theft of Xenon HID's

[RPM217]

There have been a number of newspaper articles here in NY about the theft of the headlights from Lexus RX330's, and the cost and damage ( $6,000-8,000) of replacement. I called my local dealer for suggestions on how to best protect the lights (don't park it outside) and a shop that I use for my non-warranty mechanical work, etc. I asked my mechanic his thoughts on using the grill guards, or aftermarket alarm for protection. He felt that the grill guard wouldn't be close enough to the light (6" was his estimate) to protect it, and that he had consulted his alarm person who felt that making the alarm sensitive enough to protect the lights, it would be too sensitive to be of any real use. Coincidentally, I had to call a local body shop here to do some work on my Mother's car, and posed the question to them. He relayed a story of an Acura that just had the lights stolen on Sunday night, in front of his shop ( a customer had dropped it off that night to be worked on the next day), and felt that the grill guard routine was the best protection currently available. I've ordered a guard, and will have it installed immediately. I was wondering if anyone here has had any experience with this problem, and solutions that you're using or considering!!!!

 

[4AU4LIFE]

Haven't heard of that yet. I know for a while they were stealing the HID out of older TL's I think. They fit right into Accords.
Pretty sorry that people have to do that though.

 

[NsXMas]

My cars are always garaged and alarms activated.

Even though I live in a gated neighborhood, someone went through looking at all the neighborhood cars two nights ago, and found 3 cars that were unlocked, and stole items from those cars.

Only a garage can truly safely protect the car, IMHO.

 

[ChrisK]

We have had our 04 RX330 since April 2003. I never had anyone touch anything on my car yet. It does sit in the garage at night though. Truthfully, I'm not going to worry about it. If it gets stolen I'll let the insurance take care of it. I don't want to put any added braces for fear that if a theif does want to steal it they will do more damage to the hood and bumper area since they wont know it is harder to remove. They may just use more brute force. Even if the brace does prevent them from taking the lights, the damage would probably be greater and the headlight mounting tabs would probably be broken needing a new replacement anyway.

 

[dawggpie]

Audis are big targets for this. I've seen a bunch around with the headlights missing. You always see the headlights on sale on ebay. A lot of the time they'll have broken mounting brackets. That's how you know they were stolen off a car.

My friend's S4 has had the lights stolen 3 times now I believe. Even if you have insurance it still costs you $500 - 1000+ depending on your deductable. Ridiculous what some people will do.....

 

[minsbang]

As a member of the Maxima community, the '02-'03 Maxima owners tend to have their headlights stolen, especially in the city (NYC). My friend who owned a '02 Maxima with HIDs had his headlights stolen TWICE, and had to pay $1,000+ for the setup.
I believe Nissan announced a recall and connected the factory alarm to the headlights so that it'll go off when the headlights would disconnect. But the problem is that the factory alarm would only go off when the headlight were taken out of the car, not tampered with. So members still get the headlights stolen.