I haven't had a car with immobilization circuitry before and it's a real problem for people living outside urban areas. I always like to put in my own 'trick switch' anyway - and have done so with my Ford AU, just a switch in series with the starter coil. I like to leave the key in the ignition for convenience just outside of shops and such - but would you believe you can get booked for that now? Even if the car can't be started by anyone else? Anyway the whole thing is becoming absurd. If someone really wants to steal your car they have no trouble anyway - here's a short quote from a 'forensic locksmith:' "Where advancements in immobilizer technology have made hard bypass techniques difficult to use, corresponding advancements in electronics have made soft bypass techniques more efficient and effective, even for the car thief." So why create more ridiculous electronic circuitry and programming nightmares for cars which are already overstuffed with these things just to make them go? I mean if anything goes wrong in the middle of nowhere where do you even start to look? Personally I'd rather have a car that can be readily stolen than one that's likely to become a boat anchor without warning. I mean what's the difference? You'd still have no car anyway!

 

Enterprising thieves find ways to get a vehicle, but today's are pretty difficult.
With the security systems out today the starter is disabled , the fuel is disabled and the electronics won't work.
It is tough enough when calls come in for no start conditions and it can involve coded keys,antennas for code receivers, security modules, Powertrain control units and the list goes on.
Some insurance companies will not cover a theft, if the car wasn't locked or the keys were left in the vehicle. Times have changed and we need to change with them or get left behind.
The days of pulling out the ign tumbler and starting the vehicle to drive it away do not work anymore and that is good.
I haven't seen or heard of those "soft by-pass" techniques and if they really do exist get their phone # so when our vehicles won't start we call them instead of a tow truck..

 

Well yeah - for new cars or used cars over about $1500 there is of course the insurance issue - like don't make them easy to steal. My problem is more with relatively cheap older cars and in remote areas where a tow truck would be right off the planet and you're thrown on your own resources. I think manufacturers should provide an option to eliminate all immobilization after say about 15 or so years just to avoid all the heartache - and you only have to check some web forums to realize that it's a BIG issue - cars not starting because of immobilization problems. I suspect there would be lot of people who would gladly forego any insurance just to have this type of problem eliminated.

 

I believe you have a good point there.
I have been areas where people left the windows down, doors unlocked and nobody touched the vehicle . I guess the object was to show there was nothing worth taking including the vehicle.

 

Nothing worth taking including the vehicle - yeah I guess that works sometimes - not always though. I had an old manual shift that you'd think nobody would look twice at but when I went in the street to get it one morning it was gone. That particular time I had to laugh, because I knew I'd find it not far down the road. Sure enough a few hundred yards down the road here it was - stuck in first gear -which was one of its idiosyncrasies! You had to know how to change gears without them getting stuck and disentangle them if they did - but I wouldn't recommend that as a standard security device.

 

Oh. do you bring back memories !
Had to go under the hood to lift up one of the shift levers to get it back to neutral so you could shift it. Never saw that problem with a floor shift only a column shift.
Times change and technology ,,,,,advances ????

 

Yeah, technology advances. Internal combustion engines? Well, I ask you. Anyway in the scheme of car immobilization one unintentional one that stands out as being extremely effective is a blown head gasket. Most mechanics would consider a car like that to be fairly immobile, at least in the short term, if not in principle. I’ve had one of those recently and I did my best to nurse it from a mosquito-infested swamp, don’t ask me how, to the nearest McDonalds about 15 Km down the road where it finally died – phew, Mack’s air conditioning, a real life saver on that extremely hot day! I had thought of continuing my 400 Km trip, but couldn’t readily modify the 1990 740 Volvo’s cooling system. I’ve now replaced the Volvo with a cheap 2001 Ford AU, which is actually cheaper to run despite having almost double the engine capacity.

Anyway for those enthusiasts who don’t take no for an answer I include an experience a few years ago of driving several hundred kilometers with a seriously blown head gasket, after making a few modifications such as removing the bonnet and punching a few holes in the roof to tie two 60 liter containers to the top of the car with - one containing water and the other oil. The head gasket was badly leaking both oil and water, which two gravity trickle feeds via thin plastic hoses kept replenishing; one to the radiator with the cap off and the other to the oil filler also with the cap off. The windscreen wipers were going full speed and visibility was low, what with all the oil and water being spewed out of the radiator by exhaust gas compression leaks. Henry Ford would have been proud of me.

Along the way I and my friend picked up a hitchhiker – there was no traffic at all – but after a while he started to complain about the speed (about 30 Km/hr), the smell and the noise, not to mention the occasional wisp of black oil, rubber and dirty water coming in through the side window.

It was a hot day. We did give him the option of getting out and walking again, but in the end he preferred our superior conveyance compared to trudging along in the baking sun.