Cut one wire to disable my truck- Which One ? (Theft Protection)

Jeepwalker said:

I wonder how much good it would do. Most criminals know there are a bundle of wires within easy reach under the steering column. They reach under the column, scrunch their eyes and make a grimace on their face, then a body-jerking-motion as they pull the slack on the wires ...nice of the factory to give that extra slack ...then cut a couple wires. It doesn't seem to even matter which ones a guy cuts, but I think it's safe to say you touch the red wire to the black wire. I think any combo of wires work. Then, you MUST scratch the wires together to produce some sparks. Once there are some sparks it'll start right up. Seen it demonstrated on TV at least 50 times.

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Lol. From watching movies and TV shows I learned the easiest way to steal a car is just to use the key tucked under the visor. Also, learned that cars are harder to start if you're under fire for dramatic effect so best to keep your head down.

Lol. From watching movies and TV shows I learned the easiest way to steal a car is just to use the key tucked under the visor.

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Ha ha, so true. I know a few guys who've been "Hiding" their keys above the high-security visor forever. Still do. That or put them in the center console. I evolved from that mindset when I was a kid and went one step further and used to tuck mine under the corner of the floor mat. lol But then again, Car theft where I grew up was almost unknown. Nobody wanted to steal my cars back then. Now I actually bring them into the house.

Of course I've left my ring of keys in the front house door knob all night long too ...he he. Would a thief even believe it if he came to a door and all the keys were there? Or would they think it was some sort of ingenious trap, and just leave?

retired said:

I must be living right. in my 63 years on this earth I have never worried about a vehicle being stolen and I have never had an emotional connection to any of the many vehicles I have owned to worry about it. If one were to get stolen I would just collect insurance money and buy another one.

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Never own anything that you fear to be stolen. You'll live your life in fear.
Do what you want to protect your truck but remember most vehicle thefts whether admitted or not are keys left in the vehicle OR flatbed tow trucks just grabbing it from your parking spot.

Hot wiring doesn't really exist anymore.

Shiva said:

Never own anything that you fear to be stolen. You'll live your life in fear.
Do what you want to protect your truck but remember most vehicle thefts whether admitted or not are keys left in the vehicle OR flatbed tow trucks just grabbing it from your parking spot.

Hot wiring doesn't really exist anymore.

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buddy and have spent a lot of time in Sturgis over the years and a few years ago we had parked on main street and ended up taking "da bus"out to the buffalo chip to see some concerts and while we at the chip my buddy says major swear words followed by "I lost my keys" so he was totally stressed. we end up staying a few more hours but he can't enjoy the concerts and we catch the da bus back. by then it is pretty late and our bikes are kind of sitting by themselves and we were figuring out what we were going to do as we still had to ride back to the campground and he did not want to leave his bike parked all night by itself in the bike theft capital of the world lol. we get to the bikes and no kidding his keys were laying on his seat lol. lucked out that night for sure but we figured any would be thief must have thought it was a bait bike and as crazy as that is I can top it.
A couple of us go to the international motorcycle convention in Seattle and one year we parked in a sketchy area in my buddies dodge mini van and after checking out the show we were walking back to his van and I noticed it look like smoke was coming out of it..we were like WTF. we get up to it and it was exhaust he left the van running and the sliding door was wide open.....that thing sat like that for at least 3 hours...we laughed all the way back to Montana.

I just love these stories, man!!

We had something similar when I was young. Also a black-hills adventure. High School days. Before we drove out I asked my brother if he had a spare car key to bring with ...just in case (we locked ourselves once before). He did and he somehow set it on the top of the car's rear quarter by the C-pillar and forgot about it during the packing, etc. Back in those days there was a horizontal ledge in that region of the quarter panel. Well we drove out there (~900 mi), went all over the place, different hotels, sightseeing, hit some bars/casino's, etc. Had a good time. Couple days after we were out there he asked if I had that key (that he set on the rear quarter for me)? I didn't know anything about it. He got all mad but soon after we stopped for gas and looked on the quarter panel and it was STILL there! We still laugh about it. Same thing, nobody bothered the key or the car....

Maybe that's a good strategy for the OP, just put a cheap, generic (unprogrammed) fob outside your truck door....

If your really concerned pull the starter relay.

I don’t know of course, but I figure most thieves are in a hurry, make it hard and they will go away. I have an inexpensive motion sensor siren alarm hidden in the truck, open the door and it goes off. Figure most would just leave at that point since they don’t know what the alarm might be able to do Low cost, low effort, hope it lowers the risk.

Starter, ignition, fuel pump fuses. Pull ‘em & take them with you

Green_Manalishi said:

Can't help you with your question, but your post reminds me of all the kill switch tricks we used to do back in the day:

- A push button switch behind the cigarette lighter
- Using a floor dimmer switch
- A toggle in the rear driver side door ashtray so you could reach back with your left hand

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Use something like the girl in t he last mad max movie. Crazy bunch of switches.

Ramalanche said:

I don’t know of course, but I figure most thieves are in a hurry, make it hard and they will go away. I have an inexpensive motion sensor siren alarm hidden in the truck, open the door and it goes off. Figure most would just leave at that point since they don’t know what the alarm might be able to do Low cost, low effort, hope it lowers the risk.

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Ì can get a few anti-personel mines. It would be so good they couldn't survive the blast.

Jeepwalker said:

Ha ha, so true. I know a few guys who've been "Hiding" their keys above the high-security visor forever. Still do. That or put them in the center console. I evolved from that mindset when I was a kid and went one step further and used to tuck mine under the corner of the floor mat. lol But then again, Car theft where I grew up was almost unknown. Nobody wanted to steal my cars back then. Now I actually bring them into the house.

Of course I've left my ring of keys in the front house door knob all night long too ...he he. Would a thief even believe it if he came to a door and all the keys were there? Or would they think it was some sort of ingenious trap, and just leave?

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lol. Probably think there will be cameras in there and a guy sitting there to interview him on the new series to catch a burglar. I have the occasional habit of leaving the garage door open when I park. Luckily I'm in a low crime area and have been lucky. Nothing has been stolen and no bears have tried to move in so far.

I don't drive my truck that often, (less than once a week on average), but I live in a high crime area. My strategy has been to take out the 3 large relays from under the hood. That disables the truck pretty good. If I only took out the starter relay, if they were smart they could move another one into that slot (there are 3 of the same type in there), but I take out all three, so unless they have a relay like that on-hand, they aren't driving it away. Or so I think. If they really want it, they will find a way, but there are a few other trucks on the street, so hopefully they will move on to another one if mine doesn't cooperate.

Reminds me of an old joke about two guys planning to do a week-long hike through the mountains, and one of them is practicing running on a treadmill. His friend asks:
- why bother with running? we're gonna walk relatively slowly.
- what if a bear starts chasing us? huh?
- you're not going to outrun a bear!
- I don't need to outrun a bear. I need to outrun you!

NJMOPAR said:

Back in the day just pull the coil wire & take it with you.
Today, I'd pull the ignition fuse instead of cutting into wiring.
And FYI, any decent car thief would look for a kill switch in all the places you're thinking of putting one.

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Correction, there are no decent car thieves.

Or you could take someone with you, leave them in vehicle with a weapon to neutralize the threat . I think that is a very good idea. LOL

It's funny hearing the stories of keys left out and nothing stolen. In my old neighbourhood I'd just leave the doors unlocked so I didn't have to keep getting a new window or my doors fixed after they screwdrivered the lock open.They still broke the window, but stopped wrecking my doors I can only guess assuming I had an alarm with only door sensors. Once they even went in through the sunroof. When I got an alarm they cut the horn and the siren. Then I got an alarm with a hidden battery back up and secondary sirens. They stole my factory head unit and wrecked my dash. If the neighbourhood is bad enough I can tell you from experience the only solution is to accept that anything that is or isn't nailed down will be stolen so own nothing worth having or move.

BWL said:

It's funny hearing the stories of keys left out and nothing stolen. In my old neighbourhood I'd just leave the doors unlocked so I didn't have to keep getting a new window or my doors fixed after they screwdrivered the lock open.They still broke the window, but stopped wrecking my doors I can only guess assuming I had an alarm with only door sensors. Once they even went in through the sunroof. When I got an alarm they cut the horn and the siren. Then I got an alarm with a hidden battery back up and secondary sirens. They stole my factory head unit and wrecked my dash. If the neighbourhood is bad enough I can tell you from experience the only solution is to accept that anything that is or isn't nailed down will be stolen so own nothing worth having or move.

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Unfortunately

Pulling fuses isn't all that convenient. I've toyed with the idea of a blue-tooth rec'r "N-O switch" that could be buried anywhere, the more inconvenient the better, and using a keychain transmitter dongle as a proximity device. IE, once you get 10 feet away from the vehicle, the switch opens by default and kills the starter circuit.

Russ

Wild one said:

If they really want it,they've steal it anyways,this just slows them down enough ,hopefully they'll give up and move to another vehicle. The idea is to hide the switch,you'll notice none of the video's show where they hid the switch,that's up to you to figure out,lol. You could always pop the fuel pump relay out and stick it in your pocket to,lol

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Locks keep honest people out!

DC Tradesman said:

If your really concerned pull the starter relay.

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that’s what I do on my 2017 Ram

Wild one said:

If they really want it,they've steal it anyways,this just slows them down enough ,hopefully they'll give up and move to another vehicle. The idea is to hide the switch,you'll notice none of the video's show where they hid the switch,that's up to you to figure out,lol. You could always pop the fuel pump relay out and stick it in your pocket to,lol

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And why steal a 2015 ??