I wonder how effective the immobilizer anti-theft system is with the Prius. I've read the technical parts in the service manuals that describe how the system works (even in the Prius I) and it's very complicated, the key has a chip that sends out a serial number, then the ECU sends a random number, the key processes it, and sends it back to the ECU, then the ECU compares what it's calculation should be and what it is... All in a split second before the thing will boot up.

Now, has anyone heard of any Prius thefts? Not including carjacking, since that's a different situation, altho it's still theft.

I looked at some insurance claims charts and the Prius is not in the radar at all for theft (not enough data) but I wonder how many cases there have been? I would really wonder if it's at all possible to make a Prius run without a key.

 

There has been EXTENSIVE discussion about this on PriusChat. And the general conclusion is that having a Prius stolen is incredibly unlikely. I've never heard of one being stolen. So I don't think we have much to worry about.

 

plus priuses won't help you outrun the cops or is it a very fun car for a joyride... they rather steal a sports car than some eco car for fun.

 

I agree with your logic, but I don't think the theives do. The Honda Civic is the most stolen car around here, so that doesn't say much for the theory.

 

It's fairly easy to figure out why no Priuses are stolen.....

1. Car thieves make their money from Chop Shops, where usable and sellable parts are taken off the stolen cars and sold into the black market. If there are no black market customers for the spare parts of a given vehicle, then there are no Chop Shops for that vehicle. I'm PRETTY SURE it's safe to say that their are no Prius Chop Shops in the USA.

2. Another way they make money is taking the stolen car to Mexico or Canada and selling it. With a "normal car" that is fine, because they can be serviced just about anywhere. Again, with Priuses, they can (for the most part in the USA) only be serviced by Toyota Prius trained shops, and my guess is again that there are none of these in Mexico.

So with the two major ways of making money on a Prius out the window, there is only one other option, and I can see the headlines now:

"Nerdy Teens Take Prius For Joyride - Try to Hit 120 MPG"

 

ROFL !!

 

I think the fact that you'll need a tow truck or flatdeck to steal a Prius is the main reason they don't get stolen, but those other reasons may be a significant too.

 

There's also the fact there aren't that many Prii on the roads. They're pretty easy to spot, unlike Camrys, Accords, etc.

 

A lot of the cars that get stolen get stripped so the parts can be sold to a shop doing work on a crashed car. Items that get stripped a lot are headlight assemblies, air bags, fenders, hoods, even factory wheels!

There probably have been some thefts of the Prius. I haven't heard of any. In fact, I haven't heard of ANY hybrids being stolen. The anti-theft devices in the Prius are comparable to other cars on the market that are currently being stolen. So, I doubt the Prius will stop a thief, as someone else has already stated that vehicles can be stolen with tow trucks.

As a precaution, I've LoJacked my vehicles. Hopefully, the police will locate my cars before they're stripped, wrecked, or across the Mexican border.

 

Since Nov 2003, three of the salvage titled (2001-2003) Prius sold on ebay have been described as theft recovery. No indication whether they were dragged up an inclined flatbed etc.

The one stolen Prius thread I have read in the Yahoo groups indicated that the original RFID key was used.

DAS