"Check Engine Light"...Can mean all sorts of things.

[Luckysnuck]

"Sir, your catalytic converter has been cut away from your exhaust system"...all righty then.

Yep, quite surprised to receive this news. When untucking my rig from it's wintertime slumber from it's passcode entrance gate, security camera surveillance, barbed wire fenced, 24/7/365 lighted, routinely police patrolled storage facility hibernation, upon firing her up appears the "check engine light"; not immediately but within minutes. So I called my local MB dealership and the next thing I knew with less than 1/2 cup of their delicious customer lounge java down my throat I was delivered the fun news.

Thankful for the insurance folks that I'm "in good hands with" my wallet would have been $ 1,750.00 lighter, less my deductible.

Unsure how one can defend this sort of theft other than crossing your fingers hoping the thief doesn't spy what apparently is some low hanging fruit (no pun intended) on these rigs.

[ITSNO60]

It's becoming a major crisis, they hit a whole bunch on a local new car lot here. The guy stealing them gets peanuts to help his drug habit, the buyers process the precious metals out of them. The money gained is a fraction of what it costs to fix. Vehicles that are high enough to slide under are easy targets and certain vehicles which are known to have a higher content of certain precious metals (Honda) are often chosen. The best device I have seen so far is the Cat Clamp, the cables make it real hard to cut with a reciprocating saw which is the tool of choice. They likely won't carry a sawzall and a grinder or want to take the extra effort to defeat the device. The Cat Clamp also does not interfere with cooling which is very important on a Cat which operates at very high temps.
https://catclamp.com/

PS looks like they are made just a few hours from you

[OTRA15]

FYI a recent "Victimized" thread discusses these kinds of thefts also:

https://www.airforums.com/forums/f16...zed-82020.html

FYI
FWIW

[Lily&Me]

Wow.

Sorry to hear of this, and glad you have good insurance.

Maggie

[Hawk-ination]

Happening quite a bit here too, along with battery thefts that are accessible. We lost two this year, which isn’t bad compared to the six they usually get. They are saying thousands are being stolen in our city. There is video of one being stolen at a college in broad daylight even. Sad deal, sorry to hear you got hit.

[Krikati]

Seems to me that the storage place has some liability too.

[toskeysam]

This is becoming a plague in some places. Recently, these thieves hit a group of cars parked at access roads along the Appalachian Trail. Perfect spot for them...deep in the forest along Forest Service roads. Fortunately, we’ve been spared from this, with our overnight parking selections.

[InterBlog]

I suggest that everyone be mindful for sharply-escalating increases in crime. It's a topic about which I do know a little, as suggested by this image below (screengrabbed last week) - who on earth reads the journal of the Texas Senate for fun?? Well, I do, but the story of why is too long for this space.

Bottom line in Texas, with similar outcomes across the country:

Anyone who is NOT among the very most violent of offenders is basically on the street right now. Criminal cases stopped being heard a year ago, as the justice system ground to a proverbial halt. Just as one data point on the result of that, four hundred people were murdered in Houston in 2020, and so far, 2021 is on track to shatter the new record that just shattered the old record.

And that's just the most violent end-member crime, to say nothing of lesser offenses. This whole situation will take years and years to sort itself out. Until then, we can expect to see crime like most of us have never seen it in our lifetimes.

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

I suggest that everyone be mindful for sharply-escalating increases in crime.
. . .
Bottom line in Texas, with similar outcomes across the country:

Anyone who is NOT among the very most violent of offenders is basically on the street right now.
. . .
This whole situation will take years and years to sort itself out. Until then, we can expect to see crime like most of us have never seen it in our lifetimes.
. . .

Good reminders . . . thanks.

Folks' expectations -- that we are "getting back to normal soon" -- may need adjusting . . .