hello people.

in a few months i will be staying in an apartment near my school, probably won't have a garage. many of my friends warned me about car theft at night in irvine, and my friend's civic just got stolen recently, in the school parking lot.

i want to know, is it hard to steal a TL that people will forget about stealing one? does the factory alarm work good? what about the classic "cloths hanger down the window and unlatching the locks" trick?

thanks for all the help i can get because i need to know if i should really spend extra money for a garage apartment.

 

id say its somewhat easy

the immobilizer is great, but im sure there are tons of ways to bypass it

i really dont know how they get by the locking mechanism on the steering wheel. thats the only part of car jacking that i dont understand

 

That's why you're Mr.TL and not Mr.Thief.......
No really there is always a way to steal a car, no matter what you do there are always tow trucks....

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Locking mechanism on the steering wheel is actually easy to bypass. I wont go into details but its not a hard thing to do. Maybe you should think about installing a Lowjack. For around 800 bucks you get a good alarm and a tracking device.

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"TL is an awesome car" VW dealer in Long Island.

 

I think I read somewhere that the 2002 TL's have a plastic shield in the door to prevent clothes-hanger lockpicking.

 

Get the garage... remember, it's +/- $3300 if someone decides they want your HEADLIGHTS!!...

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<A HREF="http://www.adamoski.com/acura.html" TARGET=_blank> </A>

 

If it's a pro and they want it, they will get it. If it's an amateur they still may have a good chance to steal your car and mess it up in the meantime.

What is a person to do to protect their TL?!!!

 

I agree if they want your car they will just take it..!!

 

The TL alarm sux, it's hardly anything that would scare anybody away. It's not even that loud.

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Any car can be stolen.. the factory alarm is crap.. you just have to weigh your chances..
And if that doesn't stop them, they'll find a way to get it.. if the $$ is there you can't stop them.

take a look at this post about a brand new BMW M3 with only 400 on it.. Stolen..
http://www.acura-cl.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/006796.html

 

I've heard from reliable sources that all Honda cars are stealable in less than 1 minute. I'm not sure if that would apply to Acuras, but Hondas are very easy steal. The details on how they jack them, well i really don't know.

 

I wish they make car seats that electrocute intruders (like in Robocop). Maybe that is an option in the2003TL.

2001TL Black/black, Navigation,
Spoilers, 26 piece wood-trim,
Wood knob, Splash guards,
35% Smoked Tint,
Removed A C U R A
Removed 3.2TL Stickems on back,
Just black chrome logo & Jayhawk Licence Plate.

 

That's why you have to take precautions when parking your car. If you make your car unattractive to steal ie. parking in a garage, in a well lit area. Tinting windows so they can't see inside, parking where a lot of people are etc. etc. Just make your car very difficult to steal and they will move on to an easier target. Most thefts happen when no one is around.

I suggest getting a garaged apartment or a gated community ith plenty of cameras.

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2000 Fire Pepper Red/ebony TL, non-navi. factory spoiler, std chrome wheels, 35% tint, comptech exhaust, wood trim kit, factory body kit, custom grill...
Quiets ride

 

I think the Club which locks onto the steering wheel for around $30 is a pretty cost-effective theft deterent. But, it doesn't do anything about those f__kers who are after the headlights.

 

spend the extra fee and getting a garage does

 

Im sorry to dissillusion you about the club. But I know people who can take that thing off in under 1 minute. You can either cut the steeering wheel or pop the lock out. Its that simple. Just get a garage or something...Thats the safest way.

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"TL is an awesome car" VW dealer in Long Island.

 

Bottom line is that any professional thief who wants your car can take it - and more and more often the preferred method of theft is simply to haul the car away with a tow truck!

The only thing that works is to make your car less attractive. Keep any valuables hidden at all times - this includes cell phones, CDs, leather jackets, etc. Park in high visibility areas and one of the best ones - have your windows etched (wonder if this works on the headlamps??) and install wheel locks.

Anything you can do to make your car less appealing and more of an annoyance for a thief to steal helps.

Hondas are often stolen because the parts have a high resale value on the market, I'm not sure if they're any harder or easier to steal than any other car, its just that thieves have had a lot of practice with them :-)

But also note that Honda knows the problem, and the Hondas that get stolen most often are older models, and I'm not sure that an Acura has ever made the Top Ten most stolen car list - that list is almost always full of 5-6 year old Accords, Camrys, and Ford F-150s.

 

There aren't that many Acuras on the road to make it to the Top 10 list. Maybe we need to compile a list of cars stolen per car produced.

 

A while back there was a discussion on maxima.org about a Kill Switch discretely mounted... one guy rigged it so that you couldn't start the car until you pushed the cigarette lighter in to a certain point, etc....
AHHH found it...
see here: http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....5&pagenumber=1

Good Luck
~tommy

 

Yeah I had a friend that did this to his integra once. Not sure how he did it, but it did work.

 

Ye, a lot of people do that now. My friend has it that you to have to push the driver seat heater button in order to start his car. ( He never used it anyways). Any good alarm shop will do it for it, just tell them you want a cut off switch.

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"TL is an awesome car" VW dealer in Long Island.

 

I have a friend with a 2000 3 series coupe with lots of goodies in it. He has the auto tazer which gives you a good shock of electricity which he unfortunately experienced. He passed out for a couple of hours. He also has the club and the auto lock for the brake on at the same time. Might want to try that.

Heres the link: http://www.reedbrothers.com/auto_taser.htm

Roshan

 

DAMN LOLOLOL But how much is it? I cant find the price anywhere on that site?

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"TL is an awesome car" VW dealer in Long Island.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">[This message has been edited by SergeTL02 on June 17, 2001 @ ]</font>

 

Just pull your fuse for the ECU when you park your car. No ECU, no starting car

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Dayam that tazor is the sh1111111111111ts.

 

thanks alot people.
now i know i'll probably need to get a garage.... don't want my car to get jacked or anything.

thanks again!

 

I just like to take the battery out of the car, and carry it around with me. In my Maxima I just pull the distributer every time I park, hasen't been stolen yet.....

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"Now you see that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb." --Dark Helmet

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Dude, if they want you're car, they are gonna take it... Think Lojack would help? Think not.. If you don't notice quick enough, all they have to do is park your car underground(the radio waves are the same as how your numeric pager works..and your pager does NOT work underground).. The cops would never find the car until the car is no longer underground...Then again, if someone runs around with my car after stealing, I sure as hell don't want it back!
Ed

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Get a good insurance policy from a good company, and do what you can to park in safe places. If you're still losing sleep than the Acura is not the car for you - like so many above have said, "if a thief really wants it he'll get it."

 

Yup, if they want it, they'll take it. If you are going to take chances, make sure not to leave any personal belongings in your car.

Get a private garage. And don't go for that "secured garages" in apartments in which you park with the others. That is a bunch of B/S. How in the world is THAT secured!?

Leave your car at home (w/ your parents) and get a less appealing cars. Less appealing to you, less appealing to the thieves.

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Y2K SiLVeR TL, non-navi
SLVR TL Homepage Last updated 6/9/01

 

thanks for the followups. keep them coming.

i've thought about getting a cheaper car and just drive that and leave it at the apartment, but cheaper cars are even easier to steal, and i think people are willing to steal easier-to-steal cars and make a smaller profit than stealing a more expensive but hard to steal car. my friend's CRX was stolen just before summer ended. anyone can suggest a car?

 

I agree; My first car was stolen out of our driveway in the 15 minutes between the time my wife got home from work and we (tried!) to leave for a friend's. After that, we installed floodlights, got an alarm for the next car, started using The Club.

A few years later, all 3 of our neighbors' cars were hit by vandals, who broke in looking for valuables. Our car was untouched!

All you can do is make it enough of a pain to steal your car so that the thief will go find an easier car to jack...


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David

Black-on-Black non-NAV 2000