Rx400H Catalytic Converter Theft

[kenloen]

7 minutes ago, Barry14UK said:

I wonder if number plate of the A4 was noted, although may have been false or car stolen.  Really needs  a dedicated  Police squad with 'bait' cars under scrutiny  to catch these thieves. This would take Police resources at the outset but if it stops or greatly reduces the crime  and need for subsequent Police time after the thefts, surely worthwhile.  

Plate was missing. They drove off with lights out. 

Today at Mr Exhaust they had already repaired another Rx400h and a CR-V, and other CR-V arrived whilst I was waiting. All same thing. Service guy tells me 7 done in car park across the road, 5 at the local Hospital, all in a week. He estimates 16000 this year from orders. The CR-V lady didn't report to the police so numbers will certainly be higher than reported. 

[Barry14UK]

I urge everybody affected to report to Police, the more that do means more work albeit perhaps only paper work for them to deal with and more reason to be proactive in catching these scumbags.

[The-Acre]

I'm just curious, is the RX particularly easy to target?  

[Herbie]

52 minutes ago, The-Acre said:

I'm just curious, is the RX particularly easy to target?  

Yes, due to higher ground clearance.

There's also a misconception that hybrids will have 'better' precious metals due to the engine not running as much as a traditional car, but I really don't see that. It's more than 45 years since I did chemistry at school but I do remember that a catalyst speeds up a reaction but is not itself changed by said reaction, so whether from a brand new car or a 20-year old one, or whether from a hybrid or not, the precious metals should be the same.

[GerryC]

Hi all. I just added a piece of pipe to my RX and it sounds the same and runs the same. Cost me £80. My mot is only due in Sept, so at least we can use the car until I decide what to do if anything. Thanks Gerry

[LexusPartsDirect]

Hello all,

Sorry to hear of your misfortune, as we hove posted on other boards; we have seen a spate of thefts around our local area too, and have had a few customers come in recently. Unfortunately, with a poor police response this problem is not going away. Fortunately Lexus have just released a Cat Lock which we are currently offering at 10% discount off the RRP and free shipping to Club members using code lovelexus

https://www.lexuspartsdirect.co.uk/parts/lexus-rx/lexus-rx-phase-ii-2004-2008/lexus-rx-2004-2008-exterior-interior/lexus-rx-phase-2-catalytic-converter-lock/

[Barry14UK]

Thank you for this. I note that this kit is for up to 2008.  Is there any news now or expected shortly about a kit for later RX models you may be aware of?

[STEPHEN WILLIAMS]

Hi 

I was one of the many who owned a RX4OOh and had to suffer a few months before getting it fixed.....fair play to the techncal department at Reading Lexus who really did try their best. However the same cannot be said for their sales department who seemed to me to go out of their way to make sure they did not buy my rogue model......which incidentally had just received a glowing bill of health from the technical department. They offered me a rock bottom price and made it clear that they would not be prepared to negotiate on the asking price of their other used models. 

So after 37 years of being a Lexus owner i am now a Land Rover Discovery owner and they and incidentally Webuyanycar and my local BMW dealer and the Glasses guide all offered me condideranley more or valued it at that level. 

The most galling thing was the attitude of the Sales Manager, who by his attitude made it abundantly clear that he had no interest in the fact that a Lexus design fault was behind me having to sell my beloved Lexus.....he actually said to me 'I have no need to negotiate anything off the asking price of any of my used cars.

I am hoping that this his policy and not an official Lexus policy, as over the years I have been so impressed by the wonderful customer service attitude I have experienced at Lexus but in just two minutes this guy dispelled it all.  Has anybody else had a similar experience or is it just Lexus Reading?

It made me think that Lexus are very lucky that there is minimal publicity that 4000 of their RX400h cars have apparently been attacked which has LED to a shortage of the replacement parts .....other dealers seem only aware that it is an attack on hybrids and not specifically on two models one from Lexus and one from Toyota. So whilst the Lexus Technical department have made a gesture by reducing the replacement costs, the sales activity seem to have made the opposite gesture by making it more difficult to part exchange ones car for another lexus model. Well that seems the policy of Lexus Reading at least.

 

[STEPHEN WILLIAMS]

The two models that attract the vast majority of thefts are the Lexus RX400h and the toyota Prius and the frustratingb hing is that nobody has any solution. On the RX400H the catalytic convertor actually hangs down below the body and I have  cctv footage of mine being stolen.....it took about a minute and the guy just cut the exhaust pipe with a simple hand held power tool. Now I had mine fixed I had to immediately sell, as it could easily happen again as both the Police and the AA say it is being undertaken by organised gangs, some from Romania. 

I do not blame the police as they have not a hope as literally thousands of thefts are occurring and I was told that gangs are riding around at night looking for the two models and taking 10-20 per night.  So far Lexus and Toyota seem to have kept t pretty tight lid on this.

[LexusPartsDirect]

@Barry14UK unfortunately nothing in the pipeline just yet.

[SEE]

On 12/21/2019 at 11:33 AM, LexusPartsDirect said:

Hello all,

Sorry to hear of your misfortune, as we hove posted on other boards; we have seen a spate of thefts around our local area too, and have had a few customers come in recently. Unfortunately, with a poor police response this problem is not going away. Fortunately Lexus have just released a Cat Lock which we are currently offering at 10% discount off the RRP and free shipping to Club members using code lovelexus

https://www.lexuspartsdirect.co.uk/parts/lexus-rx/lexus-rx-phase-ii-2004-2008/lexus-rx-2004-2008-exterior-interior/lexus-rx-phase-2-catalytic-converter-lock/

I bought this Cat Loc fitted from Lexus, having just had a stolen cat convertor replaced - will wait and see if it's worth the expense. 

We were told there would be a plate over the cat to restrict access but it's not fitted where you might expect it to be. The plate shown in the parts image is not fitted over the cat which the thieves target, rather fitted under the front of the engine where there are another two cats positioned further up inside the body which are more difficult to get to and rarely targeted, and so in my humble opinion, not at risk. If I'd known in advance, I think we'd investigate the cheaper Toyota product, which is just the cuff and chain/wire at £140 vs £220 (£250 fitted). 

I think it's misleading and have made a complaint but didn't get anywhere. Personally I'm really hacked off about the whole situation and feel Lexus are not supporting their customers as much as they could - seems like it's a way of engineering business with their old models. They can create magnificently complex hybrid machines, but for some reason can't, or won't, come up with a protective shield restricting access to the part that thieves can easily access.

[ISJason]

Hi. Been hearing about these thefts on the forum, Is the RX 450 2016 shape better protected from the cat point of view?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[SlowV6]

Is this a country wide phenomenon? I am (finally) viewing a used RX400H today local to me and I have to confess the catalyst thefts are worrying me to the point I am being put off buying one at the moment. I am in Dorset btw.

is there a genuine after marker deterrent other than straight through pipe, which I assume is an MOT fail?

does insurance pay for new cat btw?

apologies if the answers to the above are all in the thread. I haven't read it all yet.

total scumbags.

ETA- have now read entire thread and concluded no effective deterrent. 😞

Edited January 9, 2020 by SlowV6
Read the thread!

[Herbie]

No, nothing you can do about it.

However, do remember that ALL cars have cats so ALL cars are targets no matter what make and model, so just go for your RX400h and enjoy it - if it happens, cross that bridge then.

[SlowV6]

I am going to hold fire for now until this spree passes or a better deterrent comes to market. Not too keen on spending out in order to then put myself at greater risk of hassle than current sheddy CMax, which sits in an unsecured station car park every day.

Is the 450H better defended?

i really hope this passes. Surely there must be a trail leading to dodgy scrap metal dealers? Where do all these cats go!!?

[ISJason]

Hi, I don’t think it will pass anytime soon.. just buy your car and enjoy it as Herbie says.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Herbie]

3 hours ago, SlowV6 said:

I am going to hold fire for now until this spree passes

I doubt that will ever happen.

Ironically it's the motor industry that is driving up the price of the precious metals. I read recently that it's the demand for cats in countries such as India and China, where the use of cats is only just taking off, that is causing the leap in prices.

[RX400Driver]

On 1/9/2020 at 8:54 AM, SlowV6 said:

Is this a country wide phenomenon? I am (finally) viewing a used RX400H today local to me and I have to confess the catalyst thefts are worrying me to the point I am being put off buying one at the moment. I am in Dorset btw.

is there a genuine after marker deterrent other than straight through pipe, which I assume is an MOT fail?

does insurance pay for new cat btw?

apologies if the answers to the above are all in the thread. I haven't read it all yet.

total scumbags.

ETA- have now read entire thread and concluded no effective deterrent. 😞

Is this a country wide phenomenon? It is actually a GLOBAL theme.

I just became like you nice folks, a victim of this cat converter theft. Unbeknown when I started the engine of my RX400h I thought I was sitting in a tank or tractor.

Called AA for breakdown, he immediately knew what happened. So I started to google and yes, it's global, LA, NY, London, literally everywhere. 

Why ? I read there is about 2.5g of Palladium,Rhodium,Platinum in these converters. Palladium price per ounce shot up in the last few years by 500-600%, Rhodium +1400/+1500%.

Usually they are quoted USD/oz, so I took the GBP exchange into account, basically a 2.5g portion Palladium went from £28 to £168 and a portion Rhodium from £38 to £591 .

No wonder this crime increases exponential. For them, to sell this stuff at a scrap metal shop, it's extreme lucrative for a 1-2min job. 

I am - like you - trying to figure out what really can be done. Catlock is not the ultimate solution, perhaps it takes 2min instead of 1min to cut. The worry is, the thief can always go back to my public street parking location, and can do it over and over again, it's like "open season". horrible.

 

good luck to all of you x

[vrodman]

Just had my RX400h serviced a my local Toyota dealer and I asked if they had any experience of catalytic converter theft and he said they had about 20 - 30 customers who had had theirs nicked - Prius and even an Auris had been done. That's in NW England.

[Herbie]

Ironically it's the motor industry that's fuelling the rising costs of the precious metals!

Production of cars has increased hugely in places like India and China, so there's a consequential rise in the need for the precious metals to manufacture the cats for these cars.

I just wish the media would get their facts right and stop their sloppy reporting, because it is they who are encouraging the theft of cats from hybrids above others. All cars have cats so if all cars were targeted equally it would take the pressure off us a bit - and yes, I know it's not a cure and would just move the problem to others, but hopefully it may lead to less repeat thefts from any given car.

The media seem to have got it in their heads that because the petrol engine in a hybrid gets less use than a standard car then the precious metals will be in 'better condition' and so worth more and they keep repeating this, which is why the scrotes keep targeting us.

It's over 45 years since chemistry lessons at school but I do remember that a catalyst takes part in a reaction (usually speeds it up) but is not itself altered by the reaction. Therefore, whether the precious metals come from a hybrid or not, and whether they are brand new or 20 years old, they should surely be the same as the day they were put into the cat.

[Lydiamight]

Palladium now more expensive than gold-----see the following article from the BBC

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51171391

 

[Barry14UK]

Another reason why owners may turn to all electric cars as new models come on the markets and charging stations increase.  Think I may consider doing this in  3-4 years time as more used electric SUV's become available.  Also as most of my journeys are short,  I can use more of my own  pv solar produced electricity.

[Sukhi Saatchi]

On 9/19/2019 at 6:34 PM, Lager shandy said:

I would just get a slip on flexi pipe for now and fit the new cat on mot day then refit the flexi slip on .

In my honest opinion, this is the way to go, sorry if I offend any environmentalists. My daughter has the RX 400h, she will defo not be able to afford one if its nicked. She only got it to care for her disabled mother, (easy to get in and out).

So having said that, where could I get a slip on flexi, and is the Cat easy to remove and fit back. Also the flexi does it slip on?

Cheers,

P.s until such time that the law does something about it.

Will people stop getting these vehicles? How many times will yours be stolen until you REALLY feel the pinch.

DISGUSTING!

[Sukhi Saatchi]

On 1/9/2020 at 10:23 AM, Herbie said:

No, nothing you can do about it.

However, do remember that ALL cars have cats so ALL cars are targets no matter what make and model, so just go for your RX400h and enjoy it - if it happens, cross that bridge then.

Yes but how many times?

[kenloen]

Having been a victim of this, I still have the car. Removing the h off the rear badge is probably the best deterrent, wish I'd have done earlier. Now my car has a universal Cat, I'm hoping any experienced Cat thief will recognise its not what they are looking for and leave alone.... (hopefully).