Securing a car stereo . . .

[RJH]

I'll be replacing the standard CD/FM single din radio in my Peugeot Partner with a double din DAB Carplay unit in the next couple of days - not overly flash, £260.

To make the installation easier/neater, I'll be removing part of the upper dash. Would it be a good idea to screw the cage to the the unit from the top, making it difficult to remove it using the normal keys? Removing the top of the dash isn't difficult - it just clips in. But it's not likely a thief would know that, or how it's 'stuck'.

I can't make up my mind whether it's better to risk a mangled dash or a stolen radio in the event of a break-in. I'm not even sure if nicking radios is even a thing any more. There doesn't seem to be any security on these aftermarket stereos - not even a code if disconnected from the battery.

[Andy Burns]

I was going to say exactly that.

[Brian]

OEM ones either have codes you must enter if power is lost or are linked to the vehicle computer and need to be reprogrammed. Some rely on the fact their fascias are part of the dashboard.

Aftermarket ones sometimes have removable fronts - my Espace had a Pioneer one like that and my MX5 a Sony. I think our first motorhome JVC one also unclipped but I never unclipped it.

As for theft, yes it still happens, especially after market ones. A thief who wants YOUR radio will destroy your dashboard to get it. Plus, there is probably naff all solid to fix it to. I took apart the radio area of my wife?s Aygo to fix a mount for her Sat Nav ( the Aygo relies on plugging in your phone to use its screen for nav and she prefers the Garmin). The whole area is plastic.

[NY]

When I fitted a hands-free mobile phone kit to the OEM radio in my Peugeot, it was a long job trying to work out all the various screws that needed to be undone and the clips that needed to be pushed aside (ideally with a proper tool but I used a couple of small screwdriver blades) before the radio can be removed. But a dedicated thief would use brute force where I (naturally) used finesse ;-)

I remember the OEM radio fitted in my 1993 Mark 3 Golf had a removable front panel. When I was parking, I *tried* to remember each time to remove it and hide it (or take it with me, if I had my briefcase to put it in). It was actually easier to press the button to remove it than it was to hit the fairly small on/off button, so I tended to pop it into the released position (released at one side, still latched on at the other side) to turn the radio off ;-)

My dad had a car where the whole radio could be removed: it fitted into a metal cage with sockets for power, aerial and speakers. He still had a thief break in: nothing was stolen so the thief may have been looking to see if dad had simply hidden the radio under the seat or in the glove box, rather than taking it with him.

[TimW]

[...]

Does DAB work now? did they get it going in the end? I had no idea.

TW

[Dave Plowman (News]

I have that on the aftermarket radio in the old Rover. But its real thief proof feature is it takes a memory card. Which you can play your own music from etc. But also takes a supplied coded card which you need to activate it after being totally powered down. And I keep that in the house.

[Dave Plowman (News]

I remember similar which became a 'normal' portable radio when removed.

[jon]

I had an Ever Ready radio with quick release stolen in 1961, the scrotes broke the quarter light.

[Andy Burns]

How doe you make a thief aware of that before they break into the car?

[soup]

Wee window sticker?

Warning this car's stereo is equipped with a "willnae start" system.

We have similar in that it advertises a dashcam system is installed, so don't bother starting any insurance type item.

[soup]

That is very true.

Indeed a thief who wants into YOUR home will do it even if the only way

to do it is make a hole in the wall.

Normally all you can do is make it so difficult for a thief who wants A radio that he will find it easier to move along to the next guys car and nick his. Just make it as difficult as possible and don't lose sleep.

There is another chain of thought that you should make access as easy as possible down to the level of leaving your car doors open so that all you lose is the radio not all the damage that could be inflicted gaining access to it.

no idea of it's sensationalism or anything just the first link that came up in a Google search

>

[RJH]

I'll install it in the next couple of days - I'll post back.

[RJH]

Yes, the existing OEM radio is like that. I'd assume most are. This one isn't.

Yes, I used to have one. But not seen it on double DIN. Daft really - even just a *part* of the facia that leaves it useless if removed. Or as Dave Plowman says, a necessary SD card. I really can't see why they don't seem to do it (from the fairly brief look I've had).

Yes, it is (of course) plastic. But it really isn't going to come out easily without damaging the unit, as there's nothing to grab on to if the keys don't work. It's that line between not wrecking the dash and giving up. I shouldn't think they want to hang around for the sake of what can't be much more than a few quid.

[Jock]

But a thief wouldnt necessarily know that, so you would still lose the car stereo and have a wrecked dash and just know that the thief would not be able to use it if they can't just google how to unlock it.

[Jock]

But no way to ensure that the average scrote will read them.

Guess you could have the car broadcast and audio warning when it detects someone trying to break in, but even then, I bet the local kids would trigger it deliberately when they find out about that.

[lacksey]

Few bother and just break into your neighbour's place which is easier unless they know you are a diamond merchant or drug dealer etc.

Trouble is with a car, they will only know it is too hard after they have smashed the window and the dash.

Yeah, mate of mine went that route, but it can get expensive buying new radios.

Likely with the Daily Wail.

What might work is a decent car alarm that allows you to actually talk to the thief and tell them that they are being recorded and be able to say that you have just seen them taking the taceplate off the stereo so they know that it isnt just a bluff recording.

Or have a f****ng great Alsatian in the car when it isn't parked in your yard and in the yard when the car is parked in your yard. Not cheap to feed tho.

Better to have an easily removable stereo and have a dead dummy off ebay that you put in the good one's place when you leave the car. Or even just a plastic bin that slots in when the stereo goes which you replace the stereo with the bin when you lock the car.

Interesting DIY project, one that does that completely automatically when you lock the car. Shouldn't be that hard to do.

[lacksey]

Yeah, specially if it looks broken with that bit removed.

Can't see that being viable given that the scrote only discovers that after it has stolen the stereo and wrecked the dash in the process.

Specially with the car alarm deafening them.

[Brian]

I suspect an accomplished thief would have a radio out with almost no tools in seconds and an amateur would take a little longer using anything to hand and wrecking the dash in the process.

I?ve heard of radios going while people are paying for petrol.

[Brian]

It works very well. I almost never use FM in the car. I can?t remember the last time I used it at home - years.

[NY]

I'm wondering whether the one in dad's car (might have been his Corsair or one of his Hillman Hunters) could be used as a self-contained radio. I wonder how much space there was inside the standard car-radio form-factor for a rechargeable battery and how long that charge of batteries of late 60s / early 70s technology.