Hello all:

I'm new to the forum and this is my first time posting.
I just bought a 2002 TL Type S about a month ago.
And already I have been hit by those damn ricers.
I park my car on the street here in Queens, NY (not anymore)
7:30am about to goto work and i see it..... one destroyed headlight hanging out of its socket and the other missing...... both fenders have been crowbard and my bumper damaged....
You can imagine how I felt, a 1 month old TL destroyed... my baby
had no eyes!!!!
Anyway, after relaxing abit i took it to the bodyshop. My insurance estimator estimated the damage at $6500
All I can say is thank god for full coverage and a friendly body shop who help me out in getting away with the $1000 deductable

FiddlyD

 

Ouch!! Tough luck. I've seen a couple posts about the theft of lights. Hope the repair doesn't spoil it for you. I had a 2 month new van repaired from a collision years ago and couldn't deal with it. We sold the car 3 months later. Over-reaction I'm sure.

 

Damn! That's too close to me What part in queens are you from? That really pisses me off.

 

pics? sorry to hear that about your car dude, atleast youre covered

 

That definitely sucks man! Sorry to hear about the theft!!

Where in Queens do you live? I too live in Queens, Glen Oaks, and I'm definitely thinking about putting the shock sensors in!!

 

Im in Astoria, Queens..
The car is ready... only took 3 days to fix.... new fenders,lights,bumper
insurance chk was $5500 shop bill was $5200...lol made $300 too

fiddlyD

 

I'm sorry to hear about your lights man. I know it's just a minor deterent but either get a aftermarket alarm or at the least add/install a shock sensor to your factory alarm.

You better get yourself a garage for your baby.

 

Oh BTW... i went and bought a shock senor and a glass breakage sensor ... will be fitting it tomorrow and maybe ill fit the AEM CAI and the Zenon fog light bulbs and too... got the CAI the same day this happened.. its been sitting on my living room teasing me..

about the pics.... i didnt have time to take any...i just rushed it to the body shop

fiddlyD

 

damn i have a narrow driveway so i cant even but my car in the garage..

 

rmarin2, "thinking"?? No need to think about it no further. Get them ASAP man!!

 

i'm sorry to hear about what happened to your car. As a fellow Queens, NYC member I can see i definitely need to install my alarm ASAP. Glad to hear everything is taken care of though. Good Luck and be safe. See you on the roads of Queens.

 

What do you think people with those stolen '02 headlights would do with them (since they won't fit the Accord like the '99 - '01 headlights)?

 

Yea, you're right! I either spend $200 now and have them installed or I spend $6000 later to have the housings replaced!! Hell, I know a bargain when I see it!!

 

Where did you NY'ers go to get the shock sensors? And how much of a deterrent do you think it is? For $200, if it works I'm in.

My aunt in Brooklyn has had her TL lights ripped off twice!

 

Yes, please. Where have people in NY gotten there shock sensors at?

 

I got my shock sensor installaed at Park Ave Acura. Others have said that they charge too much for it, but it works GREAT! If I forget to unlock the car, then open my trunk to get something out of it, the alarm goes off when I close the trunk.

Works for me....

:-jon

 

Are they noticeable? How much did they cost you?

 

You guys are going to die when you hear this!

I went to Paragon Acura (long island city) today and what did i see??

COPS all over the place... they sell used acuras there.....its fenced in too.... they hit 4 2001 TLs last night taking only the lights.... fenders,lights,bumpers destroyed....they cut through the fence and did their thing... funny thing is the have a security guard too, either he was sleeping or an inside job..
they had 2002 tls there too but they only hit the 2001s (old style
lights)
its not the casings they are after, its the bulbs($200ea) and the electronic ballast they want... the light casings were on the floor.

This sux guys.....what can we do about it????


FiddlyD

 

Oh about the shock sensor , i got mine at a local stereo/alarm store... i got a DEI $15 and a glass sensor $20... fitted it by myself. took about 45mins.... it all works fine, i did it today.
i wish i could find a better shock sensor as the DEI is not too sensitive... any suggestion guys?? something better than the DEI??


fiddlyD

 

Wow, I was just at Paragon last Sunday. Pretty sh!tty neighborhood to have an Acura dealership in. How do you like the fact that they had a guard there! Inside job, I bet. It's such a small place that it would be hard not to be noticed.

 

Oh sh!t, I bought my car from there too. I had my lights taken about 2weeks ago right under my nose. My girl was coming home from doing grocery shopping & they followed her from the supermarket. Once she put the key in the door they attacked (so the neighbors say) I had a clifford put in this week, I have the works, a pretty penny too but I feel more comfortable when I park on the streets.

 

Yeah I'm pretty sure our bulbs will clip right into several other cars' housings, and if they get the ballasts too, you've go a free HID light kit for your Accord, etc. I can't believe that these @$$holes would just totally fvck up someone's car for this bull$h!t. Damn I'm so pissed and it didn't even happen to me.

 

Well, the directions I used said not to use a DEI sensor (not sure why), so I didn't. I bought mine from autotoys for around $12 and you can adjust the sensitivity. I have it set so if you knock on the car, it will go off. I'm having a second one installed in the rear to protect the whole car....

 

Guys-While it hasn't yet happened to me I have to keep wondering why it is so easy to get them out? wonder if some extra bolts or brackets would prevent this?How hard could this be--not very! Tim, why not sell such a product that you invent--we'd all buy it!

 

Here Here!! I would pounce at the oportunity to purchase such a goodie, as I am sure most here would

 

The DEI should be fine just put the switch on the light itslef and run the wire to the inside,works great on mine!!!!

 

Blazing TL, nice to see another NYC TL brother with great taste in wheels. You even have the W/W spoiler....which I haven't painted yet.


Shock sensor: where did and how did you guys mount the sensor? The ideal location is for it to be zip tied on to a wiring harness according to what the pros say.

 

LOL, WANTED THE RIMS EVER SINCE I SAW THEM BUT THEY'RE BIG$$$.BUT WITH THE SENSORS DO THIS: GET TWO,PUT ONE ON EACH LIGHT AND SPLICE THE WIRES TOGETHER,THEN RUN THE MAIN WIRE THROUGH THE FIREWALL INTO THE INTERIOR AND BAMN ANYTHING THAT TOUCHES YOUR LIGHTS SETS OF YOUR ALARM.PLUS IT LETS YOU KNOW WHEN F***ER$ PLAY BUMPER CARS WHEN D!CK$ PARK

 

Damnit, I think theft is going up a lot nowadays. I live in Bayside, Queens and for seven years, nothing happened to any of our cars, (knock on wood). Recently, my sister's boyfriend was at our house and his 99 Civic was broken into in front of my house and his radio was stolen. To top it off, he had about $1000 worth of medical textbooks in his trunk. Dumb@$$es even took the books. He was lucky in a way though. He just finished taking his boards or else, he would have been SCREWED!!! My car was also parked on the street, under a tree where it was dark. The thief could have easily done something with my car but luckily, he didn't.. phew! There have been plenty of ocasions where we forgot to lock our doors and nothing happened. Once, my dad was unloading his car and left the rear door fully open all night and nothing happened. People have no respect at all for other people's property.

Rosh

 

LOL, thats too funny...I already have a shock sensor on each headlight. It's riduculously sensitive though.

 

Guys--Has anyone looked into the idea of bolting these things down with some sort of bracket or some bolt to make this theft tougher. Tim, Why not engineer and market something like this as everyone here would want it>? I will have to see for myself and my feeling is.......if they destroy it trying to steal it , good!

 

Guys--Has anyone looked into the idea of bolting these things down with some sort of bracket or some bolt to make this theft tougher. Tim, Why not engineer and market something like this as everyone here would want it>? I will have to see for myself and my feeling is.......if they destroy it trying to steal it , good!

-------------------------------------
yeah but not like they could actually see that u have this special protective bracket... their gonna still try and steal yah headlights but theis time they might just do more damage to the vehicle and still damage the headlight anyway... but i was speaking to a Acura dealer and he is a f'ing lyer... he told me that the thives wont steal the 2002-o3 headlights cause the sensor is near the firewall... but im driving the next day i see a '02 with its eyes popped out... damn who can u trust these days

 

Damn dealers just want to sell cars ,i gots a bud in the service dept. He said they're coming 2-3 a week for new eyes. ,and its all years from 99-on Re: 1.damn thing to easy to take out. 2.thiefs dont care if they f-up your ride. 3.there is no factory shock sensor(by the firewall???).4. poor design.
I heard talk of a possible class action law suit,did anyone else?

 

Sounds like a fvcking cash grab to me- Acura really has no incentive to make a more secure bracket for the lights if people will continue to buy their cars and then buy additional headlights at such a steep price. If there could be a compilation, a record of sorts not merely limited to the members of this board but including all Acura owners then the Better Business Bureau or a similar entity could step in and help out.
This actually isn't as tough as it seems- Acura must have a record of all the people who own their cars since very few people pay the entire price in cash at the dealership, rather they finance it and a bill comes to the address once a month.

 

Hey Blazing, I had mentioned a class action suit a couple of months ago on a forum. Another member came up w/ a good point though. He mentioned the fact how accord's are so easy to steal (# 1 in u.s.a.) but there's nothing you can do about it. So what more can you do about our headlights. Unfortunately I was a victim a month ago & I can hardly sleep or do anything w/o my heart pounding or checking my window every 2secs. A suggestion is a good alarm & a hood lock. My friend had his stolen twice, he got the hood lock & the most they could & did do was break his window.

 

Um, that's some serious sh!t. Have you sought professional mental help?

 

it's splicing into 2 wires and mounting the sensor. Anything over $20 is too much. It should take about 15 minutes. I helped my friend install his.

It took about 1 minute to get to the clips, then about 7 minutes to find and splice the wire, mounted the sensor and played with the sensitivity.

less than 15 minutes total and I've never done anything like that before.

Total cost... $16

 

Hmm.. my Pops lives in Astoria too. He drives a black cl-s, seen him around?

Steve*

 

Yea i guess the law suit's not gonna happen,and I've heard the hood lock idea but no matter what those ba$tards are still gonna f-up your ride to some degree.
Good News ,badnews !!!
first the good: 2 cases where the cops did some justice!!!
NYC cops in the bronx caught 2 a$$holes(49pct 4 those in nyc)for some minor thing but after some further invest. those 2 dip$hits were in posession of multiple headlights all acuras.they later drop dime on a third in the bronx(50pct),another lil tid bit 4 losers got caught in bayside queens(111 pct) for same thing all arrested.
now the bad those Fvcking losers lawers(ADA'S) dropped charges down from a felony to a bull$hit misdemeanors just to get an easy conviction sorry for the long post but i thought some people would like to know this.

 

U may think it's funny Laurel, but wait till it happens to you. That's great news Blazing, especially since I got caught in the Bronx. It's true, if they try to steal your lights & they don't succeed there will be some damage. But none equal to them actually taking the damn things.