Story from NY Times: Stolen Acura Headlights!
04-30-2001, 04:41 PM
#41
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I know they are going to HID hardware. However, they may want to pick the easiest ones to jack. 99-01 is very simple.
You just bend the fender well and pop 3 screws. That's it.
I wonder if '02 has the same setup.
The car will sustain much more damage if it's harder to get to. However, it may have lower chance of drawing an attempt.
You just bend the fender well and pop 3 screws. That's it.
I wonder if '02 has the same setup.
The car will sustain much more damage if it's harder to get to. However, it may have lower chance of drawing an attempt.
Originally posted by 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.
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.
04-30-2001, 06:09 PM
#44
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Maybe I should make my headlights more accessible, so there will be less damage to my car.
What do you think?
I can even post the instruction
"How to properly jack my headlights"
on the car.
What do you think?
I can even post the instruction
"How to properly jack my headlights"
on the car.
04-30-2001, 08:10 PM
#45
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I was talking to a friend about this today. His suggestion to prevent them from getting stolen? Smash the lights so noone will want them. 
Damn, this has made me really paranoid now. I know that if there is 1 TL hit in Stamford, it's gonna be mine!
Damn, this has made me really paranoid now. I know that if there is 1 TL hit in Stamford, it's gonna be mine!
04-30-2001, 09:39 PM
#46
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Is it harder to jack on lowered cars?
Maybe I should tack weld those screws. But they'd still have to bend my fender to find that out... though I bet the shock or motino sensor would go off.
Maybe I should tack weld those screws. But they'd still have to bend my fender to find that out... though I bet the shock or motino sensor would go off.
04-30-2001, 10:05 PM
#47
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Originally posted by FlyingPig:
Maybe I should make my headlights more accessible, so there will be less damage to my car.
What do you think?
I can even post the instruction
"How to properly jack my headlights"
on the car.
Maybe I should make my headlights more accessible, so there will be less damage to my car.
What do you think?
I can even post the instruction
"How to properly jack my headlights"
on the car.
04-30-2001, 11:11 PM
#49
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Originally posted by doopstr:
Did you insurance cover the headlights?
Did you insurance cover the headlights?
1) In areas like NJ and NY if you make a claim over $1K they'll drop you like a hot potato. Half the U.S. insurance companies won't even write policies in NJ as it is.
2) The deductible on your comprehensive policy is probably $500, which you have to pay out of pocket.
3) Rental reimbursement usually doesn't cover an eight week repair (mine's to a maximum of $900 which in NY/NJ is about a month).
4) At between $3,200 and $4,500 per incident x 1,400 incidents that the insurance companies already have had to pay, I -know- my insurance is going to go up big time within the next six months.
As a bunch of people have said previously, you can't own anything nice anymore without it becoming a target for low-life, lazy-ass, scum who can't (or won't) get a job to buy their own toys. Are people really so insecure that they need to put a jacked Type R or Type S badge on their Camry to enhance their self worth and self esteem? It's a sad reflection on our society actually. After all, it's not like anyone -needs- HID headlights. Or that anyone believes that Toyota made just one copy of a high-performance version of the ’96 Camry that just happened to be purchased by a pimply-faced 19-year-old living in Union City, NJ. What amazes me most is that since HID headlights are such a big-ticket item (over $3K) that thieves are willing to do jail time if they're caught - just for a cooler set of headlights.
Sorry for the sermon but someone tried to jack my TL-S’ headlights when it was only four days old. I was lucky – it only cost me a bumper cap. But now I’m the proud owner of a car I can’t leave anywhere unattended without freaking out. The only bright spot is that Acura is going to be forced to do something because TL and CL sales are going to nose dive in major metro areas once people start getting insurance quotes and word of the HID epidemic becomes more wide spread.
<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">[This message has been edited by BarryH on April 30, 2001 @ ]</font>
05-01-2001, 08:58 AM
#51
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Originally posted by Nate:
Maybe I should tack weld those screws. But they'd still have to bend my fender to find that out...
Maybe I should tack weld those screws. But they'd still have to bend my fender to find that out...
I think I'll take one of those cement glues and just apply it on the screws... if I can see them under the hood... what do you think?
05-01-2001, 09:39 AM
#52
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You should have the courtesy of reading the thread before you reply to a message.
Originally posted by driver:
Why don't you just donate your lights to people that lost it and you can just replace it with non-xenon lights. It sounds like you could care less if you lost your lights unlike others here.
Why don't you just donate your lights to people that lost it and you can just replace it with non-xenon lights. It sounds like you could care less if you lost your lights unlike others here.
05-01-2001, 09:49 AM
#53
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Unfortunately, it's not the lense they want.
I thought about ways Honda can make it tougher to steal. However, all methods will lead to more damage to the car when they do try.
I think the best way is for Honda to provide lower cost HID options to Integra, Civic, Accord and RSX.
If it costs about the same to get them installed at the dealer, they would have less incentive to buy conversion kit from the black market or gray market.
Nothing will stop them from stealing the headlights, but this should stop them from targeting TL/CL for mass stealing.
I thought about ways Honda can make it tougher to steal. However, all methods will lead to more damage to the car when they do try.
I think the best way is for Honda to provide lower cost HID options to Integra, Civic, Accord and RSX.
If it costs about the same to get them installed at the dealer, they would have less incentive to buy conversion kit from the black market or gray market.
Nothing will stop them from stealing the headlights, but this should stop them from targeting TL/CL for mass stealing.
Originally posted by Acura3200:
I was talking to a friend about this today. His suggestion to prevent them from getting stolen? Smash the lights so noone will want them.
Damn, this has made me really paranoid now. I know that if there is 1 TL hit in Stamford, it's gonna be mine!
I was talking to a friend about this today. His suggestion to prevent them from getting stolen? Smash the lights so noone will want them.
Damn, this has made me really paranoid now. I know that if there is 1 TL hit in Stamford, it's gonna be mine!
02-28-2002, 06:43 AM
#54
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Whats up guys...I live in NYC and I heard about this epidemic a while back and the reason they target the TL is because Honda has the whole HID assembly concealed in the headlight itself. No other manufacturer has the ballasts and all necessary hardware attached to the light itself. Honda need to change there design quickly or no-one will buy the TL/CL anymore. It always hits the big city's first you know it'll hit the small towns next........especially that civic and honda owners all over the country are reading this right know...lol
02-28-2002, 09:56 AM
#56
'Big Daddy Diggler'
I'll tell you one thing, here in Yonkers i see a lot of shltty cars riding around with hids now. And i realized something. Most HID kist come with 6000k bulbs. But for some reason, most, not all, but most of these cars i see with hids arent 6000k bright, they resemble my TL HIDs more than anything. I just stare these bltches down when i roll pass them. The best part is that sometimes you can tell that they just rigged the lights because they are all uneven. One light points up while the other points down and to the left. I'll catch a body if i see someone taking my lights, i swear they would lock me up.
02-28-2002, 10:07 AM
#57
I'm noticing more and more cars that have similar lights on them. Just the other day I saw a lowered F150 truck that looked like it had TL HIDs in it. Could it be that there are some aftermarket bulbs out there that resemble our HIDs that people are using?
Originally posted by bigman
I'll tell you one thing, here in Yonkers i see a lot of shltty cars riding around with hids now. And i realized something. Most HID kist come with 6000k bulbs. But for some reason, most, not all, but most of these cars i see with hids arent 6000k bright, they resemble my TL HIDs more than anything. I just stare these bltches down when i roll pass them. The best part is that sometimes you can tell that they just rigged the lights because they are all uneven. One light points up while the other points down and to the left. I'll catch a body if i see someone taking my lights, i swear they would lock me up.
I'll tell you one thing, here in Yonkers i see a lot of shltty cars riding around with hids now. And i realized something. Most HID kist come with 6000k bulbs. But for some reason, most, not all, but most of these cars i see with hids arent 6000k bright, they resemble my TL HIDs more than anything. I just stare these bltches down when i roll pass them. The best part is that sometimes you can tell that they just rigged the lights because they are all uneven. One light points up while the other points down and to the left. I'll catch a body if i see someone taking my lights, i swear they would lock me up.
02-28-2002, 12:40 PM
#58
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I live in Chicago, and about 2 months back, I raced a Integra Type-R (Yellow), stock and after we raced, which I won...We pulled into the same party and I asked him where he got his H.I.D's, b/c I at first thought that he bought them as aftermarket ones and then he told me that he jacked it off a CL Type-S (dunno what year). He wouldn't say exactly how he jacked them but there is someway to jack up your hoods with a screw driver or some object so that a person can hit the latch and open our hood.
Everyone be careful with leaving your cars around
Everyone be careful with leaving your cars around
02-28-2002, 02:01 PM
#59
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Originally posted by tl-kode16
I live in Chicago, and about 2 months back, I raced a Integra Type-R (Yellow), stock and after we raced, which I won...We pulled into the same party and I asked him where he got his H.I.D's, b/c I at first thought that he bought them as aftermarket ones and then he told me that he jacked it off a CL Type-S (dunno what year). He wouldn't say exactly how he jacked them but there is someway to jack up your hoods with a screw driver or some object so that a person can hit the latch and open our hood.
Everyone be careful with leaving your cars around
I live in Chicago, and about 2 months back, I raced a Integra Type-R (Yellow), stock and after we raced, which I won...We pulled into the same party and I asked him where he got his H.I.D's, b/c I at first thought that he bought them as aftermarket ones and then he told me that he jacked it off a CL Type-S (dunno what year). He wouldn't say exactly how he jacked them but there is someway to jack up your hoods with a screw driver or some object so that a person can hit the latch and open our hood.
Everyone be careful with leaving your cars around
02-28-2002, 06:22 PM
#61
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We have meets so why not....
If I would even catch someone, I will be sentenced for life. A lot of Civic ricers out here in Staten Island, including my friends. If I hear them talking about jacking HIDs from Acura TL/CL, I'm going to rock their jaws.
The bad thing is that I live in a pretty good neighborhood and there is a TL-P two doors away from me (and if he gets hit, I will put my TL-S out in the street and keep it under my watch at night to catch those bastards). The good thing is I have a garage to put my TL-S.
The bad thing is that I live in a pretty good neighborhood and there is a TL-P two doors away from me (and if he gets hit, I will put my TL-S out in the street and keep it under my watch at night to catch those bastards). The good thing is I have a garage to put my TL-S.
02-28-2002, 08:21 PM
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"the reason they target the TL is because Honda has the whole HID assembly concealed in the headlight itself. No other manufacturer has the ballasts and all necessary hardware attached to the light itself. Honda need to change there design quickly or no-one will buy the TL/CL anymore"
Exactly.
Exactly.
03-01-2002, 06:23 AM
#63
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Has anyone looked into 'one-way' screws. It would be a biatch to remove these when WE wanted to, but it seems they would be near impossible to steal without a drill or something other than a screwdriver...
something similar to these..
http://www.screws-r-us.net/fasteners/1waylag.html
or even these...
http://www.fastener-express.com/subcat.asp?0=207
Just something different from the stock ones... We would still get the damage to hood/ bumper, but hopefully only to one side until they say dammmmm
something similar to these..
http://www.screws-r-us.net/fasteners/1waylag.html
or even these...
http://www.fastener-express.com/subcat.asp?0=207
Just something different from the stock ones... We would still get the damage to hood/ bumper, but hopefully only to one side until they say dammmmm
03-01-2002, 06:49 AM
#64
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I didn't take the time to look at the one way screw thing, but I am sure whatever it took to cut your car to remove a oneway screw would be ripped out causing more damage for you to repair.
The whole thing sux, I am afraid to park my car anywhere when i head up to the city. I'll park in hoboken and worry about my ride all night.
The whole thing sux, I am afraid to park my car anywhere when i head up to the city. I'll park in hoboken and worry about my ride all night.
03-01-2002, 07:06 AM
#65
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Originally posted by MikeyB
I didn't take the time to look at the one way screw thing, but I am sure whatever it took to cut your car to remove a oneway screw would be ripped out causing more damage for you to repair.
The whole thing sux, I am afraid to park my car anywhere when i head up to the city. I'll park in hoboken and worry about my ride all night.
I didn't take the time to look at the one way screw thing, but I am sure whatever it took to cut your car to remove a oneway screw would be ripped out causing more damage for you to repair.
The whole thing sux, I am afraid to park my car anywhere when i head up to the city. I'll park in hoboken and worry about my ride all night.
.
03-01-2002, 12:09 PM
#67
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Originally posted by my99tl
Has anyone looked into 'one-way' screws. It would be a biatch to remove these when WE wanted to, but it seems they would be near impossible to steal without a drill or something other than a screwdriver...
Has anyone looked into 'one-way' screws. It would be a biatch to remove these when WE wanted to, but it seems they would be near impossible to steal without a drill or something other than a screwdriver...
03-01-2002, 12:40 PM
#69
Moderator Alumnus
All these ideas are good, but you have to come to a realization. The people that steal these must know something was done to prevent this BEFORE they try and pry apart the fender, otherwise they will do all that work and realize they can't get the lights out. At this point they might just leave of they might be so pissed they start bashing your lights and keying your car.
My friend had a supra that was stolen, driven for about a block until the car died (custom hack on his alarm) and then the crooks got out, slashed all the leather inside, shattered all the windows, kicked and scratched the car all around and flattened the tires
:wow: :wow:
Needless to say the insurance paid for it, but it was a HUGE pain in the a$$
My friend had a supra that was stolen, driven for about a block until the car died (custom hack on his alarm) and then the crooks got out, slashed all the leather inside, shattered all the windows, kicked and scratched the car all around and flattened the tires
:wow: :wow:
Needless to say the insurance paid for it, but it was a HUGE pain in the a$$
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