kieranlavin

Hey guys, sorry for intruding on the 6th gen sub-culture here... but I have a friend who's father owns a 6th gen. He was asking me last night if there is a problem with HID theft on 6th gens. I thought I had heard of it (although not nearly as common as 02/03's). I also thought that I had heard that after the 02/03 debacle, Nissan redesigned the headlights a bit for 04 making them less easy/accessible to be removed? TIA

NismoMax80

iTrader: (6)

moronic thieves will steal anything. Yes 6th gen HIDs have been stolen. No it is not considered a "problem" yet. They are harder to get to. I heard Nissan has a bolt available at dealers for free to make even harder. Nothing to lose sleep over, but no car is "safe" from any thefy/vandalism.

We're a Maxima culture, you're always welcome in this forum. I often visist 5th gen forum

kieranlavin

Thanks... I know thieves will be thieves but was just wondering if it's as much of an epidemic as the 5th gens. As for visiting and posting here, I know the way it is... should've put a smiley or something. I was kind of kidding around about 'intruding'

F23A4

Though no HID-theft problem is as common as with the 5.5G Maxima, pretty much any car with HIDs is prone to being victimized. With 5.5G Maximas and TL/CLs coming in a close second, I've been hearing about MBs, BMWs and the S4 having their HIDs snatched on occassion.

lightonthehill

Most manufacturers now make their HIDs in a way that prevents them from being used on an older generation car. That is why the '04 HIDs are not yet very popular with thieves. As more base SE 6th gen Maximas (no HIDs) get on the road, the black market for 6th gen Maxima HIDs will gradually build.

There are those folks pushing for VIN#s to be etched on HIDs, then enacting a law making it illegal to possess HIDs with the etching tampered with. But this may be years away.

BlackVQ

I work at a Nissan dealership during the summer and when I'm not at school. The begining of this summer some thieves tried to steal HID's from a 6th gen that had just been delivered at our service center (was left there over night). From the looks of it they used a crow bar because the quarter panels behind the lights were bent back pretty bad, as well as the hood. Then they must have given up, they didn't get away with the lights but left us with some very extensive damage.

ocuihs

Here we go.....

Headlights are taken from cars at dealer SPRINGFIELD, New Jersey: Thirteen sets of headlights were stolen from vehicles on display at a Route 22 car dealership, police said yesterday.
The headlamps were pried out of Nissan Maximas, which were parked at Nissan World. The theft likely occurred sometime Sunday, police said.

Reference: at the bottom of this link
http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/...starledger?nun

jsmithsole

iTrader: (5)

I thought the 6th gen had HID's that can't be used on other gen Maxima's or other cars?
When all that hype about the our cars being the 2nd most stolen, the article said just that. Even if it's not true, maybe some theives won't bother now???

CNN - Tuesday, October 19, 2004 Posted: 4:15 AM EDT (0815 GMT)
...The Nissan Maxima, a midsize sedan, is the second most likely to be stolen among newer vehicles. The Maxima's theft rate went up after the company began installing expensive, high-intensity headlights as standard equipment in 2002, the institute said.
A design change may cut down on theft rates for the Maxima. The 2004 Maxima has headlights that won't fit into earlier models, so the theft rate may go down because thieves won't be trying to steal the headlights to put on older models, Hazelbaker said.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/10/19/mos....ap/index.html

magneto112

I hear the Lexus RX330 Xenons are being stolen a lot now too. Not yet an epidemic as the 5.5 gen, but it sure is rising fast. All of the RX330's are equiped with auto leveling Xenons and some are equiped with Xenons that turn into the corner. So basically these are more advanced, but I wonder if the electronic gizmos work in other cars. Those lights are probably rediculously expensive. Feel bad for all those RX owners.

viguera

iTrader: (1)

They don't fit in any other cars, just like the 6th gen headlights don't fit (without some serious work anyway) into anything but a 6th gen maxima... it doesn't stop the thieves from going after them anyway.

The active cornering lights are sweet though... the MB S class has them standard IIRC and it's an option on the E... The "Lighting Package" on the E is a $1200 option, so yeah, they're probably pretty pricey.

Souljourner

I seriously don't understand why anyone would steal headlights... what are you going to *do* with the damn things? Is there really such a big black market for *headlights*?

-Nate

NismoMax80

iTrader: (6)

just visit the 5th gen forum.

as long as HID is not standard equipment, there will be a demand to upgrade from halogens.

But, If you buy a Max and delete the HID option, you only save like $150. but now that the leather package is required to have HID, some are still made w/o.

Like I've said before, thieves are dumb. I told 5th gens that if they swap out their HID to avoid theft/vandalism, some thieves will still try to take them, not knowing. Well some are posting now that their halogens were taken or tampered with.
So these same dumb thieves must "think" 03 sell well, 04/05 must be worth even more.