Stolen Tundra recovered - advice for anti-theft devices?

Hi, everyone. New on the forum.

Have a 2014 Toyota Tundra TRD. It was recently stolen from my apartment complex, not 50 yards from my bedroom window. No apparent method of entry (locked and with the alarm on), no apparent method of how they started it up, and no apparent method for how they drove it off without the key. They ransacked it and stole tools (including a vintage set of Craftsman tools my deceased father left me). Obviously I'm pissed off big time.

Does anyone have recommendations for security measures that actually work against thefts of this type? I did buy a steering wheel lock and am likely going to spring for a catalytic converter cage, but I'm completely mystified at how to prevent thieves taking a truck so easily and bypassing car alarms/chipped fobs. I'm also considering a lockout switch, but my fear is that if a thief is smart enough to bypass a locked/alarmed/fobbed truck system, they can easily look down and find wiring to a kill switch.

Any advice/help would be gratefully appreciated!

 

Hidden kill switch and the most obnoxious alarm you can find!

 

x2 on the killswitch.

 

Was the steering column destroyed?

 

Welcome from NY.

A starter immobilizer.

 

Use Karen! That sucks but if they want it they will take it. Tow truck??????

 

Welcome, that sucks. I stopped leaving anything valuable in cars after my Tundra was ransacked. I had a bag I put everything in & brought inside. As has been mentioned, a fuel pump kill switch hidden keeps the gas from running.

A friend had 2 CTS Vs stolen, he then got a Z06 and they tried to tow it and did 6k damage to the front end when it scraped trying to pick it up. I'd say they towed your truck.

 

Towing was my guess too. Not a lot of options for towing outside of a GPS tracker. Backing in to a spot with park and brake will help deter a little.

Hidden fuel pump kill switch would be worth adding if they did start your truck.

 

Surprised they didn’t swipe the cats. The alarm didn’t go off when the vehicle was moved?

 

If they want it, they will get it.

Alarms used to all the rage in Miami, a high theft area, now nobody gets one. I’ve seen cars on the back of a flatbed with the lights flashing, the horn going off and the alarm whaling and nobody questions. Alarms are only good to keep family and friends from messing with your vehicle.

 

Agee with the “probably towed it”. Or, it’s possible they used wheel dollys.

 

I live, along with a few other members on here, in Chandler, AZ. We're roughly four hours from the Mexico border.

Little story. In 2004 a friend of mine, who works at Intel, forgot his work laptop on his desk and remembered it after he left the parking lot and was a few miles away. He returned to the parking lot, drove through the security gate, parked the 2004 F350 crew cab long bed dually truck, and went inside to get the laptop. He was inside for roughly 30 minutes. When he came out the truck was gone.

He called Chandler PD. They came out and were taking the report when his phone rang. DPS had pulled the truck over with a very pregnant Mexican lady driving it. Another DPS officer pulled over another vehicle in Eloy that was following the F350. The officer found the cell number of my friend in the glove box on repair invoices (it's a Ford - what do you expect) and called him from that.

I drove to Intel and picked him up and drove him to I-10 at SR-587 where they pulled over his truck. The officer told me they were watching the parking lot and assumed when the vehicle parks that person will be there for an 8 hour shift. They have 8 hours to get a driver, fuel it, and get it into Mexico before the owner can even report it. He said he got my friend's truck because the lady driving it was scared out of her mind and going 45 MPH in a 75 MPH zone along the the Jeep Grand Cherokee following her.

He went on to tell me that as close to the border as we are the only hope we have to get it back before it gets across the line is Lo-Jack Early Warning.

I had it installed on my 2015 Tundra right after I got the truck. $800 one time. It works! Every time the key fob battery dies both my wife and I get text messages and phone calls and I get an email. Check the vehicle. If it's gone call the PD and report it and tell them it has Lo-Jack. They call Lo-Jack and start the GPS beacon for recovery.

For me it's peace if mind.

 

Safety Connect via the Toyota app is an $8/month LoJack

 

You could look into something like the Ravelco. https://www.ravelco.com/

It's ugly, and they aren't real accommodating from what I hear, but people that have them say they work well. A kill switch can be found, and experienced thieves can trace the wires for them, or alarms, to bypass. The Ravelco can technically be defeated, but it's time consuming trial and error.

 

Man, amazing what's available out there and yet goes unmentioned.
Get a remote fuel pump cutoff switch/relay. A small fob will activate when you attempt to start the truck. I use one when I'm in sh!tholes like Seattle or Renton WA (where my last T100 was stolen with a new Yamaha Grizzly in the bed.)

Lesson learned.

https://www.mobilistics.com/nostart...relay-w-remote-starter-fuel-pump-immobilizer/
If they tow it and avoid the 5-0, they'll get it, but at least they have to resort to that....

 

Ravelco is the way to go I had one installed a few years ago

 

EX LE guy here. There is no viable system to prevent car thefts. Period.
Your best bet is a GPS system that will tell the cops where your truck is. You can also enable Geo fencing.
I personally use the Smart Start system, by Viper. Its a full remote start system, which is great in the winter time to heat up your ride.
It's connected to cell signals, and you can see your vehicle location in real time.
Trust me when I tell you that prevention is useless. Recovery is everything. If your truck drives out of the parking lot, you'll get notified if you have fences enabled, and you can track the truck in real time with the cops chasing it, and you'll catch your bad guy.

 

Sorry to hear about this, I would be pissed as well. Of course about the truck and the tools that you can never replace since they have sentimental value. Thieves sadly have no conscience. Law abiding citizens are always a step behind the thieves. It amazes me the lengths they go to just to steal what doesn't belong to them.

 

My Tundra is too big for my garage. I have a Viper Alarm system, the club, and 'CAT Shield' over my cats. AND cameras watching the driveway. Already caught a couple of guys 'creeping'...