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Toyota, Honda , Mazda - Catalytic Converter Thefts - Steveieb

Can someone explain why it’s mostly Japanese cars that are targeted for these thefts?

It used to be any cars with sufficient ground clearance to make the removal easy but lately I have seen Honda Jazz, and Toyota Auris losing their cats.
The availability of cheap disc cutters may go some way to explain but sometimes the cats are unbiolted.

Perhaps the Japanese cars are more likely to be found in third world countries ?

But when a farmer friend who was hosting a car boot sale was told that some of the cars in the car park had reported the theft, he immediately locked the entrance to prevent the van that was being used to store the stolen cats leaving .

He called the police to tell them he had the criminals together with the evidence trapped on his site they declined to attend and offered crime reference numbers for the victims to give to their insurance companies.

Toyota, Honda , Mazda - Catalytic Converter Thefts - Adampr

The older Honda Jazz was notorious for cat theft. IIRC it was just that it was very accessible.

Toyota, Honda , Mazda - Catalytic Converter Thefts - elekie&a/c doctor
Friend of mine had a perfectly serviceable Lexus 300rx . 10 years old with full history. Cats got stolen and insurance wrote off the car as an uneconomic repair. Japanese cars were very slow to adopt the use of “close coupled “ cats where the cat was part of the exhaust manifold, rather than being mounted underneath, where they are easily accessible.

Edited by elekie&a/c doctor on 31/05/2023 at 09:23

Toyota, Honda , Mazda - Catalytic Converter Thefts - RT

Can someone explain why it’s mostly Japanese cars that are targeted for these thefts?

It used to be any cars with sufficient ground clearance to make the removal easy but lately I have seen Honda Jazz, and Toyota Auris losing their cats.
The availability of cheap disc cutters may go some way to explain but sometimes the cats are unbiolted.

Perhaps the Japanese cars are more likely to be found in third world countries ?

But when a farmer friend who was hosting a car boot sale was told that some of the cars in the car park had reported the theft, he immediately locked the entrance to prevent the van that was being used to store the stolen cats leaving .

He called the police to tell them he had the criminals together with the evidence trapped on his site they declined to attend and offered crime reference numbers for the victims to give to their insurance companies.

It tends to be cars with insufficient space in the engine compartment to allow positioning of the catalytic converter next to the cylinder head so it has to be fitted down stream under the floor - which makes it accessible to thieves.

The converters aren't used as spares, they're processed for their precious metals inside.

Toyota, Honda , Mazda - Catalytic Converter Thefts - Andrew-T

But when a farmer friend who was hosting a car boot sale was told that some of the cars in the car park had reported the theft, he immediately locked the entrance to prevent the van that was being used to store the stolen cats leaving .

Perhaps he should have locked the exit .... :-))

Toyota, Honda , Mazda - Catalytic Converter Thefts - Steveieb

He did lock the exit to block the van full of cat converters in and hope the police would attend.

Certainly very risky on his part but the police were not interested in attending even though they would have found the vehicle and evidence.

Despair all round !

Toyota, Honda , Mazda - Catalytic Converter Thefts - gordonbennet

He did lock the exit to block the van full of cat converters in and hope the police would attend.

Certainly very risky on his part but the police were not interested in attending even though they would have found the vehicle and evidence.

Despair all round !

Useless, i know retired coppers who would have loved nothing better than to have collared that crew, it isn't the majority of front line officers they would love to do the same, it's p poor management, somethiing which infects everything in this country from Wasteminster down throughout industry and the institutions.
Toyota, Honda , Mazda - Catalytic Converter Thefts - Chris M

Hybrid cats have more precious metals in than the ordinary ones making them more desirable. An acquaintance had one nicked and it was around £1,800 to repair. Not just the cat required but exhaust section and sensor.

Toyota, Honda , Mazda - Catalytic Converter Thefts - RT

Hybrid cats have more precious metals in than the ordinary ones making them more desirable. An acquaintance had one nicked and it was around £1,800 to repair. Not just the cat required but exhaust section and sensor.

They don't have more precious metals - but they're less contaminated than an equivalent non-hybrid because the engine's not in use all the time.

Toyota, Honda , Mazda - Catalytic Converter Thefts - Chris M

www.admiral.com/magazine/news/hybrid-vehicles-targ...s

"The catalytic converter in hybrid vehicles contains a higher concentration of precious metals and are often less corroded because they mostly run on battery power."