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Comment by buro9 | Hacker News Reader

The problem with this defense is that it is invisible... the thief will only know about it after they've caused external damage trying to get access to the system.

I just use a steering wheel lock, one of those bright yellow chunks of steel that bolts onto the steering wheel: https://www.milenco.com/products/automotive-security/automot...

This is visible to the theif and just raised the theft effort from "jump these cables just behind the headlight" to "jump these cables behind the headlight and then use a loud angle grinder in a very enclosed space". I'm in a residential area, this is a strong deterrent and avoids the initial damage being done to the car.

PS: Some sports cars kill their CAN when the car is turned off... but we do insist on keyless entry and this is what we get for it.

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"then use a loud angle grinder in a very enclosed space" They don't need to cut the lockbar:

> What we knew was that the Club is a hardened steel device that attaches to the steering wheel and the brake pedal to prevent steering and/or braking. What we found out was that a pro thief would carry a short piece of a hacksaw blade to cut through the plastic steering wheel in a couple seconds. They were then able to release The Club and use it to apply a huge amount of torque to the steering wheel and break the lock on the steering column (which most cars were already equipped with). The pro thieves actually sought out cars with The Club on them because they didn’t want to carry a long pry bar that was too hard to conceal.

https://freakonomics.com/2010/06/what-car-thieves-think-of-t...

The freakonomics folk must have loved this one. They live for unintended consequences. That phrase occurs as expected in the article.

> a short piece of a hacksaw blade to cut through the plastic steering wheel in a couple seconds

I'm having trouble visualizing that part, unless it refers to steering-wheels of the past with a lot less material. Wouldn't a piece of hacksaw blade also be much less effective, without the rest of the hacksaw to provide tension?

With a bit of leather/cloth wrapped around the blade, they're perfectly capable of cutting through softish metals and hard plastics. The tension is mostly optional, since the teeth usually only point towards the pull, resulting in the blade providing usable tension.

Source: Not a car thief, but have misplaced my hacksaw, for small tasks, far too many times.

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