crackpuppy

Got this story from April 27th, 2001 New York Times, made front cover of the Automobiles section, got really mad while reading it; it deals about our TL/CL headlights getting ripped off because these damn CIVIC mofo's are shameless in stealing out HID's. Read on and voice your opinions, and look at that poor old man's CL eyeless. GRRRRRRRRRRR.

<img src="http://www.garbarini-scher.com/story.jpg"/>

BlackShadow

DAMN!!!
Finally proof that our headlights are being stolen. And on the front cover of the auto section too! What is this world coming to???
I freakin hate people who deface other people's property.
So a word of caution to all owners, be aware of where you park and look out for any suspicious looking people near your car before you leave.
Thanks for the article Crackpuppy.

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magnetic1

Only thing I dont get is.. if they steal em... they are gonna have to go into a CL/TL. In the article.. it makes it seem like Civic/Integra owners steal them to put them into theirs.. that is impossible without some MAJOR work.... besides the fact that if the did do it.. everyone would know they had CL/TL lights in their car....

Correct me if I am wrong... these headlights are being stolen for parts and cars that have em damaged...

ORRRR

People steal them.. to create a market for stolen lamps....

SL1200MK4

WTF??!?!?!?!

Does our HID actually fit on their Civic? Damn... I gotta watch my back, now... Cuz the area that I hang out got lots of rice Civic and such. Althought they got ohter TLs and Bimmers around me as well..... but you never know if you are the lucky one......

bdimc2001

Damn, I was gonna go to NYC tomorrow for a haircut with my cousin, mow I gotta watch my a$$ and park in the paid attended lots.

Shyne

Dude its crazy but true !!! That would piss me off sooooooo bad if someone did that to my baby... That's why im glad that I dont live in an urban area such as NewYork, plus my car always stays garaged... The people that are doing this are probably in a ring, its not just civic owners, there is a high demand, so these people are meeting it...

S.HOlla ...

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2001 Acura TL/Nighthawk Black/Einkei AKA 17's/Nitto Extreme 450's (225/17/50)Type-S Shifter/Spoiler/AEM CAI w/Bypass Valve/Custom Grizalle/ Riceboy AcuraPads/ SuperSonicSpark$/TL-S Tailz/Ahh do I smell Comptech in tha near future/Pix real soon!!!

j83

funny i was gonna post this too?!...

j83

also the article states that they take the headlight but im sure you would be be caught if they see you wid a cl/tl light on your civic anyway, the only they could do for east things, is throw away headlight assembly, and just modify the hid bulb and ballast(the igniter) to fit into those rice things! and they dont have to get into your car they just have to break the bumper and.....ooopz i think i said too much

Edub-TL

I don't think it would be that hard to get these to fit a ricer's car. Our TL lights are generally the same size as Accords and Civics. Seems like all they need is some molding puddy and thats it, just some simple body work.

If someone wants your stuff badly enough, they will get it.
That sh!t makes me !!!

It's great that they are reporting the problem, but the downside is now that the ricer community knows about it, it will only increase.



<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">[This message has been edited by Edub-TL on April 28, 2001 @ ]</font>

adamyankee

Don't you need a ballast for H.I.Ds? You can't just plug them into regular harness.

I'll bet one asshole fukked up his clearing job, so he stole someone elses, and since a large amount of NY is obviously lazy mutherfukkers, the epidemic just spreads.

There are junkyards in the Bronx that can get you any part you want. I can drive down the road with no headlights, and they will stop me telling me they have the lights or that they could get them. So the next day the car with the stolen lights will come by and they go do the same thing to another one.

It's a joke.

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1999 Firepepper Red
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doopstr

Hmmm....I wonder if there is a way to put a "switch" inside the bumper. That way when those MoFos hit the switch the lights will ignight and give them the 20,000 volt shock of their life!

It would have to look like accidental miswiring because you can't booby trap your ride.

Gomez

Man, that's just rude. I hope this article doesn't work to increase the number of thefts. Makes me want to put a cattle prod or razor blades in there to injure a potential thief, but I won't...

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'01 White Diamond Pearl 3.2TL
-Wing, tint, wood and Whistler

BarryH

Someone tried to jack my TL-S headlights when the car was four days old. They must have gotten scared away so it only cost me a bumper cap. Jens said they are stealing the headlights for the hardware, not the actual lenses which obviously wouldn't fit another car. I now only park "nose out" and take the MDX if I'm going to park somewhere the TL-S might be vulnerable. I wish Acura could come up with a way to render the HID hardware unusable if stolen like they have with the navi and radio. When you talk to dealers and body shops, the problem is much more widespread than the NY Times article would indicate. There's currently a national back-order of 1,400 sets of CL/TL headlights.

andrews32

Really? You're not allowed to booby trap your own car? Is it a law or something?

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2001 Satin Silver w/ Nav
WW Spoiler
20% Tint

VTEC

That's is not cool..I think i have to watch out where i park..

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2000 3.2TL Firepepper red w/o nav
stock spoiler
Comptech springs
Custom front Grill
Bosch 4+ platinum spark plug
25% Tint/Mud guards/
acura-tl.com sticker at front windshield

FTM-1

This is what I said it is some of the people with Accord & Civic & Tegs The ricers as they are called.I have a few around my way they don't live on my block. They do live in the next block to mine. Someone said I was unfair in another post I made about it being these poeple. I don't thik the statement was unfair. The truth is they wan't the lights for the nice blue/white color. The average Joe Blow or Cindy Sue with Accord,Civic,Tegs would not do this or even know how. So the profile is younger male Ricer Type. I feel safe with my car its parked in back yard most of the time behind a 7foot tall fence. At night I have flood lights on it & another motion light that will come on. There is not much room to work with behind the fence.I also have a Clifford alarm but I may turn it up a notch. At my age I am not out that much at night that the car is that far from me. I still think its that sorry alarm system that Acura put in our cars. They fixed the problem of joy riders stealing the car but now some Butt Holes are taking headlights.

VICNYC_TL

little mofo's what the phuck can't have shit, not those are things that piss me off.

now i am gonna go buy a gun.......

anant369

Someone tried jacking my lights a few weeks back, they tried to bend the hood up, didn't work though. I had to touch-up paint the hood though, I'm on the look out now.

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2001 Silver TL with Navi

Guest

Legal precedent rather than law, I think.

You can't booby trap your car, house, or anything else for that matter. If an intruder is hurt or killed by said trap, no DA will hesitate to file battery/homicide charges against you.

The only way in which it *might* be less illegal is to announce the presence and nature of the potentially deadly deterrent with highly visible signs, much like "electrified fence" or "guard dog."

CVCC

Now we need THE CLUB for our lights.


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RAdams

It's actually pretty easy to make HIDs fit in Integras and Civics. If they steal the whole unit (including ballast) it's just a matter of wiring it up and modding the headlight housing to fit the HID bulb assembly. Unfortunately it's about the same amount of work as clearing out your headlights (i.e. fairly easy) so even the non-mechanically inclined could do it with moderate effort.

My condolences to anyone who's had their headlights stolen

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2000 WDP 3.2TL non-NAV
AEM CAI

Acura3200

With the incredible number of 99+ TL's in my town, I think I'd probably hit lotto before my lights are jacked.... still makes me nervous though.

Watch this happen... insurance companies are going to start raising our rates because of this. They're reasonable now as our car is hard to steal, but at $4600 a pop for stolen headlights, you know they'll increase premiums in a second if this keeps up.

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Jason
<A HREF="http://www.adamoski.com/acura.html" TARGET=_blank> </A>
2000 Acura 3.2 TL w/ Navigation
Satin Silver / Ebony Interior
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doopstr

I was thinking about the "switch". Is there a way to wire in pin switches for the factory alarm? If you could put pin switches behind the lights the alarm would activate if someone tried to pull them out. As you know, the factory alarm flashes the headlights when it goes off

Anyone think they could do this?

Shoofin

When I went to the auto show, I spoke with one of the reps by the acura booth. He was from Ohio, where the car is manufactured.. He too asked me what's up with all the headlights being stolen...
Ed

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Acura-TL.com - Forum Moderator

'99 TL Satin Silver/Ebony, Non/Nav, Comptech lowered, Comptech Air Filter Element, Inspire Tails, AEM Brake Pads all around, Comptech Axle Back Exhaust, "Guy Smiley" doll on the dash as my Co-driver...

Pics of my TL
Pics of my Miata! Wadya think?

j83

just one thing at this moment it his been serious around new york and in cali, but for everywhere else itll be awhile before it goes anywhere else, i live like 5 mins away from nyc, and if something like this is goin on over there, it'll eventually be over here, many crimes that happen in this part of bergen county, they all from nyc.

FlyingPig

They just hit the TL/CL along US22 from central jersey to Newark tonight.

VTEC Animal

I remember when I was looking at getting a true HID conversion for my '98 CL and it was going to be like 1700. I opted for some PIAA's instead that gave me much better headlight coverage, but nothing like real HIDs. I knew then that the HID's would be a high theft item and that's one big reason why I didn't get the true HID's back then, so I'm not too suprised that it's a high theft item now. No matter what happens, if you have something nice that costs more than many can afford then it's going to have a theft risk. There are just too many loosers in this world that see theft as a way have what they can't have. Sad, but true.

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2001 Acura 3.2TL Non-Navi
Satin Silver
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3point2TL

We better watch for the conversions of our tl lights in the civics tegs at the car shows

Devil's Advocate

How does parking "nose out" help? I assume you are parking perpendicular to a wall/sidewalk, and you back your TL into the spot. I guess if your nose is sticking out, people can more easily see if some a$$ tries to do surgery on your front end??

Anyways, some members brought this up about 2 weeks ago, but now we know it is an epidemic. Really sorry for any fellow TL/CL owners with their babies ripped like that. Man, it makes me steam just thinking about it. Parked my car in the streets of NYC all day yesterday, still got my lights, so I guess I was lucky, but from now on, garage parking for me. Watch your backs all...

DA

Darla

It's hard to look at Mr. Resnik's picture and not feel bad for him. Perhaps a Rottweiler leashed to the car may prove some kind of anti-theft device (but you've the additional maintenance factor of feeding the dog).
It's ironic that many of the TL's attributes wind up to be (theft) liabilities.

Guest

My headlights were stolen in the Bronx 6 weeks ago and I am just getting my car back next week. The stories about the backorders are true and based on these numbers (1400 ordered) I agree that the magnitude of the problem was probably understated in the NY Times article. I spoke to more than a handful of dealers in the NY area last month in a search for the HID components and all of them had several customers with stolen headlights. Those outside of NY should not be too smug though since I am sure this trend will be exported to the rest of the country in short time.

Acura3200

Damn Neil, why'd ya have to let me know that it's already spread to Connecticut. You're only like 20 minutes away too...

Obviously you're interested in your TL, you should join one of our meets! Check out the TL Meets forum for details on upcoming events!

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doopstr

Did you insurance cover the headlights?

grishulia

Well... beware... they usually steal from 'good' neighbourhoods... they have more chances of finding a car they need, luxury car, in an upscale neighbourhood than in the projects...

One example... this guy used to live in a Borough Park in Brooklyn, in a nice and very expensive location... his car was broken into every 2 month... than he moved to the Starret City also in Brooklyn, only one block from the worst place you can find in Brooklyn, infested with blacks and hispanics, and his car is fine ever since...

But in the end it all depends on your luck or the lack of...

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Out on parole and on best behavior...

Guest

grishulia what are you trying to say! Infested with blacks and hispanics!!!!!!!

Acura3200

agreed, but if you didn't point it out, I would never have caught it.

Nate

Could've fooled me.

FlyingPig

The headlights aren't even going to be available for a few weeks.
If you lose your headlights, you will be on a rental for a few weeks.
I wonder if they are also stealing 2002 headlights.

BarryH

Yep. Mine's a 2002 and someone tried to jack my headlights. Again, the headlights themselves aren't what the thieves are after. They want the HID hardware and Xenon bulbs so they can jury-rig it to work in the existing headlight assemblies of their ricer Civic's, Integra's, and Corolla’s.

grishulia

LOL... you paople are so picky...

I didn't mean anything by it, wrong wording, and my appologies if I offended anyone... but just the though of a headache if my lights are lifted... can't even think about it...