I'm not sure, I never had to get into one that far. Usually, it was just a
quick "HOOK & BOOK" with one of the Eagle Claws (Got to Love those
autoloaders). I know it's done a couple of different ways. On my truck, the
ignition kill grounds out the positive wire to the coil. The truck will crank
with no spark. I would think a starter kill would ground out the wire between
the ignition switch and starter solenoid and maybe even the coil as well.
When you set the alarm, it will close the circuit disabling the starter.
Most often cars are stolen by kids and probably 80% of the time, stolen cars I
towed in were stolen for the ride only. Whoever swiped it needed to get from
point A to point B and didn't want to take the bus. If they couldn't start it
quickly, they would move on to the next one. Most often we could repair the
steering column, a window and sometimes a radio and the car was ready to go.
The rest of the time they were taken for joy rides. Many times ending up
wrecked or burned. It was rear to find one that was stripped even though it
does happen from time to time. I can remember nights when I was called up to
Garden Street in the city's north end to pick up cars and find 7 or 8 stuffed
into a wall behind an abandoned apartment building. For a little while it was
popular to steal cars with air bags, not to steal the bag but to crash into
something and blow the bag. I don't know if you have ever seen someone who's
been in an airbag crash but they usually have abrasions on their face from the
bag. You have to remember, that bag has to blow and inflate in the amount of
time it takes your head to move a foot. Your have an explosive right in front
of you. I can't see how these kids could think it's fun.
Your little cheapo Dak alarm with the starter disable feature will slow down
your average kid but won't stop a professional. You can't make it untouchable
unless you hire an armed guard to sit with it all the time. And even then
???? When I trespass towed cars or did repo's I would take them right out
from under their noses.
"I understand you parked it the fire lane and only ran in for five minutes,
but I towed you car twelve hours ago and your just calling for it now?"
Cars with alarms were trophies to the wrecker drivers. With the autoloader
wrecker I drove, I could back up to a car, hook it, lift it and drive away
without ever getting out of the truck. The only time I had to get out was if
it was a front wheel drive nosed into a space or with the E-Brake on. Rear
wheel drive vehicles like a Dakota, back up, hook the rear wheels and drive
away. Could do it in under 5 seconds. If it had an Alarm, turn the radio up
in the wrecker so I didn't have to listen to the alarm. Once it was on the
wrecker, it was legally my car until the owner paid the towing fees. After 90
days we could file abandon motor vehicle paperwork with DMV and sell or junk
the car as we saw fit. Before my Dakota, I drove a dodge van that I had towed
in and was never claimed.
We had this little gadget called a code hopper. We would use it when we had
to get a car that was in a difficult place and had an alarm. I remember over
off of Hillcrest Ave there was this one car that was always parked on the
grass under the owners bedroom window. The property management company that
owned the apartment building didn't want the tenants parking on the grass and
we would get called to come tow this car. Now this car had a proximity alarm
system so you didn't even have to touch the car to set off the alarm. Just
standing within 5 feet would cause the car to chip a warning for about 15
seconds and then the alarm would go off. Being a front wheel drive Nissan
Maxima, nosed up to the building and right under the guys window we couldn't
get close enough to the car to hook it with the truck with out the owner being
all over us. Front wheel drive automatics have to be towed from the front.
You'll cook the tranny within a few miles if you haul the from rear with the
engine off because the fluid pump only works while the engine is running. The
tranny doesn't get enough lubrication and you'll burn up the bearings. Now,
Whitey, the owner of the company, (try driving around a predominately black
city in a truck with the name Whitey's on the door) bought a code hopper for
just this sort of problem. What we do is set this device into a receive mode
and stand off to the side. Throw a tennis ball at the car and wait for the
owner to reset the alarm off with his remote. The code hopper would receive
and store every radio signal on a group of frequencies. We did this for a
couple of times over the period of a few days to isolate his signal. Then
when we decided it was time to grab the car, we would retransmit the signal
with the code hopper and shut off the alarm before approaching the car. Now
this car had an excellent alarm system and we were still able to take it from
under his window.
Point is if a professional wants to take your car, you can't stop him. You
can slow him down but you can't stop him.
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/9219
-----Original Message-----
From: Jack Snodgrass
Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 1997 10:56 AM
To: dakota@ait.fredonia.edu
Subject: Re: Stolen Cars & Trucks
How well does a 'starter disable' feature on an alarm work? i.e. if you set
your little cheapo Dak alarm with the starter disable feature, if someone
breaks in, pops the cylinder... will they be able to hot wire it or will
the starter disable help slow them down? Just curious. Thanks.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:07:52 EDT