A surprisingly simple way to foil car thieves

Re:A surprisingly simple way to foil car thieves by Ancapistani on Monday July 17, 2023 @12:38PM (#36760396)

Super common in simple vehicles used to "run into town" in rural areas. We call them "kill switches".

My previous vehicle was a '97 Jeep Wrangler. There were two kill switches installed when I bought it: one down by the driver's seatbelt latch for the fuel pump, and one reachable by inserting your finger into the opening for the 4wd shifter the disabled the starter. Neither was easily visible.

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Re:A surprisingly simple way to foil car thieves by technothrasher on Monday July 17, 2023 @01:30PM (#36761226)

Yup, I put an ignition kill switch in my old Triumph Spitfire behind the dashboard when I was living in a not so great part of town. Just had to reach my hand up behind and flick it. I didn't hide it too hard, figuring anybody that tried to drive away in my Triumph and couldn't get it to start would figure it was just being a typical Triumph.

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Re:A surprisingly simple way to foil car thieves by firebat45 on Monday July 17, 2023 @01:44PM (#36761428)

Cars built with Lucas electrics typically have 3 modes of operation. Off, Dim, and Flicker. Which two of the three end up on your switch is entirely random.

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Re:A surprisingly simple way to foil car thieves by mhandley on Monday July 17, 2023 @02:06PM (#36761791)

Oh yes, those of us of a certain age remember well Lucas, Prince of Darkness.

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Re:A surprisingly simple way to foil car thieves by rpcope1 on Monday July 17, 2023 @04:33PM (#36763673)

The only thing that Lucas built that didn't suck was a vacuum cleaner.

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Re:A surprisingly simple way to foil car thieves by TylerE on Monday July 17, 2023 @09:29PM (#36766606)

Realistically, these days driving a stick might as well be a kill switch.

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