Lost My HID

Like many people here, early this morning I was awaken to the barkings of our dog. Peeked out the window to see two 20yr+ guys with my week old 2003 Maxima's door open and the HIDs unmounted. I only had enough time to grab the cell phone and run after them while calling 911. The guy carrying the HIDs did a good job running even though he had the bulky packages under his armpits.

I chased them for 3 blocks until they split up. I was so close to grabing one before I tripped. This gave him enough time to climb a 6ft+ chain-link fence and ran into people's backyards. I went to the other side of the street where they never came out.

Meanwhile, the Miami cops were nowhere to be seen. When they finally caught up to me, about 7-10 mins after the initial call, they did nothing to look for them. I'm actually more upset with the police than the thieves. I had to beg them several times to look around the yards where I lost them. A couple of minute's search was all he did. All this time, other dogs were barking, indicating that the thieves were still there.

To add insult to my injury, one of the thieves had dropped his shoes while running. I kept insisting that to the cop that he bring the search dogs, who after taking a sniff of the stinky sneakers, would have them out of their hiding place in seconds. His answer was that it was not appropriate because they didn't have a perimeter set and it was going to take too much time and money. My god, with shoes and scent as evidence and the guys on foot, they should have been able to find them in minutes.

Finally I asked him to search for finger prints on the car, which was brand new, newly washed with only 3 drivers and thus very few prints would be ours. The rest had to be the thieves. He told me that they couldn't do that either. Again expensive and went further to say that they did that in case of more serious felonies (ie, homicide, etc). I kept insisting and I finally told him that I would pay for the finger printing search myself, he went back to his car and talked to his supervisor. The supervisor agreed to the job.

Now, on to what I found about the Maxima's built-in alarm system. I'm sure a lot of people are going to complain that I should not post this information because I'm letting other thieves learn the tricks, but trust me, they already know this stuff. In any event, I'll post the information in a reply to this thread so the moderator can choose to delete it if he deems it to be too informative.

If you want to see pictures of the damage, which by the way, seems like a very professional job, ie, no grill damage, you can view them here:
http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/lost_my_h...order=&.view=t

No HIDs :=(

KLOOGY

iTrader: (12)

Damn.. no Glock handy ?? ... This seems to be a really serious problem out east. I know it happens out here on the west too....Argh....

Lost My HID

The thieves did a good job of removing the HID with no damage to the front grill. I had heard about others less fortunate where they used a crow-bar to rip the grill off and get to the two screws that hold the lights in place.

Let's start by looking at the pictures in the previous link. If you notice, the door handle has been popped. This to me is the first security flaw. It took a screwdriver to pry the handle from the door. In other cars, the handle well is part of the door and only the handle sticks out of a hole in the door's exterior. Not in my Maxima. The door handle is a separate assembly. Simply use a screwdriver and you have quick access to the internal locking mechanism...

But wait, they didn't even need to fiddle with the door lock from the outside. If you notice the cable hanging from the door, that was their key to disabling the built-in alarm system AND lowering the windows. Once they had the windows lowered, they just unlocked the door from the inside manually. They then opened the hood and had easy access to the screws that hold the lights in place. A pair of pliers did the snapping and they had the lights in their hands in what must have been 3-4 minutes, if not less.

I find that having the ability to disable the alarm this easily AND to lower the windows from the outside to be a major security flaw, don't you think?

Now for my questions, does any know about the necessity of this part? If I have the repair shop cut that cable, will they not be able to disable the alarm and lower the windows?

Also, I saw several questions here about getting the non-HID Maxima light from previous years installed on a 2003 but there were no answers. I want to know if anyone has successfully done this.

Any ideas what this damage will cost me? I won't be able to get the insurance agent to come by for several days, perhaps weeks (the police report takes 15 days to be processed and the insurance needs it before they can proceed). Should I get estimates of my own from local body shops? Do insurance companies give you the ability to get it fixed at the dealership or only to where they tell you to? What are my rights? I'm in Florida so any web links would be helpful.

Thank you in advance.

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

so now theirs hid thieves in miami. i thought by living in fl id be safe from it because it seemed to only happen in the north. i knew it was inevitable though. i just hope no thieves are on maxima.org learning tricks.

Lost My HID

I forgot to mention. If you are asking yourselves about the picture of the bike in pieces, guess whose bike that was :=)

I don't know what a "Glock". Could someone enlighten me?

I'm actually thinking about complaining to the police commissioner about the police response. I'm not sure how I can get him to talk to me though, any ideas? I didn't really go into that much detail about the other things that they did, but suffice it to say that I saw the cop in the second vehicle that responded snoozing (yes, mouth open, eyes closed and head back) while I was talking to the first cop.

No HIDs out.

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

a glock is a type of gun. i believe it is typically a "glock 9" as in 9 mm but i could be wrong. im not down with the gun jargon yet. give me time to shine.

Lost My HID

To answer Kloogy's question... no glock, not even a damn baseball bat! But this will all be corrected

DanNY

iTrader: (14)

again...i don't know how many times i need to stress it...INSTALL AN ALARM with a shock sensor. one tap and the siren and the lights would be screaming.
also use security bolts on the HIDs to slow them down.

Lost My HID

I was starting to look for another alarm system but they found my car too fast. I really only had the car for 7 days to the date. I need to do some research about shock alarms because these types of alarms are very easily set off by the passing planes overhead. Yes, the low base vibrations from the planes flying low over the cars set off all the alarms in the cars on my street. It is so annoying since they go off every 3-5 minutes during the busy flying times. This much false triggering and you become immune to it.

BTW, do you have any good websites where I can research different types of alarm systems?

Thank you.

packetattack

iTrader: (1)

Sort of.

Glock is an Austrian manufacturer of firearms and knives. They have a wide range of pistols not just 9mm. The 9mm is of their popular pistols. They also have .357 and .45 caliber pistols. Many police departments carry Glocks as their service firearms. Its a hybrid weapon, the frame is part plastic and metal, and it can stand a lot of abuse.

See websites below for good info:



http://www.glock.com/te_english.htmhttp://www.glock.com/te_english.htm http://remtek.com/arms/glock/model/9/17/

formas

What are these security bolts, and how do they slow down theives?

I'm starting to think about securing my car a bit better seeing as how I live in the North East

I just got a remote starter installed...I should have done a whole alarm system with a starter feature, but I thought the factory alarm would be sufficient.

MaxAtack

Geez!! Sorry to hear about your car. I guess its not just cops on Long Island that are overpaid and do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! I just posted a thread yesterday HID Theft with our local news reporting on some women's HID's from her Max being stolen. And the way you described everything is the same way they showed it!

For those of you new to this forum, you may want to PM TimW on the HID Bolts, that is if he's still selling them. While they're not 100% effective, they will slowdown any would-be thief enuff for you to grab your maglight, baseball bat, or glock and exact PURE-UTTER WHOOP-A$$!!

TimW

iTrader: (6)

yeah, you might have caught them with these



or they would have smashed the tabs and kept on going.

MyownNismo

iTrader: (13)

Those will help. The new part that courtesy sells all that does is makes it so you can't pull the hood release cable to unlatch the hood and comes with one-way bolts to bolt your headlights down.

radpp16

I know the feeling
UNfortunately what happened to my car was worse.
The morons who stole my headlights ripped them off. The tabs with the bolts are still there. ALong with that, they bashed in the fenders in order to this ripping.
I put my old headlights, dont got money to get the fenders fixed
life sucksRoger

radpp16

OH yeah my aftermarket went off... HID bolts would have helped me. Cause they ripped them off. So what response could Nissan have to me?
Dam makes me wish i had power. i would boycutt the local nissan dealerships from selling their 2002-2002 maximas to people. But oh well.

F23A4

I could go on AND on about the virtues of a Glock 19C with a laser sight. Personally, I have no problem contributing to the lead poisoning of anyone snatching my HIDs.

Peace.

Lost My HID

Definitely not sufficient. As I pointed out, with a screwdriver it appears to take very little effort to pop out the door handle and with a simple twist, the alarm is off. Another twist and the windows come down.

I'm happy that they chose this method rather than the brute force.

Lost My HID

Are these the HID bolts being suggested? Is it a metal or plastic tab? I'm sure the plastic tab would have only been a few seconds' delay to use the screwdriver as a lever and break it.

TimW

iTrader: (6)

yep.. $15 for a few extra seconds.. and they only get a bulb and ballast instead of $1000 worth of working housing to sell on ebay.

Again, not the answer by any stretch. An aftermarket alarm is THE VERY FIRST THING TO DO.

anyone notice that the new nissan kit wouldnt have helped here? the key switch is the problem as much as the hood release is.

Lost My HID

Did you mean to say that the HID bolts wouldn't have helped?

Since this is a well known phenomenon, I must think that Nissan is very aware of the problem but it is not in their economic advantage to do anything about it. If you watch the L.I. News 12 video pointed out before, you learn that it costs about $750 per HID for a total near $3000. Half of that goes to Nissan Parts and the other to the dealerships which probably gets lots of the business (if people have the choice with their insurance, which I still don't know).

We'll I'm beginning my "Maxima watch" shift. It is going to be long nights ahead. I have the feeling that these thieves may want to come back to pick up the rest of the car. It feels naked with the lock and window controls exposed like that.

On a separate subject, does anyone know if the "engine immobilizer" really work or is it a matter of turning an easy accessible know to defeat this feature as well?

Thanks to all who have posted and my feelings of pain are being shared with those of you who have been victimized as well.

190hpKiLLA

iTrader: (11)

What ever you do dont get the light again cause they WILL come and take em sh*ts again. Just put in 20th AE lights. In Brooklyn people get them sh*ts stolen every week and right after the new lights were put in.

TimW

iTrader: (6)

btw, this works, I've had it for a long time.
http://www.inetcam.com/products/pack...security.phtml

and
http://www.inetcam.com/products/modules/motion.phtml

you can specify the times in which it monitors and customize the area watched. You can record a wav file to be played, in or outside

Lost My HID

Wow, thanks for these links. I'm starting to think that I may need something like this. You mentioned that it works for you, do you have any pets? I keep the dog and cats out in the yard and I would hate to waste a hard-drive everynight watching the cats do their thing. I'm thinking something with a heat sensor that can detect variable amounts of heat. That will be the ticket.

formas

My friend has a '95 Corvette, and he installed a motion sensor video system overlooking the driveway. Any time someone walks in the driveway, it beeps to alert him. Plus he's got it hooked up so it records what's happening

Of course, nothing is foolproof...but peace of mind is worth something.

Isn't there a fundamental rule that states simply: "Never mess with another man's car?"

My personal favorite is a bumper sticker I saw years ago: "If you value your life as much as I value this car, don't F**K with it!"

NYCe MaXiMa

iTrader: (9)

yup

and he's not kidding ^^^



The HID theft is so rediculous,
the dealer auctions in the tri-state area are overcrowded with 2k2-2k3 Maximas with 10-30k miles going for 15-18 grand.. !!!

This is a VERY serious problem in NYC.

I honestly have seen more than a dozen maximas with missing headlights.. even at times I witnessed the car before leaving work parked in 1 spot, then arriving early the next morning I saw the car parked with the headlights missing. Then I heard the guy had them stolen AGAIN.. then finally he bought AE headlights.
There is a lot of cases like this..
If you park on the street, they'll take your ****.. and it's a matter of time..

Even though I'm fortunate enough to have a driveway to use, I'd be afraid of going out anywhere in the evening or at night because all they need is 1-2 minutes with the car.

Acura TLs are suffering from a similar thing..

This is crazy.

It's actually a big deciding factor for people when buying the car now. No one wants these problems..


sorry to hear about your experience..

formas

I just had a brilliant idea...

When people started stealing stereos, they made removable stereos, then removable face plates for them. Why steal the stereo if you can't use it since there is no faceplate?

Could make the Headlights removable. Get a nice carrying case...maybe a nice briefcase with foam inserts to put the headlights so we can carry them around easily. Then when we get to the car we just pop them back on and drive away.

...Then again, the theives will just move on to "headlight jack" us, taking the lights just after we put them in...

Maybe HID Lojac?

Yes, I know...I'm nuts...


Just my 2¢

Lost My HID

You're right Tim. I think 15 seconds would have been enough time for me to have put some shoes on last night before running bare-feet for 3 blocks at full force. Damn my feet hurt tonight.

You are also correct that the hood kit wouldn't have worked in my case. I'm wondering if I can have the body shop weld all the handle assemblies to the door.

Actually, I think the best deterrent is the fact that these ballasts are high-voltage. Couldn't they some how touch the wrong wire when they cut the cables and get zapped into not doing it again?

TimW

iTrader: (6)

with Inetcam, you can draw a zone to monitor from the current view. In my case, there was a busy street in the background, so I drew an exclusion box. Plus, you have 3 levels of intrustion. A leaf is like 1, a cat is 2, a person would be 3. Actions can be scripted appropriately based on level. I know they have a version as cheap as $49. Thats all I paid as I recall.

Black2K1Maxi

iTrader: (1)

Man, I'm so sorry to hear about that... That's gotta be rough. I was thinking about getting some HIDs for my 2k1 maxi, but after reading about all the HID theft, I think I'll just leave mine in for the time being. I wish you the best of luck finding a reliable way to protect your car from here on out.

vito1281

All you would need is a mounted sniper rifle that works with the Inetcam, so if it detects intrusion level 3, all you hear is a blast, and all the thief comes away with is a cap in his a$$!!!

Lost My HID, I sympathize with you. I'm fortunate enough to live in a pretty good area in Boston, and my street is a dead end, and I live at the end of it, so the car is not even visible to anyone just driving by. I am, however, very concerned and cautious where I park the car when I go out, and try to "hide" it as much as possible. I think it's messed up, to say the least, how many jealous peeps are out there, willing to do anything to make a quick profit. And to add insult to injury, it seems like neither Nissan or the police departments want to do much about this problem.

My gf lives in Brooklyn, and when I go to visit her, I never do or will bring the Maxima there--not worth the risk!

I think some shock sensor would be nice though, even if you just add it on to the OEM "alarm". I think they have variable sensitivity, so if a jet flys over the car, the alarm won't necessarily have to go off. Some of them also chirp first, and only if contact is made with the car will they go off. It's definitely something the 2002/3 folks should look into, and I will as well.

Good luck, and may your Max's be safe!

TimW

iTrader: (6)

maybe you guys should get vinyl covers for your headlights that make them look like 2k lights. be sure to get 2k tails as well.

vito1281

Or how about a car cover? If a potential thief has not seen your car parked at your usual parking spot, then if you simply cover it up, perhaps they won't bother to look what's under the cover. On the other hand, they may think that it's a valuable car under the cover if the owner bothers to cover it. But anyhow, it may work though.

Lost My HID

Thanks. My advice to you is not to get these damn lights. Look at me right now... I'm staying up just to see if these bastards show up again (at one point they have to come back for their bike). I can't drive the car at night or even during the day because the lock is busted. The police report takes 15 days to be entered and become official and the insurance company wants the report before they even come over. The hassles that these high intensity lights have caused me in the first week of owning the car are not worth it.

hubbabubba

I was thinking the exact same thing. With many of the posts, I think the scariest part is not when you park by your house, but when you have to park elsewhere. If we had money, we could put in a lot all day. Then again, if we had money we may have went towards another car!!

Any idea where I could get the older lights, especially the famous AE ones? Any pics that compare the regular and AE lights?

Thanks!!!

Lost My HID

My car was kind of hidden since the drive way goes along the side of the house and on the other side there are lots of plants. I had the fence pad-locked which I think may have saved car from being stolen (I'm guessing they can probably bypass the engine immobilizer as easily). I'm thinking these guys have to be local and must have seen me drive it into the driveway one time. A few days back, we found a piece of beef thrown near the fence which the dog was trying to get at. With yesterday's event, it is now our thinking that they were probably trying to poison the dog then before coming into the yard later. These people have no scrupples.

MaxAtack

I was actually curious myself to see what the AE headlights look like compared to the regular 00-01 SE's. Could be something worth looking into.

vito1281

If that's the case, I'd seriously try to move somewhere else. If you have people living like that local to you, then this is probably just one of the problems that you'll have with the Max. I would invest into the Inetcam if I were you, not just to prevent HID theft, but to prevent the car from getting stolen altogether. If these fools were able to get your HIDs without making a mess (i.e. they know what they're doing), then who knows if they'll try to come back for your car. Good luck though!

TimW

iTrader: (6)

not only can you lock a car cover, you can also use a closed-loop sensor for an alarm on it.

vito1281

They look almost identical, except the AE light cover is smoked (tinted), but otherwise they're pretty much the same.