Catalytic Converter thefts

[Eagleman]

Hi all,

I am curious to know if anyone knows of cat thefts from Yaris's?  I know that according to news reports the Auris and Prius have been targeted a lot, but I am not aware of any Yaris owners suffering from cat theft.

[flash22]

There are many many posts on the forum covering this subject

 

In a word, NO they are not affected

[CPN]

15 minutes ago, Eagleman said:

Hi all,

I am curious to know if anyone knows of cat thefts from Yaris's?  I know that according to news reports the Auris and Prius have been targeted a lot, but I am not aware of any Yaris owners suffering from cat theft.

Like Bob said, the short answer is NO but that is because of the totally different way and location of the cat on a Yaris. It's quite difficult/almost impossible for a prospective thief to get at it quickly in the way they can for other Toyota models simply by virtue of its physical siting high up in the engine bay...

[Eagleman]

44 minutes ago, flash22 said:

There are many many posts on the forum covering this subject

 

In a word, NO they are not affected

Yes I know there are many posts covering the subject but I could not find any relating to the Yaris. My suspicions have now been confirmed - that they are not targeted because they are not easily accessed.  I was just looking for confirmation.   Thanks.

[TonyHSD]

Can someone with new shape Yaris take some photos from under the car and share with us, will be much appreciated and it will show whether is accessible or not , since Corolla was not a target too and their main cats are up the engine bay and build in into the exhaust manifold, there is a second catalytic converter or particulate filter which also got stolen and so the Corolla is now on the red list. 

[CPN]

This should give you an idea of how difficult it is to get at from underneath on a Yaris...

[flash22]

On the new 1.5 3 pot, the exhaust manifold is part of the head basically half a supra engine 🙃

yes there are a few Yaris cat threads, if it's not quick and easy they don't bother

[TonyHSD]

Ok, that’s fine, Corolla is the same however they still cut the second thing after the catalytic converter, I don’t know what it is, whether is second cat or particulate filter and whether is of any use to them alone, but they are stealing it and cause same trouble. That’s my point, and if the car has that second box indeed you better install a cat plate, lock or whatever. 👍 please see the link below , last posts by Gerg with pictures that shows what’s missing from the car , and we can see the cat is there and the O2 sensor too. 

 

[flash22]

Later cars have lower amounts of the metals in the cats decreasing the value IF it is a secondary particulate filter the metals contained within will be minimal

There would be more out cry if this was an issue, these thieving scumbags aren't the brightest of individuals

 

[TonyHSD]

38 minutes ago, flash22 said:

Later cars have lower amounts of the metals in the cats decreasing the value IF it is a secondary particulate filter the metals contained within will be minimal

There would be more out cry if this was an issue, these thieving scumbags aren't the brightest of individuals

 

That’s my point , they are dumb but cutting this second thing make same problems as cutting and taking the cat , they may earn nothing but the car owner still going through hell to get his car fixed and back on the road. 

[flash22]

The same goes for thefts from cars, £5-10 worth of change on display may cost you a window

[Yaristotle]

Sorry to disappoint, guys, but I had the catalyst 'removed' from my 2002 from a quiet street in north London last June.

I was pretty dumbfounded that a vehicle of this age would come under the scrutiny of the miscreants - I believe I used some other noun at the time. It is a bit of a shock when you fire-up a 1.0 litre and are met with the sound of an RB-211 on full thrust. And it is a complete pain in the xxxx. It was not so much the expense of getting a replacement but more the time consumed in doing so. Also I did not receive a great deal of help from the Toyota main dealer despite their rather fulsome website proclamation (at the time) that hey would provide genuine assistance for those affected. I resolved the problem by purchasing a replacement mid-section box and catalyst from Mr eBay. The item obtained  is manufactured by Klarius. It is clearly a 'pleb-special' but is seemingly quite revered in the industry for their ease of fitment. I can confirm that this is much less-the-case when stretched out on the tarmac underneath the damn thing. I got the new section of exhaust & cat fitted between the manifold and the remaining backbox reasonably well but there was a noticeable tiny blow that remained. Also the engine light was on (for the first time in its life). I managed to get the exhaust properly aligned at an out-of-town garage and a replacement lamda sensor as the original was FUBARed.

A grim an experience as this was the cabling and sensors were left in place - I understand these can often get severed off in the process. 😒        

 

[sproutdreamer]

Sorry to hear of your bad experience Steve. It does look as if the 1.0 engine is has the cat set under the engine rather than up behind the radiator as on the 1,3.

Still worth thinking about more defensive parking!

[flash22]

There was a mk1 around here that had the cat taken, as its so old the cat will very depleted as discussed above its next to worthless

[Yaristotle]

15 hours ago, sproutdreamer said:

Sorry to hear of your bad experience Steve. It does look as if the 1.0 engine is has the cat set under the engine rather than up behind the radiator as on the 1,3.

Still worth thinking about more defensive parking!

It would appear that there are two variations on the 1.0 engine over a quite narrow production run during 2002. Some were like mine with a single piece cat very much on the horizontal section of the pipe so quite a bit ‘downstream’ from the exhaust manifold, so very accessible for an ‘erbert with a trolley-jack. Others are two piece items, the first positioned pretty much straight out of the manifold. The latter would appear to be substantially more problematic to remove.

In actual fact, at the time, I was not really aware that the cat-theft outbreak had much impact on older vehicles. The only things I had read in the press referred to the newer range of Prius’, Rav4s and some Hondas. It was only following the ‘swipe’ and obtaining prices from various exhaust suppliers that older vehicles were being targeted too. Yes, I do try to park in well-lit areas where possible.

14 hours ago, flash22 said:

There was a mk1 around here that had the cat taken, as its so old the cat will very depleted as discussed above its next to worthless

Is that always the case, though? My car had only done 50k from new and I have always tried to avoid journeys under 15 miles* The point that I am making is that if the exhaust is in decent condition (and mine was nowhere near due for replacement) will the content of rhodium, palladium and platinum have diminished much at all?

* It helps that I am a (grateful) recipient of the OFD (Old Fxrts’ Dispensation) card for most travel around London. 😊

[Mike J.]

16 hours ago, flash22 said:

....... its so old the cat will very depleted as discussed above its next to worthless

IIRC, in a reaction, the catalyst is not depleted. The only reason to replace the cat part is if it becomes damaged, blocked or the internals have failed and the catalytic components have been blown out of the exhaust system.

[flash22]

You have multiple metals that act as a catalyst as in many a chemical reaction one or more elements are depleted or deactivated so over to they lose their effectiveness

 

Quote

In the UK, three-way catalysts must currently (1996) meet emission standards for a life of 50,000 miles; however, research efforts and legislation are set to double this requirement in the very near future to the current US standard of 100,000 miles. The catalysts do deactivate with use. Indeed the ability to withstand mild deactivation is built into the design of the catalyst, and into the entire emission control system in the vehicle. This is done by setting up vehicles at efficiencies well above the legal requirements at low mileage, so that as the catalyst slowly deactivates, it will still meet the emission standards.

However, the catalyst may be exposed to conditions that result in more severe deactivation above and beyond that which is ‘allowed for’ in its lifetime. The major causes of deterioration are thermal damage (due to exposure of the catalyst to high temperatures), and poisoning by contaminants in the exhaust (notably phosphorus, lead and sulfur). Research aimed at detecting deterioration, and trying to understand its nature, has included post-mortem examinations of used catalysts, and simulated ageing studies, in which the catalyst is exposed to high temperatures or catalyst poisons.

The above from a OU document on 3 way catalytic convertors

[Mike J.]

We are referring to depletion, not deactivation. A deactivated cat will still have all the catalysts - unless internal damage causes stuff to leave the exhaust pipe.

[Linda S]

Hi, I was hoping somebody could tell me on what side of my car the catalytic converter is on. I park it with the passenger side up against a wall so I am hoping its on that side? Its a 2013 Yaris hybrid. Thanks everyone, Linda

[TonyHSD]

Hi, it’s in the middle of the car and parking either side won’t make any difference. Usually your model is not on the red list for cat thefts but you never know. Best to park with front towards walls as the converter is located on the front of the car just behind the engine. Thieves lift up cars on the front and sides jacking points. 
Regards 

[FROSTYBALLS]

Topics merged.

[Gray86]

On 4/9/2021 at 6:04 PM, TonyHSD said:

Can someone with new shape Yaris take some photos from under the car and share with us, will be much appreciated and it will show whether is accessible or not , since Corolla was not a target too and their main cats are up the engine bay and build in into the exhaust manifold, there is a second catalytic converter or particulate filter which also got stolen and so the Corolla is now on the red list. 

Tony as the Yaris hybrid 1.5 is a scaled down version of the 2.0 & 2.5 the cat should be equally as inaccessible as the Corolla. The same issue with some crim mistaking the particulate filter for a Cat is likely to happen - but as we have only heard of one case (?) on here, it’s maybe not so much of an issue to be concerned about. 
 

police seem to be getting interested in cat thefts now - seen a few things recently on Facebook & local news that they are trying to clamp down 

[priusnoob]

Interesting that Toyota's official line is that there's not a design issue with the Prius. Yes, it is still possible to get it from the Yaris buut it is much more difficult to do so. How can they then say "It's not a design issue" when it certainly appears to be one? 

[FROSTYBALLS]

If it was a design issue, then surely the part will give problems during the day to day running of the vehicle - part failures, etc.  Eg. the part isn't able to do the job that it is designed to do - in this instance, to reduce emissions.

It is no more of a design issue than those cars with smart entry systems where the signal can be cloned, or those cars (eg. Fiestas, Corsas, etc) where thieves are  able to unbolt the front wings, bonnet, front bumper/valance, and steal them.

Not just Toyotas that are affected by cat thefts - others include Honda Jazz & Civic, some Audis, Mercedes Sprinters, etc, etc.

 

 

[TonyHSD]

Absolutely, Toyota has no fault at all, the catalytic converters are designed for completely different purpose and only recently since 2019 had become a target of thefts and of a high demand, before that rarely. I had hybrids since 2012 and my current car was parked on the street for years and no one ever touched. Yes since is a Toyota hybrid thieves may cut even the middle silencer in their chase for a catalytic converters. Risk is always there until the demand for these goes low. I also noticed activity from local police which is a light in the tunnel. Even few weeks ago I was jacked up my car one side to swap the wheels- winter with summer tyres and police car drove past, they had stopped immediately they noted a car lifted up and a man working on, they pulled over and watched me for a minute or so, then drove off, I was happy to see that they were  interested at least 👍