I realize that passive methods of protecting vehicles from theft doesn’t solve anything in the grand scheme of things, unless you’re in the business of selling passive devices and you just care about yourself. The thieves just move on to an easier target when they can’t find that kill switch or they don’t have tools to cut that steering wheel lock.
So this discussion is for active devices. Thinks that help find out who stole or attempted to steal a vehicle or vehicle part.
Putting a cellular trail camera in a hidden spot down low seems like a good idea to me. Some of the cameras support GPS. The ligitimate driver would need to use a hidden switch to turn it off though, because it’ll send pictures or video back home and they’re not free. It could also watch the catalytic converter.
Installing a car alarm, or more scary to the thief, a police siren that activates shortly after the vehicle is put in Drive. The car would then disable itself. The idea is that if something unplanned happens, the thieves will abandon it and run, and the noise will attract attention. Thieves hate noise. The alarm can also be wired to the rear portion of the exhaust. When the catalytic converter is cut, it will open the circuit on the exhaust and trip the alarm. The ground on the downstream O2 sensor could be an issue if they cut upstream of that.
Exploding ink like the banks use.
Limiting the vehicle speed to 15 MPH or so, untill kill switch is disarmed. Combine this with GPS tracking.
Wireless doorbells can be modified to make a chime in your house if the button is wired to the vehicle door open / dome light circuitry. Some minimal circuity would be necesary to adapt the 12 Volt circuit to the circuitry of the doorbell button.
What other ideas can you come up with?
