Car stolen from my garage -- thieves using a trick to blow all the fuses?

[Grant Eaton]

Last weekend a neighbor's car was stolen from our so-called secure condo garage (my VX has already been broken into once down there).

When my neighbor's car was recovered, the interesting thing he said is that the thieves left behind a special battery pack. The police told him the thieves use it to clip to a certain area of the chassis and send a mega-jolt which blows all the car's fuses (so the alarm won't go off). This sounds a little fishy to me -- can you really blow all the fuses from the chassis? And how would a thief drive off if every fuse is blown?

As a side note, I got a new alarm a few weeks ago, a Clifford Matrix RS3 with two-way paging so I will be alerted right away if someone breaks into my car again.

[StormTROOPER]

Nothin like the peace of mind that comes from having LO-JACK installed in my lil' brute. ;)

[Dallas4u]

???? If you blow the cars fuses, is it still able to operate correctly?

[Moncha]

The car wouldn't be drivable if there is no power to the vehicle.. They may have towed it out which is getting all the more common among theives. They pose as a tow company to lower suspicions for all save the owner.

[xdfarrx]

Totally insane!!!!- That does sound fishy. These little VX's are an electronic dream or nightmare. No power no go. Good luck with your car, an hope all goes well with a recovery-

[TDAWG]

It has been known to happen that if you ground a battery to the car you will blow all the fuses then you would have to have a tow truck or you just pop the hood disconnect the alarm reconnet the ingition wires and replace the fuse. Then drive off. My brother use to work in repo in NY and did it times in neighborhoods where a tow truck would look fishy. Sorry to hear about your VX beening broken into and your friends car beening stolen.

[TucsonVX]

Good information thieves, on how to steal cars with alarms. I guess all those theives probably know these already, :frowng: :frowng: :frowng: :frowng: ;puke:

[Moncha]

Originally posted by WetMutt
Good information thieves, on how to steal cars with alarms. I guess all those theives probably know these already, :frowng: :frowng: :frowng: :frowng: ;puke:

And then some!

[coachreed]

Several years ago, a good friend of mine had an attempt on his car. The cops found a battery and jumper cables next to his house... apparently ditched when things didn't work out. There were a couple spots on the fenders of his car where apparently they had tried to scuff the paint off to get contact to do this. Failed attempt though. I guess this would be more useful to the dumbass theifs if they were gonna just grab the contents of the car, but to steal the whole thing, that would be tough if they blow a bunch of fuses. I guess you could tie your security into a required ingition system and diode protect it from any damage should this be done. Then add a battery backup so that it would go off even when EVERYTHING else in the car is dead as a doornail. That way, when they go to hook up the circuits that need be there, it would power the alarm up again and go off protecting things. I guess I'm gonna go for LoJack when I get my new toy... don't wanna be worried about this.

While we are on the subject, how likely are VX's to be stolen? Are they in much danger? Just curious. I have had a Jeep stolen and don't care to have that feeling again.

Coach... aka Randy!

[Panther_Black_VX]

Originally posted by coachreed
While we are on the subject, how likely are VX's to be stolen? Are they in much danger? Just curious. I have had a Jeep stolen and don't care to have that feeling again.
Coach... aka Randy!

I believe thieves usually steal what they can fence and make money off of. If there is a demand for VX parts, then we might start becoming a target. That is why the Honda Accord and the F150 (I think?) were the most stolen vehicles at one time.

Plus, how far could the thief go? Everyone all along the getaway route would remember the car....

:biggroup:

[Navigator]

Most juveniles aren't picky about what they steal. A little over a week ago a kid stole two (2) State Trooper cruisers. He was caught days later, there was a standoff, his mom was all upset, pleading with the news media about how it was all a big misunderstanding, and that her child was a good kid who got "caught up" in the moment :rolleyes: He was just out for thrills and would never hurt anybody. In the end the kid droped his gun gave himself up. It just goes to show, no car is safe. Just keep a watchful eye and your insurance paid in full :D

[dogue]

I just had a friend have his Ferrari 328 stolen from a mini-storage. It had the ground disconnected and was strapped to the storage unit, it also had a column lock on it. The thieves took the screws out of the ceiling and looked in to make sure the car was there opened the door used a floor jack to lift the car on some rollers (the emergency brake was on and they did not know how to release it-our guess, it is kind of tricky) and rolled the car out. the car was found a few days later in the storage unit directly accross from his. They never tried to start the car and it was covered in a thick wax (our guess was to protect the paint from salt water, for shipping). It had a little undercarriage damage from the floor jack. Stolen Ferraris and maybe Vehicrosses would probably be shipped out of the country to some place that cannot get them, usually the middle east. A stolen car like that would not be very useful in the states, because of how much attention they draw. Parting out is a problem with Ferraris also, because there are very limited parts sources. There aren't many junk yards offering money for used Ferrari parts. A Vehicross would be similar, because even though the parts might be rare and worth a lot of money, there are not very many people shopping for used parts at junkyards or swap meets.

[Dallas4u]

Originally posted by Navigator
In the end the kid droped his gun gave himself up.

Hmmm... a good kid that was caught up in the moment and had a gun? That doesn't sit. This "kid" should get some very serious punishment from our legal system.

[WyrreJ]

Read this for info on where stolen ferraris go:

http://www.ferraris-online.com/Articles/SCM_0502.html

[WormGod]

I heard about this years ago when I had my Amigo. It had been broken into in front of my girlfriend's house, and they attempted to steal it. They destroyed the steering column tryng to tap the ignition, and since they couldnt get it, they just decided to steal or destroy anything they could get their hands on. Out of vandalism, my Amigo was almost a total to the insurance. The thing is, my alarm never went off and my alarm pager never sounded. After all was said and done, I was told by the insurance company that the alarm fuse was shorted out by some sort of electronic jolt/charge sent to it. He said there were many ways of doing it (wouldnt get into it) as long as the thief knew what they were doing.

Anyways, I was able to replace my alarm (since that also was one of the things stolen, of all things!) with a Viper system that came with a backup power module that ran on somethng similar to a power cell for a stereo, and ALSO had a non parallel fuse that automatically ran from the backup cell. If a power loss was was detected, the power cell would take over, and anytime the power cell took over, the alarm would sound regardless, even just to let you know that there was a change in power usage. A yes, it came with an alarm pager, and man, those can be so very useful. Exceot when you are at a mall and every Tom, Dick, and Harry bumps your car. ;)

[Grant Eaton]

Hopefully these will deter the next would-be window smasher.

This is a Quicktime movie. After my VX was broken into (passenger side window smashed), I installed custom "chaser" LEDs in each side window of my VX. The LEDs are tied to my new Clifford Matrix RS-3 alarm. They are much brighter looking than in this video. I installed them myself and hooked them up to the alarm's ground-when-armed wire. That was a chore and a half! FYI, the ground-when-armed wire is normally connected to the starter disable. When you attach an accessory to this wire, you need to put a 1-amp diode in-line between the starter disable and the alarm control unit, otherwise you'll get a constant ground leak even when the alarm is not armed... consequently running your accessory, (such as these LEDs), at all times. That took me a while to track down.

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/515/378vx_alarm_warning_leds.mov

[paultvx]

Originally posted by Dallas4u
Hmmm... a good kid that was caught up in the moment and had a gun? That doesn't sit. This "kid" should get some very serious punishment from our legal system.

I think his mother should join him in prison. Some people just shouldn't have the right to have kids. Just think, we pay taxes to help thousands of kids like him to be in school and then in prison. I guess in the end he gets his "education", not necessarily on math or english.

[Dallas4u]

Damn Grant... that's nice! I wish I could do it without having to go through that whole hassle (it's not going to happen).

Looks nice... kind-of K.I.T.T.-ish.