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Comment by SmallBets | Hacker News Reader

Funny seeing this as an Element owner, who is just dealing with the hell of having the catalytic converter stolen. With the relatively high ground clearance, these are absolute magnets for catalytic converter theft. Estimate to fix it with OEM parts ~$6k! Waiting to see if insurance totals it.

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This is one of the things I enjoy as an EV owner. I don't need to worry about low-lifes stealing parts from my car.

I do worry about the time when the same people figure out that a regular-ass Type 2 charging cable is up to $300 and completely untraceable if stolen. A "granny-charger" can be up to $1k for the really fancy models. And most EV's have at least one of those onboard at all times.

With a battery powered disc cutter you can have the $15k battery out inside 10 minutes.

Theoretically. In practice there will be a crispy fried battery thief under the car in the morning.

I'm not seeing a huge market in stealing batteries from EV any time soon. Most are literally built into the frame and would require taking apart the whole car.

$15k worth of battery weighs at least 453kg(1000lbs). Might as well just steal the entire car.

What? $6k? How much damage did the thieves do?

I know, it's unreal - the Cat itself is 2500, then 02 sensors, the frame harness, and labor are the rest

That's crazy! If you're inclined to keep it, Rockauto [0] is a cheap place to get auto parts, and often cheaper than the local stores for the same stuff. $368 for a Walker cat for an '08 Element [1].

I know that some repair jobs can be a lot because of how modern cars are designed, but if the labor is a couple grand (sounds like it is), that sounds extreme.

[0]: https://www.rockauto.com

[1]: https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/honda,2008,element,2.4l+...

Thank you, I will look into this. I am worried about it happening again lol

If you live in a civilized state where there isn't mandated annual vehicle inspections, you can just go to a shop in a poorer part of time and most of the time they'll weld in a straight pipe so you can hook up the muffler again. Quick, cheap, and good enough.

There's precious metals (platinum) in the catalytic converter. That's why they get targeted by thieves & are expensive to replace. $6k seems high though. I had to replace one years ago and it was less than half that.

Might be time to look into one of those catalytic converter cage things

Yes, luckily I had read about this and just upgraded my insurance for theft the month before

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