re: Catalytic Converter Thieves Deserve Death Penalty

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Yes. The cats are well back and easy to cut the pipe on each end with a sawzall.

On GM's the cats are up near the exhaust manifolds so much more difficult to cut off due to a lack of access

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Back in the 1980s/1990s, thieves would hit car carriers and even some plant lots with GM, Chrysler, and Ford vehicles. They had to significantly improve their anti-theft measures on their property and with their products. They were legitimately horrible 30-40 years ago - building cars with exterior hood releases, very old school locks, quarter glasses that can be opened from the outside with a butter knife, etc.

The Japanese were in what seemed to be a perpetual recession in the 1980s and 1990s. They have long had a car theft problem in their country. In the 1980s had fun little features like steering wheel locks, wheel locks, etc. They were harder to steal or sabotage in the US because their cars came with those features.

Looks like the Americans and the Germans might be pulling ahead again, simply as a response to having to deal with different types of thieves lately. Most of them have the latest technology with encrypted ECMs, elaborate locking mechanisms, proximity key systems, and even vehicle tracking as standard on most models.

Kind of interesting to see how social issues drive car designs over the years. Social problems also influence building architecture designs as well.