Car theft

Well, my truck was broken into in broad daylight at my apartment complex. They tried to steal my truck, but only got away with the stereo and my floormats. Yup, floormats!!?? :roll:

Evidently, there have been several stolen cars around the same parking spot. I suspect, now that they have had a chance to play with my truck ignition, the robbers may have a better idea of what it may take to steal my truck. Thus, they may be back again to finish the job.

To counter this, I've been removing my starter and fuel pump fuses in my engine compartment, and have resumed using my steering wheel club. So basically, they can mess around with the ignition all they want, but wont be able to start the truck. If so, the truck wont have fuel for very long. (Probably enough for them to back out.)

Anyhow, I'm thinking of adding a switch which I can install in a very hidden place inside the cab, which will allow me to cut the power supply to the starter fuses, possibly another switch to cut the fuel pump as well, in a seperate spot.

You may be asking, "Why don't you put an alarm in the truck?". Well, I've never been a fan of alarms. The only type that interests me are the kinds that kill the starter in the event that the key is not used. I've heard that some robbers have developed a way around this, so they can still start the car, and drive away.

You also may be asking, "What are your switches going to do for you? Couldn't the robber just flip the switch and be off in your truck?" The way I see it, most cars don't have switches like this, and the robber isn't going to spend time looking for hidden switches in order to start the car. The worst case (aside from actually finding the switches) is that the steering column gets damaged, and the robber gets pissed off.

What do you folks think? Would these switches be a good idea? Am I missing a circumvent to the fuses that would still allow someone to start the car?

Thanks for your advice! Have a good weekend.

The problem with manual switches, is, that you have to really vigilant and remember / be bothered to use them every single time you get out of the car.

Much better, is a passive immobiliser system, which automatically arms itself after you switch off the ignition, so you can't possibly be too lazy to use it!

My car was recently stolen (and fortunately recovered) - after that, I bought an immobiliser - only AUD$60 (on sale ). It contains two 30A relays, which you would normally wire into the ignition circuit and one other circuit (eg fuel pump, starter motor). It is disarmed by a little dongle you put on your keyring, or in the event you lose the dongle, it has a PIN override, inputted by turning the ignition switch in a given combination. I feel much safer now!

If you're interested, this is it:
**broken link removed**

A few things I have done:You can cut into the starter wire at the neutral safety switch , on the steering column under the dash ( column shift or on shifter itself if floor shift) The fuel pump (if electric) is also good..Some of the newer vehicles also won't let you shift outta park unless you put your foot on the brake pedal,( put a switch in series with the actuator) Computer controlled ignitions are finicky about disturbing certain wires and could cause problems, I'd leave that alone..I've done the brake pedal one on several police cars ,so they leave them running , and still be there when they got back..All the above don't require high current switches ,I use 10a toggle switches..Hiding them has been the biggest challenge. I have asked the owners to try and find them when I'm done to see if I've hidden them well enough..

Well my car is a pontiac firebird formula and it has this security feature. It has a special resistor built into the key and the computer only lets the car start if it has the correct resistor they could crack the ignition but without that resistor the computer won't let anything happen no fuel no ignition. There are ways around this but i'm pretty sure people around this small town are going to know how except maybe my neighbor. Who is a good friend. Well maybe something like that could be implemented into the car don't know how.. Oh let's see one could make a window comparator or maybe a PIC or something so that when you insert the resistor it tells a seperate device to allow power to the ignition and fuel pumps, and various other stuff.

don't know if this is possible but right now i'm thinking of applying a high voltage to the chassis of the car, that way if anyone does decide to even touch the car, they get a nasty zap!! I'm not worried about me zapping myself trying to unlock my car, that'll be shutdown by remote

would this be possible or would I be killing the engine electronics with the high voltage??I know that high voltages applied to the chassis can cause an engine to stall quite easily

NOTE: I'm just a teenager, I dont actually own a car ...yet.

pike said:

don't know if this is possible but right now i'm thinking of applying a high voltage to the chassis of the car, that way if anyone does decide to even touch the car, they get a nasty zap!! I'm not worried about me zapping myself trying to unlock my car, that'll be shutdown by remote

would this be possible or would I be killing the engine electronics with the high voltage??I know that high voltages applied to the chassis can cause an engine to stall quite easily

NOTE: I'm just a teenager, I dont actually own a car ...yet.

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it would possibly fry some electronics. The safer way to go would be to add electrodes to the door handles. And if you want some thick smoke out of the back of your car for fun purposes pump some antifreeze into the exhaust saw that on tv today and the shocking people part. Also for security add bulletproof windows.

pike said:

don't know if this is possible but right now i'm thinking of applying a high voltage to the chassis of the car, that way if anyone does decide to even touch the car, they get a nasty zap!! I'm not worried about me zapping myself trying to unlock my car, that'll be shutdown by remote

would this be possible or would I be killing the engine electronics with the high voltage??I know that high voltages applied to the chassis can cause an engine to stall quite easily

NOTE: I'm just a teenager, I dont actually own a car ...yet.

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The biggest problem is likely to be it's legality - it's likely to be seriously illegal in any country. You could find yourself charged with murder or attempted murder, and do some serious jail time!.

Hello from New Zealand. Ive had a few offroaders open air vehicles eg no doors. Was going to put the electronic ignition unit in a removeable box using a rectangular trailer plug to disconnect it from the car for removal eg take one of its vital parts out quickly and take it in the house. Simple as :roll:

adell said:

Hello from New Zealand. Ive had a few offroaders open air vehicles eg no doors. Was going to put the electronic ignition unit in a removeable box using a rectangular trailer plug to disconnect it from the car for removal eg take one of its vital parts out quickly and take it in the house. Simple as :roll:

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Assuming they are desirable 4x4's it wouldn't prove any great deterent in the UK - 4x4's are commonly stolen to order and shipped across the channel to main land Europe. They don't bother driving them, they simply load them on trailers and take them away!.

A friend of mines Toyota Land Cruiser was stolen in this way, he was later informed by the Police that six had been stolen the same night in that area!. By the time they were reported next morning they would already have left the UK.

to the question about electrifying the body:

in most cars, isn't the body/chassis used as a ground for all the electrics?

A friend of mines Toyota Land Cruiser was stolen in this way, he was later informed by the Police that six had been stolen the same night in that area!. By the time they were reported next morning they would already have left the UK.

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Yeah, they're starting to do that with the high profile vehicles here in Arizona (USA). Since we're so close to Mexico, the boosters are taking the cars off of the sales lots, changing the VIN# and the stickers in side of the door (kind of like a serial number, not sure if they have VIN#'s abroad) then they sell them down in Mexico for about 1/2 of the original value. My sisters ex-boyfriend used to do this and he told me all about it. Needless to say, my sister no longer dates this guy.

Anyhow, my truck is a newer vehicle, so I don't really want to fuss with complex wiring etc. I don't know a whole lot about airbags, and how the computers interface with all of the electronics in the other systems. I'm going to keep searching alternatives, as the input from all of you fine folks has encouraged me that there are options beyond an annoying alarm system.

Thanks to ALL!!

Speaking of VIN numbers. I just found information that the local police do free VIN etching on vehicles in Arizona USA. Basically, its a process where they etch your VIN# into each window of the vehicle. Thus if the theives try to steal your car and change the VIN tags, they're also going to need to change all of the windows, or destroy the etch somehow.

(kind of like a serial number, not sure if they have VIN#'s abroad)

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They are a world wide thing - no two cars in the world should have the same vin#

gotcha, thanks GRRR.

one cheap thing i have seen done is using a small reed switch to trigger a relay that controls power to the fuel pump, this is then hidden behind some interior and requires a small magnet to be brought near before the car is started...
i have some clifford immobilizers around as well that require a small key (with a phono jack on the end) to be plugged in before the car is started each time...
but they way i see it, if i was the theif I would just grab the unit and pull it out to expose the wires that are being disabled....

e said:

one cheap thing i have seen done is using a small reed switch to trigger a relay that controls power to the fuel pump, this is then hidden behind some interior and requires a small magnet to be brought near before the car is started...

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Doesn't work too well with mechanical fuel pumps though 8)

i have some clifford immobilizers around as well that require a small key (with a phono jack on the end) to be plugged in before the car is started each time...
but they way i see it, if i was the theif I would just grab the unit and pull it out to expose the wires that are being disabled....

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Professionally fitted immobilisers should be too well integrated into the car electrics to make it easy to remove - a friend of mine had one fitted to his Ford Fiesta which used a 'dongle', after a number of years the socket for the dongle cracked, making it difficult to make contact. It took him a long time to get it removed.

With more modern cars an immobiliser is usually part of the original car, using the engine management system, my Fiat Punto has it built into the ignition key - supposedly somekind of RF circuit in the key?.

yea many people though simply cut the starter wire and put the unit in line.
the better systems are always going to be systems built into the vehicle like rfid systems where it is an integral part of the vehicle electronics...

Your club lock would advertise that you have no alarm installed.
How about fitting a flashing led on your dash?

There are 2 wire alarm systems around.
Connect the red wire to positive and the other to negative.
When the alarm sensers a voltage drop (eg.when a door is open and interier light turns on) the alarm will sound.
They may even have an inbulit shock sensor too.
These simple alarm systems come with keyring romotes.

You have a good point.

My idea is to drastically increase the amount of time that the theif has to spend on stealing the car, thus either discouraging the theft, or increasing the chance that the theif might be caught, or seen.

In theory, there is nothing that I can do to keep my truck absolutly secure. The people could just drive up with a flatbed truck, pop the shift linkage off and tow the vehicle up on the flatbed.

So I think I may actually go with an annoying alarm, some sort of engine immobiliser and continue the use of my steering wheel club. (I'd like to design a razor blade bomb that goes off, but that's just my human emotion speaking.)