I understand that expert car thieves can get past car alarms and whatnot, but I also assume the majority of car thieves are not experts they are people who want a joyride or a chopshop car. Are anti-theft devices like the club or an electronic car alarm easy to break through for the majority of car thieves and are they a good way to protect your car? I know the steering wheel club is easy to get past (just cut the steering wheel), but the brake club is alot harder to bypass. What about car alarms, are they all the same or are some easier to disable than others.
They’re not all the same. Although many manufacturers offer alarms, it still comes back to two things-initiating devices and the arm/disarm means.
Way back in the stone age (actually the 1970’s) car alarms were a system of pin switches and a key switch mounted through the fender. The siren sounded like a medium sized mammal being tortured. Entry level thieves could beat these in 30 seconds.
Fast forward to today. Voltage monitoring, tilt/impact, glassbreak, and interior motion are all used to detect unlawful entry or tow-away. Smart keys, rolling codes, ignition defeat, and GPS transponders have made it a helluva lot tougher.
Certainly the most dedicated mice have learned ways around the traps, as they always will. IMHO, you’re more at risk from a fella on crack sticking a 9mm in your nostril to carjack than you are the PRESTO car was just there a minute ago-type operator.
FActory alarms are on many cars very close to uncrackable. As danceswithcats mentions they may be equipped with:
[ul]
[li]Coded ignition keys[/li][li]motion sensor for inside the car[/li][li]tilt sensors[/li][li]battery back up for the siren[/li][li]voltage monitoring for the system (siren goes off in the event of a disconnected battery)[/li][li]rolling code remotes with digital codes[/li][li]anti-smash side windows (plastic sheet between two pieces of glass, like the windscreen)[/li][li]Contol units that have to exchange passwords with each other before start will be approved (prevents replacement of one control unit to get around the alarm)[/li][/ul]
None of this prevents the bad guy from towing the car away. :smack:
Aftermarket alarms are a different story. Most of them are junk. I have had alarm systems trip while the car was in the shop for work. I don’t think it ever took me more than 30 seconds to bypass the alarm. No, I won’t post how to do this.
In any alarm system there are two parts deterent and alarm.
The deterent part (IMHO the only part worth a damn) is what makes the bad guy want to choose a different car This includes any decals on the windows, the blinking LED on the dash, and your pit bull in the back seat. A flashing LED wired up with a relay to start flashing when the key is turned off is as effective as a $500 alarm system in making the bad guy choose a different car. YMMV
To a serious, professional car thief, few obstacles are insurmountable. To the sloppy amateur (and most car thieves are sloppy amateurs), things like the Club are very effective indeed.
I heard a cop say once that the Club helped make carjacking much more prevalent, since sloppy amateur thieves now found it much easier to steal occupied cars than parked cars!
Any lock will at best keep an honest man out!!!