b00stME

*UPDATE*: another failed attempt by thieves, this time caught on camera
link: https://honda-tech.com/forums/northern-california-86/alert-sj-area-lock-up-your-car-damn-thieves-2896251/

I am posting this up to let everyone know my story about how my wife's car was saved by my stealth alarm install and extra precautions I have taken for her vehicle. Moreover, this event had occurred whilst I was not around town at the time as I was on a vacation with my wife in another state.

On Thursday, May 13th at 3:00 a.m., 4 Mexican teenagers from Stockton drove all the way to San Jose with one target in mind, my wife's Civic '96 Honda HB. Their first attempt was to pop the hood and yank out the siren, only to encounter that the factory horn was still going off. When they had realized this, they decided to yank out the battery terminal. However, they encountered another blockade, the back-up battery. When they realized the alarm was still going off with the car battery unplugged, they decided to take off.

With the annoying alarm going off, my neighbors were awaken along with my parents being paged by the two-way pager going off (which pissed me off as it disturbed my neighbors and my parents which got them worried at 3 a.m. in the morning prior to working). One of my wonderful neighbors looked out his window and noticed that it was yet another car attempt and decided to wait upon them as he noticed that the car thieves had left for the moment. However, he altruistically continued to look out his window to check whether the thieves would come back for more. While waiting, he noticed that the thieves were back at it again so he immediately called the police. At this moment, the thieves broke the window visor while trying to pry in the window this time around, only to realize that they could not unlock the car as I made sure to disable the locks from the inside for extra safety reassurance, despite having an alarm. This gave the police enough time to come by and catch the thieves in action.

I am especially thankful to my family members and my wonderful neighbor as people ignore sirens or any other problems that do not involve themselves.

Sidenote: People may have a misconception that alarm installs will not save them from thieves as thieves will prey for their main mission in mind no matter the cost. However, having a well-built alarm and taking extra tedious precautions can buy you enough time to wake up-- especially when it's loud and annoying-- as many people possible for someone to take action to call the police for you especially when you are not available to take action for your vehicle.

b00stME

lowjack will be the forthcoming upgrade for sure. I appreciate your advices and completely agree with you that one must also take extra precautions in order to ensure the safety of one's car.

nsxxtreme

While not entirely impossible highly unlikely. I can't think of a single alarm that doesnt use rolling code hoping. Never using the same combination twice. A code grabber would at the very least need to see a set of arm/disarms before it could figure out the algorithm to disarm the alarm. Not a very east task to do. The cost of such equipment would be out of the technical ability and cost of a common car theif.

nafreak

great story, thanks for sharing!

glad those punks got caught!

b00stME

You're welcome. I shared this story to inform or remind others that there can never be enough protection for your car or belongings. Sometimes, the most tedious or smallest gesture that you take to protect your item(s) can prevent a serious loss.

Lesson learned, relocate the hood latch cable. lol.

83customcivic

Great story & glad they got caught

The key to proper effective security is install & layers with back ups!

Click on my link below.. (very worthwhile read)..

83customcivic

I have a Autopage Silent Paging Alarm that is a entirely separate unit from my normal aftermarket audible (4 siren.. 2 outside & 2 inside) alarm..

In other words.. get past one, there's the other as a back up

*Granted.. someone has to hear the pager & respond fairly quickly though

b00stME

It's true how easy it is for someone to write down a vin number and have a key made by the dealership for a few bucks which is definitely doable. This is why I have a business card blocking the vin number on my wife's car.

I have read your story and noticed a lot of good pointers on how to protect your vehicle. I also take extra safety precautions every night to protect my wife's car-- little things such as, popping the hood to unplug and disable your engine from starting can save your car as well. At times, the simplest action you take can benefit you a lot in the long run.

83customcivic

Make sure to have a manual (well hidden) kill switch (2 if need be) so if they were to have a key it would be completely dead or just crank without starting thus making noise & attracting attention.
A alarm with pager is very helpful so they will not have the time to track down the kill & successfully start

83customcivic

As the wise old saying goes.. "An ounce of prevention is worth far more than a pound of cure"!

wrx-killer-Sti-eater

iTrader: (1)

Great to hear that this worked for you. The more security the better. Please don't waste your money on lo-jack or ravelco- The over priced kill switch. Look into a gps tracking system with ews would be your best bet. Also lo jack still has the worst install practice ever. Very easy to find.

here is one pic

chaseteter

Good thing you included their race.

wooward

Just got an RSX. Going to install an alarm ASAP.

83customcivic

Use the search link above for Ravelco in this section. There are a few threads both for & against it

sayyoooon

most people use masterkeys more often than what you're saying with VIN numbers. much easier and less hassle.

jdm27ef

can someone help me hook the horn to my alarm? this story made me worried like crazy. couple of days ago, someone tried to steal my car. Thank GOD for my alarm, but my siren is not that loud enough. please help!!

lashlee

Some brands of alarm will allow you to hook up both the factory horn and siren. When I installed my alarm I found a spot between the fender and wheel well to hide the siren. It takes me 15 minutes just to get to it if I need to get to it.

Slider

That's some good ****, love hearing success stories like this.

Jdm=Ep3

dont bitch

Matt93eg

Glad I clicked on this, it made my night. I also stealth installed my own alarm. Glad the ****** got caught.

lfajardo

makes me wonder a lot. i just bought a 97 hb n it has no alarm wat so ever. damn i need to install one asap. but having a hard time deciding which one is the best.

b00stME

another attempt by low lives thieves this time caught on camera
update: https://honda-tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2896251

rjr162

The thing I don't get.. in Europe to qualify for insurance discounts, the alarm wires must be all of the same color (like the Ravelco talked about above apparently). I know Directed had a model that followed this pattern, but I don't know if it was available in the US. Each wire had a tag near the end listing its function. When you cut the wire to length, you end up removing the tag, leaving just a black (or whatever color) wire. The only downside to this is how it's installed. If it's connected to the car in the typical spots, and a thief knows where those spots are, it's not hard to disconnect and bypass. Like they say (including the MECP Cert test), an alarm is only as good as its installation.

83customcivic

I am glad you caught it on security video for proof in prosecution & to educate others that car security alarms are effective and to quiet the myth of "if they want it, they will get it". If you really go overkill on security measures, the only real way they will get it is carjacking with a gun (that is if you don't have one & are not ready to use it).

b00stME

Thanks for viewing. I hope the information here will help others protecting there car. If you guys have any questions feel free to ask.