Break-ins through door handles

[JohnyPython]

Gonna need a full write up on this…w/ pics.

This is all I got:



I mounted the horn under the air box. It’s an Marco truck horn. You gotta use a relay from the battery and the horn wires trigger the relay.

 

[rfc805]

A better solution is to armor the horn wires so that they can't be clipped. Several layers of wire loom and/or a metal guard will do it. See posts #54 and #56, above.

Well, no - definitely not a better solution. Thieves can always just smash your windows, grab your valuables, and walk away in under a minute while the alarm goes off.

Not leaving valuables in your car is the best solution, and really the only 'solution'. Thieves break into cars because people leave valuables in them.

 

[Ruger]

Well, no - definitely not a better solution. Thieves can always just smash your windows, grab your valuables, and walk away in under a minute while the alarm goes off.

Not leaving valuables in your car is the best solution, and really the only 'solution'. Thieves break into cars because people leave valuables in them.

Thieves are just as likely to smash your windows simply looking for valuables. Of course, in any vehicle it's unwise to leave things where they can be seen through the windows, and there is no harm in taking steps to make a break-in more difficult.

 

[rfc805]

Exactly, but the reason they do it looking for valuables? Because it works. If people stopped leaving them in there, they'd also stop doing it.

No harm in taking steps to make it more difficult, sure - but breaking the windows always remains, and you aren't going to reasonably make that any harder.

 

[JohnyPython]

I disagree. Around here lots of cars getting ripped off to be sent overseas.

 

[rfc805]

Again, entirely different problem. As mentioned before, getting past a door lock and getting past an immobilizer and two entirely different situations. Anyone who can get past your immobilizer is not going to be deterred by a door lock, horn alarms, etc.

 

[smurfslayer]

Problem child areas need bait cars. These PD’s need to get off their lazy àsses and do some actual work. Kit up some seized vehicles, sit on them and start trapping thieves.

Better or worse, today’s environment makes criminals think they can just swing out a Glock and be bad, so the well trained LEOs will end that stupidity in short order. Smarter thieves will know to take their lumps in prison.

 

[Ruger]

I disagree. Around here lots of cars getting ripped off to be sent overseas.

Don't worry, it's just new member syndrome.
He'll come down off the initial FRF high eventually.

 

[Littlefx4]

Problem child areas need bait cars. These PD’s need to get off their lazy àsses and do some actual work. Kit up some seized vehicles, sit on them and start trapping thieves.

Better or worse, today’s environment makes criminals think they can just swing out a Glock and be bad, so the well trained LEOs will end that stupidity in short order. Smarter thieves will know to take their lumps in prison.

There was an actual PD show called “Bait Car” out in Cali similar to what you’re describing. 5-0 baited a car for an easy snatch & grab. When the perp took the bait & got maybe a block away, the po-po shut the vehicle down and moved in.

Agree that problem child areas could benefit but PDs aren’t gonna commit time & resources for such an undertaking. They have bigger fish to fry…like staying on their lazy àsses.

 

[GLT]

Don't worry, it's just new member syndrome.
He'll come down off the initial FRF high eventually.

They are both correct because they are talking about two very different scenarios. There are two distinct classes of thieves out there with two very different objectives - (1) amateur smash (whether it be the glass, the door handle, etc.) and grab thieves looking for a quick score by stealing valuables, and (2) professionals that are there to steal the vehicle. I was the victim of the latter in Houston a few weeks ago. The whole thing was on the hotel's security video. It took them less than 3 minutes. They clipped the horn wire, got the door open (don't know how exactly, that part was hidden in the video, but it took them less than 15 seconds), and then programmed a blank key fob.

Not leaving valuables in the vehicle, especially visible ones, is a no brainer that obviously always applies to both scenarios, and @rfc805 is correct that it will help deter (but not completely prevent) the amateur smash and grab *********. As I've researched this more and more over the past three weeks, I've discovered and firmly believe that @JohnyPython is onto the best solution. You absolutely have to move or secure the horn wire so that the thief can't cut or unplug it. If the scumbag thief (especially the professional that is trying to steal the Raptor) can't operate discretely from the very beginning, in almost all cases, they'll move on. That said, the professionals are getting into the vehicle by hovering, scouting and stealing remote codes, and then later unlocking the vehicle with what the truck believes is from the owner's remote, so in that case the alarm does not sound. That's where the Ravelco comes in. Once they get in and see the Ravelco (or program a blank fob but it won't start because of Ravelco), they are going to move on virtually every single time. Again, if they can't steal it, in silence, in less than 5-7 minutes, they're moving on to another one.

The Jimmi Jammer, passenger door, etc. solutions may be effective in preventing that particular entry point, so they may deter some of the smash and grab punks, but many of them will just pierce the window in a more quiet manner as the poster from San Antonio noted above. These measures will have very little effectiveness on the professional who is there to steal your Raptor in 3 minutes.

My gen2 is no doubt flying all over the Mexico desert mule'ing drugs and being an accessory to cartel crime. My wife jokes that it (my Raptor) really just wants its old life back - sitting clean and pretty in a climate controlled garage 6 days a week.