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
All the platitudes from Toyota are well and good but there does not seem to be any information as to what they are doing about this. ‘We will raise a case for you ..’ might help one specific owner but does not tell the rest of us what is going on. Or is there really nothing going on at all and Toyota are leaving all us Auris owners out there with no real support? Have they developed a permanent screen to cover the cat for existing vehicles? Are they redesigning the car to hide away the cat deeper in the engine bay? Just tell us what you are doing! And what you are doing for us unfortunates in the meantime who love our cars but are afraid to use them.
Hi Mike,
Thanks for getting in touch. For our customers who have been impacted by this crime, we are treating all cases on a one by one basis and our Customer Relations team will look at your case and consider offering a courtesy vehicle FOC where Insurance providers will not cover this cost. We are also working with Insurers to minimise the impact on consumers.
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.
Finally, over time we have also worked to reduce the quantity of precious metals used in the design of our catalytic converters by up to 84%.
Thanks.
Hi, I haven’t heard anything from Customer Services yet. Tomorrow my car is being returned from being repaired and I am very anxious that this thefy is simply going to happen again. I want to get rid of my Auris as soon as possible and if that means parking outside the Toyota garage with a big sign and leaflets flagging up this issue then that’s what I’m prepared to do as I am so angry.
Hi Debra,
Thanks for getting in touch. We can see our team are still working on your case and contacted you on 31st January. As you haven’t received this, we will request they recontact you.
Thanks.
My Father was also a victim of the same crime as many here, having his Cat stolen from a Prius right outside our house, only a few days ago.
Now he’s being charged £1,600 for a replacement Convertor and Cat Lock, from Toyota Bracknell, which seems very much at odds with your stated commitment to “We have moved to reduce the prices of replacement catalytic converters and Catlocs to a level where Toyota GB does not make any profit from supplying them to customers. Our recommended prices for a bundle that includes a new catalyst and a Catloc are £950 for Auris Hybrid, £1,000 for Prius Gen 2 and £1050 for Prius Gen 3.”
Who am I to beleve here?
Hi Sajjad,
Thanks for getting in touch. We are so sorry your father has been a victim of this crime. The price quoted by centres may be higher depending on the level of damage to the car.
We would like to help you further with this and will email you directly with more information.
Thanks.
It’s all a lie and I believe Toyota makes 150% profit from these new cat fittings.
I’m appalled by their responses.
I’m literally struggling to replace my 2nd one. After this I’m selling the care and never returning to Toyota or Lexus. A very Disappointed customer
Hi Daniel,
Thanks for getting in touch. We are so sorry you have been a victim of this crime. We would recommend contacting your nearest Toyota centre to discuss preventative measures against this theft. We have developed and are supplying theft deterrent devices at zero profit such as CatLocs, bolt caps, component etching and tilt sensors/alarms (available soon) to protect consumers from further attacks.
Please be aware, we are doing all we can to try and help prevent this crime being committed. We are currently 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 scrap metal legislation.
Toyota Great Britain has also moved to ensure that the cost to customers of replacement catalytic converters supplied and fitted through our approved service centres is as low as possible, and that TGB doesn’t profit from this.
If you would like to discuss your situation further with our customer relations team, you can find their details via this link: https://www.toyota.co.uk/forms/forms?tab=pane-dealer
We treat all cases on a one by one basis and our Customer Relations team will look at a customer’s case and consider offering a courtesy vehicle FOC where insurance providers will not cover this cost.
Thanks.
So does that mean that the newer Toyota models now have their catalytic converters concealed and therefore the risk of theft is much lower? This is what Honda apparently have done with their newer models.
Hi there,
Thanks for your message. Over time we have reduced the quantity of precious metals by up to 84% in catalytic converter design.
Thanks.
That’s absolutely not true. The Toyota dealership that sold me my car have my email and phone number but no information was sent to me
Hi Debra,
Sorry for any confusion we may have caused. We are referring to the customer relations case we opened for you on the 31st January. The customer relations team based in our head office sent an email out to you on the 31st January. It may have been sent to a junk or spam folder.
Thanks.
Mike,
This operation is very hush hush, don’t expect any results anytime soon. All this “we will raise a case” is just PR stunt. I’ve exchanged few emails with Toyota front line people and the bottom line is “we are sorry, it will cost you this much, if you go for a catlock it may happen again, oh, yeah, did we say how sorry we are?”. Problem with cat converters is that they heat up to about 800’C, so encapsulating is probably a bad idea, as probably is relocating the device to engine compartment. Apparently few days ago a Toyota garage in Nuneaton was targeted- 5 cars wrecked overnight. Bad news for the owners, Toyota accepts no responsibility for any damage or loss whilst a car is in their car park- waiting for service or collection, or whatever other reason. I’m not saying that these cars were not garages property, IDK that but if they are not, there will be some few more “upset” owners who will hear from Toyota: “we are sorry…”
As much as I’m annoyed this has happened, I’m more annoyed that Toyota could not be bothered to at least let us know it will happen eventually. I would have sold mine as soon as I knew. Now, having realised how much this is going to affect my insurance in the future I’m on a twisted path of cancelling the claim and settling with the insurance company- what a joke- I have to fork out £1k in order to maintain my claim free history. I naively thought insurance was to help us out when we need help- it’s not. I’s just another way of milking us.
I’ve decided to flog mine before it is targeted again, I’ll take whatever someone offers, shake their hand and wish them good luck.
Car was absolutely perfect for all those years and I intended to keep it but I can see not point in doing that. The feeling when I’m walking towards the car and wandering if it still is in one piece is just unbearable.
Even if Toyota eventually comes up with a sensible solution (would you believe that apparently Prius and Auris don’t have tilt/ jack alarm??), rolling it out will take a fair bit of time. These cars are really popular, especially in big cities, so for thieves it isn’t much problem to find one, they can easily do 5 on one street. ..
I’ll continue sharing my disappointment here because I really like hearing how sorry TGB is and everything. It literally makes my day…
Hi there,
Thanks for getting back in touch. We will pass your additional comment on to our customer relations team as we can see they are still working on your case.
Thanks.
I’ve had mine stolen a few weeks ago in Birmingham from my workplace car park. Again as seen in all previous threads the complaint is mutual and the response from Toyota is also the same, USELESS. There is also no point sending a private email to Toyota as the response is a copy and paste of what’s on this blog. Again USELESS. The Catlock is a lucrative business for Toyota hence why they haven’t told anyone about the potential risk and keeps there workshops busy. In the end I opted for a metal plate cover fitted to underside of my car (Auris) from my local garage to conceal the cat which cost £70 and again is only acting as a deterrent but I had it fitted with 10 different size socket head screws just to try and put the scumbags off. Either way they can still cut through the metal but hoping it will suffice and keep it safe. Much better than paying £200 for a catlock which can be cut in 5 seconds with any power tool. Toyota should be providing a cover for free but again they won’t make money out of us hence the silence. Oh well, time to change car.
Hi there,
Thanks for your message. We are so sorry you have been impacted by this crime. 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 are also working with insurers to minimise the impact on consumers and have also developed and are supplying Catloc theft deterrent devices at zero profit.
Once again, we are sorry you have been affected by this crime.
Thanks.
After a theft of Cat last week I purchased a new Cat from stock plus a Catloc from local Toyota dealer. Since they could not fit units on Monday I purchased and took to local garage who fitted it all in about an hour.
Strangely Toyota price for Cat and Catloc for Auris 2018 Touring is £950 fitted including vat
But since they couldn’t fit to my timescale I paid £1018 including small discount for kits plus £100 to my garage to fit it.
I find this slightly odd.
I am a TFL licensed PHV driver and lost three days work due to the theft, hence speedy refit required. The pricing policy is odd
We had ours stolen last week! We feel letdown by Toyota who does not offer any system to prevent it. We are London and can’t find places to add this metal plate stuck into the bolt
Hi Mathilda,
Thanks for getting in touch. We are so sorry you have been a victim of this crime. We would recommend visiting your nearest Toyota centre to discuss a replacement catalytic converter and having a Catloc fitted as a preventative measure against this type of theft. You can find your nearest centre via this link: https://www.toyota.co.uk/forms/forms?tab=pane-dealer
Thanks.
I am an Auris owner whose catalytic converter has been stolen.
We had, only days before, agreed with Jemca Toyota in Enfield a part-ex value of £5500, and were planning to buy a newer Auris from them. When we phoned them to let them know about the theft, they revised their offer to £4000.
Given that the combined cost of a catalytic converter replacement PLUS catlock is quoted on Toyota.co.uk (here) as being around £950, this seems an outrageous and insulting offer.
I was not aware of the prevalence of Auris CC thefts until this happened to us. Given that there seems to be a public consensus that Toyota is largely to blame for the thefts – by making the CCs so accessible on the cars, in not contacting owners to warn them of the likelihood of theft and what they can do to mitigate it, by not installing locks during services as standard, by not implementing other security features such as tilt alarms – I would have expected that Toyota and your dealerships would be doing all you can to give good customer service to try to retain customers.
Hi Simon,
Thanks for getting in touch with us. We are so sorry you have been a victim of this crime and that you are unhappy with your experience with one of our dealers. We would like to help you further with this and will email you directly in order to gain additional details.
Thanks.