I received a call from my father today because someone stole a catalytic converter on his Toyota Tundra. He started his truck to go home from a normal day at work and hear a loud explosion. “It sounded like I blew the engine and that’s what I immediately thought.†Well turns out, someone got underneath his truck with a reciprocating type saw and cut one of the two catalytic converters off his truck. The proceeded to cut the second one off but only made one cut. We are thinking that something scared them off. The funny part about this story is that he works in a gated and fenced in government hospital in Memphis, TN. Someone had to walk up to his vehicle with a saw and make a large amount of noise making 3 cuts in the steel pipes connected to the catalytic converters. Anyone who has cut steel knows that it is extremely loud. The hospital has a security team and cameras surrounding the building but this act was not caught on tape, seen or heard. This makes me wonder, what if someone was screaming for help, or in serious danger? Why were the security cameras not working? Our guess is that the thief wanted to sell or recycle the catalytic converter for money and the truck was an easy accessible truck due to the higher ground clearance. It still baffles me that someone could do this and get away with it on this type of property. Here are some pictures: My blog post: Someone Stole My Catalytic Converter!
They take it to recycle centers for the money. Catalytic converters have platinum in them and that is why people steal them. I got 4 on my truck. What the hell Ford was thinking when they did that I am not sure. No one is stupid enough to steal my stuff though. I will hear it and I shoot first and ask questions later and I make sure that fact is known.
Thats just lame. No one who cares about the environment, wouldn't do it. It's bums i tell you! I wonder how much money they got for it? Could be a nice niche to develop Just kidding!
You don't get that much. Like all scrap it is in quantities where you make money. Bad thing is they had cases in California and Florida where they stole parts off fire department connections on high rises disabling them to scrap them as it is solid brass.
i wonder how could some one do that with the presence of the security guard! i bet the guard was sleeping that time...lol
Well that depends how big the parking lot is. I do security and I have had a whole city block I had to watch and I can't be everywhere at one time. Thing that gets me is the cameras. What the hell happened the cameras went down?
The thief wasn't thinking about the environment. The catalytic converter is what eats all the carbons that vehicles put out. You lost your catalytic converters and you are dumping all your exhaust gases untreated. That doesn't bother me any but then I am a high performance loving person to. Plus the less restrictive devices the louder the vehicle is. I personally have headers and my stock y pipe and catalytic converters on my truck and that is it. I have no muffler or anything. My truck is loud. Sounds great.
Be happy that only the catalytic converter on your Toyota Tundra is missing and not the entire vehicle. Consider yourself lucky