Catalytic converter theft from cars isn’t a new crime, but it has increased significantly in recent times.
Police forces around the UK are advising owners of any car fitted with a catalytic converter to take precautions. In Toyota’s case it is second and third-generation Prius models (2004-2009 and 2009-2016 respectively) and second-generation Auris Hybrids (2012-2018) which have been particular targets for thieves.
Below we’ve gathered the best advice for Toyota owners who may be concerned.
What is a catalytic converter?
The catalytic converter is part of the car’s emissions control system. It cleans up the exhaust gases before they are expelled from the car through the exhaust pipe. Its internal elements react with the gases, breaking them down into less harmful substances and water vapour. All new cars sold in Europe since 1993 have had to be fitted with a catalytic converter by law.
Why are they a target for thieves?
Clearly the police are best placed to offer advice on the motives behind this crime. But we understand that the value of the catalytic converter for recycling is the main attraction to thieves, because it contains precious metals such as rhodium, platinum and palladium.
What can owners do to stop their cars being targeted?
Some owners have chosen to tag their catalytic converters with an invisible yet traceable forensic marking solution, such as that provided by SmartWater. This means that a stolen catalytic converter can be traced to a specific crime, helping police in their attempts to fight the organised gangs responsible. It also raises the risk to all those handling the devices along the criminal chain, from theft to eventual disposal and recycling. Mechanical theft prevention products such as Catloc devices can also deter thieves.
However, it must be noted that catalytic converter theft is a criminal operation and the scope of owners is therefore limited. Police forces are taking action, so it is important for anyone who is a victim of this crime to report it as quickly as possible.
In the main, older cars are more likely to be targeted. This is because advances in efficiency and technology mean the latest generations of catalytic converters contain vastly lower amounts of precious metals, while still doing their job just as well or even better. This means their value for recycling is very low and they are not attractive to thieves.
Does a mechanical lock give my car 100% protection from thieves?
Sadly not. It can make theft more difficult but thieves are using high-powered cutting tools to remove catalytic converters and because of this it is not possible to make them ‘unstealable’. A mechanical locking device makes it harder to steal a catalytic converter because it slows down thieves and therefore acts as a deterrent.
If I’m worried about my Toyota model, what should I do?
If you are worried about potential catalytic converter theft from your Toyota, we recommend you use our locator tool to find your nearest Toyota centre and contact them to discuss the best way to protect your car.
This article was last updated on 2 November 2024, so some of the responses to reader comments below have been superseded by more recent information.
Hi, I passed my driving and got a Toyota Prius hybrid 2007 model a week later. One week after that, the catalytic converter and the O2 sensor got stolen from my work car park in broad daylight?!! I am absolutely devastated!
My insurance wouldn’t pay for the catlock or the Toyota dealer and after a week of no progress, we got it replaced privately today. I’m shocked and very disappointed that I have had to fork out £650 to replace the cat converter when this is a known issue with Priuses! Not only that, despite withdrawing the claim, my insurance company have noted it on my records and have told me the premiums are likely to go up and I will not get an NCB.
Please arrange some sort of financial compensation, I’m now anxious to leave the car at home, work, supermarket, a car park without protection! I have been in tears over this and all this could have been prevented. To put it in perspective, a member of the insurance team said one of their clients got his cat converter stolen whilst parked outside the police station?????!!!!!!! Nowhere is safe without a deterrent like a catloc/catstrap…
Please help, I’m a die hard Toyota fan and opted for a more expensive Prius as a first car over a small hatchback because I love the reliability and smoothness of the hybrids Toyota has made.
Hi Hina,
Thanks for getting in touch with us. We are so sorry you have been impacted by this crime. We appreciate the severity of this situation and will email you directly with more information in order to help you further.
Thanks.
Unfortunately the catalytic converter has been stolen from my husband’s Auris. We have 3 kids and on low income all relying on my husband’s car to live. Now facing either claim through insurance to pay £500 excess then high premium or repair ourselves. If I’d knew this is easily can be stolen I would never buy toyota. Don’t know what to do next
Hi Tai,
Thanks for getting in touch. We are deeply sorry you have been a victim of this crime. We are working to support all our customers who have been impacted by this situation and will email you directly in order to provide you with further information.
Thanks.
My catalytic converter got also stolen. Looks like Toyota still hasn’t solved the issue. It will be my last hybrid car then.
Hi Lucas,
Thanks for getting in touch with us. We are so sorry you have been impacted by this crime. We appreciate the severity of this situation and are working to help all our customers who have been affected by this situation. We will email you directly with further information.
Thanks.
Yes, never buy a Toyota Hybrid again. I’ve lost £3k replacing car converters in 2 months.
It’s a shame
You’re Toyota for god sake, why can you not answer the mans question? Yes/No answer really, don’t fob him off to someone else.
Hello
(for some reason it won’t let me create a new comment so i’ll do it here)
I’ve put a deposit on a Auris Hybrid today only to stumble across online about this massive issue that people are having.
I want to know why i wasn’t told by the Toyota dealership about this huge defect on the cars when i gave a deposit? i near enough forked out 9 grand outright if it wasn’t for me stumbling across a random news feed online and all these peoples unfortunate situations.
You (Toyota) need to do a RECALL and put a shield in place for your customers over the cat and surrounding areas to prevent this from happening. Why should they have to pay out of the A*** for it?
At the same time, i’m a little concerned that your Toyota dealerships are still selling used auris and prius hybrids and not telling customers (like myself) about the situation? luring me and others into a financial abyss.
There is no way in hell i’m going ahead with the purchase and i’ll want my £250 deposit back tomorrow when i call them up.
“Hi, Sorry for tagging onto soeone else’s comment but for some reason I am unable to start a new comment on here”
Sounds familiar, i tried doing the same and it wouldn’t let me also. Looks like they are limiting posts along with adding to other peoples responses as that hasn’t appeared also (this probably won’t either)
I am the owner of a Toyota Prius with a 56 reg and I have just had the catalytic converter stolen from my car for the second time in under a year. Both thefts occurred during the day time – the second time the car was parked right outside my house and a neighbour even accosted the thieves but was threatened by them and so couldn’t stop them before they drove off. Despite reporting both thefts to the police, they simply closed the cases a matter of days later as they had no evidence to follow up on, and so I was left to pay the price.
On the first occasion my insurance premium increased by about £300, despite me protecting my no claims discount. I also had to pay the cost of the excess and was left with no car for weeks while the garage waited to get hold of a replacement cat. At my next renewal I am really worried about what it will increase to – or that I may even be denied insurance as I have read that some insurance companies are now refusing to insure these cars. I need my car to get to work and I cannot afford to buy a new car just because of this.
I simply do not understand why Toyota are not doing any more to help the victims of these crimes. I had no idea what I was letting myself in for when I bought a Prius and this problem is costing me a lot of money, as well as stress and inconvenience. You should be sending out cat locks to all your customers instead of charging us such a high price for a problem that is entirely your fault. You even say yourself that the cat lock may not necessarily work – so what other solution do we have?
This is honestly such disgraceful behaviour on your part and causing so much stress to so many affected customers. I for one know that I will never buy a Toyota again if this is how you treat people. It is clear that it is mainly Toyota cars that are being targeted – this is not a general problem affecting all makes and models of all cars – it is specific to Toyota and a couple of other manufacturers so it is not good enough to suggest that it is a general problem that could affect any car owner as you are doing in some of of your replies.
I note in particular the response which said that you could not assist as it was a result of criminal activity and not a manufacturing defect. Of course it’s a manufacturing defect – the cars have been designed BY TOYOTA with catalytic converters containing materials which make them attractive to thieves and then with the cats placed in positions that make them easily accessible. This is your fault – and you need to provide an urgent solution to this problem.
Hi there,
Thanks for getting in touch. We are so sorry you have been a victim of this crime. We are doing all we can, and have taken the following actions.
We are engaging with the Home Office, Local MPs, Met Police (OVCU) and the Assistant Chief Constable of Cheshire Police (Jenny Sims) who is also the National Lead for all vehicle crime. All of this will raise the profile of this crime with all police forces and identify issues with current legislation.
In addition, we are treating all case on a one by one basis and have developed and are supplying theft deterrent devices at zero profit to help protect consumers from further attacks.
Finally, we are also working with insurers to minimise the impact on consumers.
We will email you directly with more information in order to help you further.
Thanks.
Dear All,
Cat convertor stolen on Friday 1st February from our car Auris hybrid from Leisure Aspects car park Bristol that is very populated and has cameras in place, security camera above our car. Left the car park vehicle in electric mode after 1 min. started to do a very loud noise, called AA and the guy told me that he hope is not what he thinks it is and yes confirmed cat missing. Advised to take the car second day in the morning at Toyota Bristol South. Arrived there and I was greeted by a young lady that had no clue about anything, didn’t know how to handle this kind of situation and asking me to calm down and why I brought the car there. No clue about the car because apparently didn’t appear in the system. Gave an estimated price that is insanely expensive without having a look at the car and told me that I can do this through my insurance or I have to pay from my pocket. Called insurance to see how they can help me , told me that I have to report it first otherwise they can’t tell me. So in the end I have to pay an excess and I already lost my no claim bonus because I report it even if I decided not to go through my insurance.God knows how much I will have to pay for my insurance in the future. It’s a win win situation for everyone except me. I had no idea this was an issue and that this model was being targeted along with the Prius!!!If I had been warned that there was a possibility that my catalytic converter could be stolen and that my particular car was a target I would never buy this car.I payed a lot of money to be insured for a lot of things alloy wheels, for dents and so on why nobody could warm us about this problem. I’m sorry Toyota but I’m deeply disappointed with you and the way that victim like us are treated. I’m very upset and unable to sleep because of this. Apparently Toyota staff doesn’t know about any customer service either. This event wasn’t my fault and I didn’t ask for this to happen but apparently nobody treats this problem in the right way
Hi Dana,
Thanks for getting in touch. We are so sorry you have been a victim of this crime. We are working to support all our customers who have been impacted by this and are treating all cases on a one by one basis. We have developed and are supplying theft deterrent devices at zero profit to help protect customers from further attacks. However, the prices quoted by centres may vary, depending on the damage to the car caused by the theft.
We would like to help you further with your situation and will email you directly with more information.
Thanks.
Is there a reason why Toyota have not contacted their many customers to inform them their vehicles are at risk. I have stumbled across this whilst surfing the web at the weekend and am of the opinion the dealership should have been in touch.
Hi there,
Thanks for getting in touch. Toyota published police advice on this crime as soon as it could online, wrote to our dealer network to brief customers and wrote directly to owners of a number of our vehicles where we had details to do so. We have tried to ensure as many of our customers as possible are aware.
Thanks.
We were never informed either by Toyota about how vulnerable our 2014 Auris is to this problem, and how likely a CC theft would be. The CC was stolen while the car was parked in my company car park in Slough on Friday 31st, in broad daylight.
Not only is there little or no protection for the CC, the alarm is also utterly useless as it did not go off despite the car being jacked up. Obviously no tilt sensor.
To add insult to injury, Currie Motors in Twickenham are looking for more than £1500 to replace it, and add a Catloc. This just smacks of a nice little earner for Toyota, keeping their workshops busy, whatever they may claim about making no profit from the Catloc and replacement CC.
There seems little point in keeping the car, as it will just be attacked again, so we will be permanently anxious about when and where it will happen, and how badly stranded we are going to be.
Thanks in advance for the copy and paste apology, Toyota. Words are cheap, actual customer service isn’t.
Hi Troy,
Thanks for getting in touch. We are so sorry you have been impacted by this crime and for the distress this may have caused. We have tried to ensure as many of our customers as possible are aware. We published police advice on this crime as soon as we could online, wrote to our dealer network to brief customers and wrote directly to owners of a number of our vehicles where we had details to do so.
We have developed and are supplying theft deterrent devices at zero profit to help protect consumers from further attacks. However, the prices quoted by centres may vary, depending on the damage to the car caused by the theft.
Once again, we are sorry you have been impacted by this. We will email you directly with more information.
Thanks.
I have an 11 year old second generation Prius with 98K miles on the clock. It’s been the most economical, reliable, and comfortable car I’ve owned across nearly 50 years of driving. I have it serviced by a Toyota main dealer who only last weekend suffered the loss of catalytic converters from nine cars on its forecourt, some of them with bodywork damage caused by the thieves.
This dealer (from whom I bought the Prius) and two others have told me that the catlock is by no means foolproof – it will merely slow down the process of removing that part of the exhaust. I asked Toyota Insurance if fitting a catlock would make any difference to the way they underwrite renewals. They answered: “The rates do change daily and if the event of a theft took place, it would rated on the claim rather than the attempt to prevent that.” They ducked my question regarding any contact with Toyota UK, with a view to coming up with something which would prevent catalytic converter thefts, thereby protecting both insurers and policyholders from financial loss.
The fact the Toyota (and presumably Toyota Insurance) has known about these thefts for years does not reflect well on either. Toyota needs to get its act together and come up with something better than this fiasco.
(Dr). D. A. Wragg.
Hi David,
Thanks for your message. We can’t comment on individual insurance cases and if you would like to discuss your situation further, we would recommend asking for the case to be escalated within Toyota insurance. You will be able to find their contact details here: https://www.toyota.co.uk/contact-us/
Thanks.
I own a Second Gen Auris, and thankfully haven’t been targeted yet. I was advised by a family member of the recent upsurge in this crime targeting hybrid Toyotas, otherwise I would have known nothing about it.
In the above article it claims that Toyota are “doing everything we can”.
No you are not!
You aren’t contacting owners of hybrid Toyotas to advise of the potential risk. You aren’t offering to fit these Catlocs for free as standard at the next service.
How about you start doing that? My next service is already booked in for 19 February, care to offer me a free Catloc?
Hi David,
Thanks for your message. We published police advice on this crime as soon as we could online, wrote to our dealer network to brief customers and wrote directly to owners of a number of our vehicles where we had details to do so. We have tried to ensure as many of our customers as possible are aware.
In addition, we have developed and are supplying theft deterrent devices at zero profit to help protect consumers from further attacks.
Finally, we are also engaging with Home Office, Local MPs, Met Police (OVCU) and the Assistant Chief Constable of Cheshire Police (Jenny Sims) who is also the National Lead for all vehicle crime. All of this will raise the profile of this crime with all police forces and identify issues with current legislation.
Thanks.
Sorry Toyota, but this is the last in a long series of straws, which has made me thoroughly give up with you.
You could have written to me to make me aware of the issue. You didn’t.
You could offer to fit these catlocs for free. You haven’t.
Thieves are targeting Toyota hybrids specifically. There must be a reason for that, which is presumably that your catalytic convertors are not as secure as your competitors. Otherwise thieves would clearly be targeting all cars, not just yours.
Why should I pay £250 as an honest citizen simply to avoid being the victim of a crime? That isn’t a solution. It is a slap in the face, and tantamount to victim-blaming.
My solution is buying another car that won’t be the specific target of thieves. I’m booked in for a test drive with a competitor brand tomorrow morning. If I end up buying it, I will simply cancel my Toyota service on 19 Feb – saving me £370. Plus I’ll have a new car.
Much better than your solution of forking out £250, with no guarantee it can even stop the thieves…
Hi David,
Thanks for your message. We are sorry you have been a victim of this crime. We published police advice on this crime as soon as we could online, wrote to our dealer network to brief customers and wrote directly to owners of a number of our vehicles where we had details to do so. We have tried to ensure as many of our customers as possible are aware.
Please also note, we are engaging with Home Office, Local MPs, Met Police (OVCU) and the Assistant Chief Constable of Cheshire Police (Jenny Sims) who is also the National Lead for all vehicle crime. All of this will raise the profile of this crime with all police forces and identify issues with current legislation.
Thanks.