.

Most career criminals don't have WiFi jammers and high tech car alarm defeaters.

Most of them are idiots unable to hold a job so they hold up liquor stores for quick cash. Or they see an unoccupied building and steal the copper lines from the water system to sell for scrap. Or they smash a car window and grab the stereo and anything else valuable in the car. Usually worth less than the window they smashed to get to it. If it's more complicated than a smash and grab, their drug addicted brain probably can't come up with a good method. Let them have your belongings if you're at gun point, it's not worth your life. You have insurance for a reason, and at the end of the day a car is just a bunch of plastic metal and wires that was made in the tens of thousands, while your life is something truly unique that can never be replaced.

Now if your LIFE is in danger, and someone is trying to kill you, you go ahead and try to kill them right back.

I have wifi cameras. They are on their own router thats hidden like our primary one. :eek: They also email photos when motion is detected. I delete hundreds of spams a day, whats a few photos of a cat, bird, leaf or a walmart bag flying in the wind?

You can get them pretty cheap now days and many use 5 volts 1 amp or less.

My neighbor is into those game cameras. The ones hunters put up on a tree to photo deers and such by motion?

Still, someone wants to steal your car, they can do so with a tow truck in a few seconds and take it away.

All you need is an old phone and a 5v adapter for a DIY GPS locator.

I locked my truck maybe ten times last year.

Somebody called the police recently to report that a car out on the street was empty, and the engine had been running for three hours. The police tracked down the owner, who had forgotten to shut the engine off.