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 Joanne very sorry to hear how you are feeling. My CC was stolen yesterday 22/8/20 at a hospital car park. This is the 7 th time CC has been stolen either from a Toyota or Honda. During a weekend and Covid time its very difficult. I have to drive an hour to get to work. Don’t know what is going to happen. Toyota needs to let its customers make aware of this problem or recall and sort it out because we all love our Toyota’s for its reliability. We will see reading this blog looks like it can be stolen again.
All the best…
Also unable to leave comment so I have to use reply as well..Toyota UK please sort this out..
Hi Shashi,
We have replied to your previous comment.
Thanks.
The support should be given prior to buying. I got a new car (Toyota Pruis Plus) on motability and within 6 months the cat was stolen, the whole thing was caught on camera and it took the theives only 30 seconds to remove it. Before purchasing I visited the dealership numerous times and not once was an issue with cat thefts mentioned or what I could do to limit the occurance. Obviously this is because Toyota know it will put people off buying their cars especially as they are not fitting the catlocs as standard. I have returned my car and will not be getting a Toyota again.
Hi Jonathan,
Thanks for getting in touch. We’re sorry to hear that your vehicle has been targeted by thieves.
We have published police advice on the crime, written to our dealer network to brief customers and even directly to customers where possible.
We have also produced CatLocs for vehicles deemed most at risk, and these are being distributed at zero profit in order to try and protect customers from further attacks, although criminals with high-grade power tools are difficult to stop.
If you wish to discuss your situation further, you can contact our customer relations team, who are best placed to advise you, here: https://www.toyota.co.uk/help-centre/email-us
Once again, we are sorry your vehicle has been affected by this crime.
Thanks.
PLEASE CAN you explain clearly why it is hybrid vehicles that are being specifically targeted here in the UK, and why especially Toyota’s, when every other car from every other manufacturer since 1993 would have a CC installed? I am no auto expert but surely a hybrid would not need such a precious CC due to a lower rate of emissions and therefore would be less desirable compared to other cars?
Before I go and force-buy a catlock and tiltsensor and see my insurance premium increase like a sorry fool, I want to know exactly what is the design flaw Toyota has across numerous models, and then why these security elements arenare included by design, a small cost relative to the car itself.
I could not find these answers for the sheer number of comments and it’s scandalous to see how recent dozens of them are.
I am feeling quite upset about it and this is justified – it is 3AM and it’s been an hour since I saw three masked men steal my Prius Plus CC away before my very own eyes.
Hi Arm,
Thanks for getting in touch. We’re sorry to hear that your Prius Plus has been targeted by thieves.
Toyota vehicles are not the only ones being targeted, and questions about the motivations and tactics of criminals should be addressed to the police, but we understand that the rise in the price of such parts and the materials they contain and opportunist profit may be the main reason for the rise in this crime of late. Therefore, any car with a catalytic converter is in theory at risk of theft.
We have taken action over time to reduce the quantity of precious metals in our catalytic converters by up to 84%, which is why we believe that older models are the focus of criminals.
We have also developed CatLocs and are supplying these at zero profit to try and protect customers from further attacks, although criminals with high-grade power tools are hard to completely stop.
If you wish to discuss your situation further, we would recommend contacting our customer relations team, who are best placed to offer any further support.
They can be contacted, here: https://www.toyota.co.uk/help-centre/email-us
Thanks.
Toyota 1,281 complaints about CC thefts and all you do is respond with an automated reply. (I too have had to leave a message on the reply setting, as Joanne 15th August did, as I didn’t seem to be able to leave a message otherwise). It is not good enough from Toyota, it is an incredibly upsetting, costly & time consuming.
On Saturday 22nd I had the CC stolen from my Toyota Auris, which I had owned for one month, in broad daylight on a very busy street in Bristol. The perpetrators wearing hi viz jackets jacked the up car with pedestrians having to step around them to get passed, it took them about 3 minutes, my partner & a neighbour saw them by the car jacking it up and ran out into the road but they were already running down the road with the parts in their rucksacks My car is parked on a public, busy, very well lit road directly opposite my house, all things the police recommend but of no assistance for me as the perpetrators are so brazen to do it in broad daylight watched by people who obviously naively assume they are mechanics working on their own car. I have subsequently discovered other areas in South Bristol have been targeted in the last few days causing distress to many people
I have been quoted between £1,500- £2,000 but have been warned if I go through my insurance they will only pay for non Toyota part and as a result a cat loc will not fit and of course my insurance premium will go up. There is also every possibility of it happening again as the crooks know the victim will have had it repaired and return. I also have the prospect of being without the car for TWO months, that is the earliest the Toyota dealership can get the part, which only goes to show what an epidemic this is.
I will be selling my Toyota as soon as I get it back even though I will loose thousands on the sale price, but I cannot risk this happening again.
Toyota do something, I for one will never recommend a Toyota car or ever buy one again myself.
Hi, We are with Direct Line and they have agreed to pay fort out repair with a Toyota Main dealer but the grief involved is staggering, We have a hire car for tree weeks and then hope to get a courtesy car from the main dealer.but Toyota’s response to this is disgusting, this is like VW Dieselgate.
We need for someone to star a class lawsuit against Toyota
Hi Carolyn,
Thanks for your comment. We can assure you that this is not an automated reply.
We appreciate that this is a distressing crime and are sorry that criminals have targeted your vehicle.
Criminals can be very brazen and are using high-grade power tools, which is why we have taken steps such as conversing with the National Police Lead for Vehicle Crime to identify issues with existing legislation.
We have also produced CatLocs, which are being supplied at zero profit, as well as bolt caps and component etching to try and protect customers from further attacks.
Regarding the insurer not fitting genuine Toyota parts, this would be a matter to take up with your insurance company and their garage.
Supplies of parts have also been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but we are doing our best to make sure that parts are provided as quickly as possible.
If you wish to raise your situation further, you can contact our customer relations team, who are best placed to offer any necessary support.
You can do so, here: https://www.toyota.co.uk/help-centre/email-us
Once again, we are sorry that your vehicle has been targeted by thieves.
Thanks.
Just got the Catloc supplied and fitted by Toyota.
But it’s giving an awful noise specially while petrol engine kicks in!
Not happy at all 🙁
Hi Yogesh,
Thanks for getting in touch with us. We’re sorry to hear about this.
We would recommend re-contacting your Toyota centre to try and rectify this issue as CatLocs should not make loud noises when fitted.
In the event that this cannot be sorted by the centre, you can contact our customer relations team, who are best placed to offer further support.
This can be done through the link, here: https://www.toyota.co.uk/help-centre/email-us
Thanks.
Parked my Prius in Tesco to do shopping with the wife we came out,only to find the cat had been stolen sounded like a tractor.
This has cost us £1500+ to get fixed, and I am really annoyed to think that I had it serviced in March this year, and was not warned about this.
I reported it to the police who have said it is organised crime, as some of the parts in them are four times the price of gold.
I know this is not a design fault, as such, but Toyota should be doing all they can for owners of hybrid cars it is absolutely shocking that they have done nothing to warn customers of this.
If i had of gone through my insurance company Toyota parts would not have been fitted, but just regular cheap ones, so I have had to pay for this out of my own pocket.
I have had Toyota cars from the first Carina mk2 which was all metal, and when I part exchanged it for another Toyota it had done over 100,000 miles, and was still like the day I had bought it.
Been with them ever since, but now I will be looking elsewhere I think.
My wife, and I are both retired, and we cannot afford this type of payout because Toyota does not have the
foresight to put such a valuable part where it can, so easily be stolen,.. words fail me.
Hi Steve,
Thanks for your comment. We’re sorry to hear that your vehicle has been affected by this crime.
We have engaged with the Home Office, Local MPs, Met Police and the Assistant Chief Constable of Cheshire Police (Jenny Sims), who is also the National Lead for all vehicle crime. This will raise the profile of the crime with all police forces and identify issues with current legislation.
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 also produced CatLocs for vehicles considered most at risk and are supplying these at zero profit along with other anti-theft devices in order to try and protect customers from further attacks.
However, determined criminals with high-grade power tools are not easy to completely protect against.
Over time, we have reduced the precious metal content of our catalytic converters by up to 84%, but unfortunately it was impossible for us to envisage such a rise in the value of these materials when we designed the product many years ago.
Our customer relations team treat all cases on a one by one basis in order to provide support in any way we can. If you would like to discuss your situation further with our team, you can do so by contacting them via this link: https://www.toyota.co.uk/help-centre/email-us
Once again, we are incredibly sorry that your vehicle has been targeted by thieves.
Thanks.
I have heard about tilt alarm sensors that can be added to cars to address this issue. Is this something Toyota are now offering (seeing as the Catloc is still no guarantee against theft)?
Hi Chas,
Thanks for getting in touch.
We do offer tilt alarms along with CatLocs, bolt caps and component etching for vehicles considered most at risk of catalytic converter theft.
To discuss the fitting of these, we would recommend contacting your nearest Toyota centre for further information.
You can find your nearest centre, here: https://www.toyota.co.uk/forms-v2/forms?tab=pane-dealer
Thanks.
And I’m afraid even WITH the lock there is absolutely no guarantee that your car is safe. You better have a garage to put it in if you want to be able to sleep at night! If I had known when I bought the car that it had this HUGE vulnerability I would have not purchased it to be honest! My catalytic converter stolen October of 2019. Cost me of course the cost of getting it fixed AND I lost my no claims bonus! And insurance companies know want MORE money to insure the car because of course it’s a liability! Personally I think Toyota should, AT THE VERY LEAST, offer a reduced cost in fitting these cat locks on cars which have had their catalytic converter stolen. They have completely lost my trust as a customer. It’s their design flaw, it’s their decision to not put a cat lock in place to begin with. And now countless customers have lost huge amounts of money because of them. They should be ashamed how they’ve handled this.
Hi Alex,
We have now replied to your previous comment.
Thanks.
I know that you, as an individual, just deal with this website and I’m sorry you have to deal with the backlash of all of this. But everything you said Toyota have done about this has meant jack! Absolutely none of it has helped to protect my car or anyone else. I parked to go to work at Oxford University in the middle of the day in council park and ride, with CCTV in operation. I did NOTHING wrong and yet I lose money and time to this. I never know if I will come back to a car that is working or has been damaged. I never feel like I can just park my car like ANYONE else. I lose 5 years no claims. I lose upfront cost of repair. I lose money and time to fit a cat lock that doesn’t even guarantee anything. I lose on future cost of insurance. Why? Because I parked my car in a well list Oxford council car park, 10 feet from a bus stop and CCTV. And Toyota? They get all this money for their cat lock. To fix a problem THEY created. Like I said, I know you as an individual don’t make the decisions here but just like you I work hard and don’t like to be taken advantage of. I will forever and a day let people know about this and if anyone asks if I’d recommend a Toyota what do you think I would say? I would think the very least Toyota should do, just to be decent to their customers, would be to provide reduced cost cat locks fitted to cars that have had theirs stolen! That still doesn’t pay back the consumer who put their trust in Toyota, but they don’t even offer that! Toyota simply does not care if their customers are out of pocket for their mistake. Period.
Hi Alex,
Thanks for your comment.
We’re sorry to hear your car has been targeted by thieves.
Our CatLocs are produced at zero profit. We have produced these along with other anti-theft devices to try and protect customers, but criminals with high-grade power tools are not easy to protect against.
When the car was designed, we could not have foreseen the massive rise in this crime, and therefore we have produced such devices and engaged with many different organisations to try and highlight the crime whilst reducing the impact on our customers.
If you would like to raise your situation further, we would recommend contacting our customer relations team as they are best placed to offer support in any way we can.
You can contact them, here: https://www.toyota.co.uk/help-centre/email-us
Once again, we are sorry that your vehicle has been affected by this crime.
Thanks.
Hi Toyota,
guess what me too!! My car has been at your franchise now for over a month with no sign of a replacement part. As with all the other commenters on here, I have no confidence this theft will not be repeated as soon as my car comes back. Despite shelling out for the cat lock and tilt sensor.
This is killing your brand and whilst I appreciate this outcome was hard to predict, (was it really?) we are here now. I along with all the commentators feel you need to do more to support your customers. As with the others, can I recommend Toyota as a brand to anyone? Nope – I can’t now.
The value generated by choosing hybrid is far outweighed by the accumulated cost of this experience.
Given this is be an environmentally considerate car, the waste and energy we are creating in replacing this part in such volumes must be defeating the point as well.
Finally I would like to comment, that at no time has your staff at the franchises ever mentioned this risk and the options available to prevent this as described elsewhere in this blog, nor have you got in touch directly where you could, and you have on other matters, such as discussing the balloon payment made on the car! Incidentally paid a matter of weeks before my car was rendered useless!
I’m afraid you have lost me as a customer,
Hi Kirsteen,
Thanks for getting in touch. We’re sorry to hear that your vehicle has been targeted by thieves.
We have tried to make sure that as many of our customers as possible are aware, and we have engaged with many different organisations in order to try and raise the profile of the crime and identify any issues with existing legislation.
We have also reduced the precious metal content in our catalytic converters for newer cars by up to 84%.
If you would like to raise your situation further, we would recommend contacting our customer relations team, who are best placed to offer any further support, here: https://www.toyota.co.uk/help-centre/#/iframe/https%3A%2F%2Fforms.toyota.co.uk%2Fcontact-us
Once again, we are sorry that your vehicle has been affected by this crime.
Thanks.
i now see you have supplied the standard response earlier today – i rewrote this as this blog page is nigh on impossible to use also. guess its a bit like getting a CC even delivered to the garage.
PLEASE DO MORE! No need to reply if its the same stuff…
thxs
Like many dissatisfied customers here (and I’ve been a loyal toyota customer for more than 25 years. I’ve always sang toyota’s praises and recommended toyota to many friends and family), i’ve just became another cat theft statistic. I wholehearted agree with many other customer’s comments in saying that toyota is not doing enough to help customers protect their cars. Yes at the time of design, toyota did not foresee this, but is this good enough excuse on toyota’s lack of communication or assistance in protecting cars they’ve already sold? 18 months ago, I rang my dealer asking what could be done, they said nothing could be done for my model. When I spoke to my dealer today, they said catloc is now available, but why have they not communicated this to me? this is now one of the commonest crime involving toytoa cars, maybe toyota need to think what you can do to protect your brand. My local dealer is charging £259 for a CatLoc. The response on this site says toyota is installing these at cost without profit. I don’t believe it. IT IS A PIECE OF STEEL and it’s not even 100% protective, it’s only a slight deterrant. At cost, it does not cost £259! you can get it for £29.99 on ebay. Toyota is making profit from it. Etching, tilt alarm, toyota is making profit from all of these. I’m just as upset with toyota at opportunistic profiteering from their loyal customers as the thieves. This is all severely affecting toyota’s brand. Surely toyota understands the power of loyal customer’s word of mouth. And negative word of mouth from (previously 25 years+ loyal but now) disgruntled customers is even more powerful. I’m sure if toyota is going to respond to my message, it’ll be some sort of generic fluffy they’re doing all they can response. Nothing concrete to help individuals like myself. Very disappointed. After 25 years of loyalty, our next car certainly won’t be Toyota.
Hi Daniel,
Thanks for getting in touch. We’re sorry to hear that your vehicle has been affected by this crime.
Our customer relations team are best placed to offer further support and look at your specific case in detail.
You can contact them directly, here: https://www.toyota.co.uk/help-centre/email-us
Once again, we are sorry to hear that your vehicle has been targeted by thieves.
Thanks.
Hi Daniel i also got mine stolen and i am also sorry you had this crime agaist you.
Now go and pay for it yourself
Does that sound familiar.
They didnt publish previous comments they should be ashamed of themselves,
Platinum ,rhodium and palladium have always been precious metals, never heard of a platium ring? So to bolt this to the underside of a car is negligent in my opinion. Its pretty much saying come and rob me, they need to know we are not in japan, and the scum of the earth will take an advantage of this in the west
Read between the lines i was not informed by my dealer about a catloc
Or about this crime so reading back across over 1000 complaits toyota have done very little and not informed many, they also do not have a fool proof system just a plate of metal.
I will get a kia now 7 years warranty
I am another Toyota Prius+ customer, last night they came to steel the catalytic converter, luckily i had cat lock but still they manage to broke one of cat lock bolt and i sure they have spend good time to take that bolt out, at the end they cannot manage to get the catalytic out so what they did they cut off my lambda sensor costing me £150 to get it fix today. I have reposted this to police, they said they cannot help,