As I mentioned in the opening post, I'm coming from the Corvette world & theft of the car never crossed my mind. Needless to say, I walked into HC ownership with my eyes wide shut! I had no idea they were that "hot/popular" with the low life ghetto crack/meth scum of America. Shoot, I never even paid much attention to a Dodge ANYTHING. What lead me to a HC ownership was seeing a Challenger WB and I thought "not bad." Couple that with me growing tired of having to fall in/crawl out of low slung Vettes over the years (it was really weird after being in my lifted Sierra on 33's all week) and the HC WB Challenger became a viable option. But ... as an Engineer, I totally dropped the ball by NOT considering all variables (like theft rate) when researching pre-purchase.
I replaced my stolen HC WB with another HC WB - RedEye this time around. I decided to get all the "bells/whistles" this go round (much like my last Z06 and my current Denali).
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I've also built/designed a full security and tracking system because the factory offerings for alarm and the Guardian system are worthless. I put a full blown 2 way system (with RS, Shock/Motion/Tilt, Li BU battery - the works) interfaced into the CANBUS with remotes that will control the aftermarket alarm and the factory system. I moved the factory OBD connector to an undisclosed location (to alleviate anyone being able to simply plug in a device to clone a key) I also added a a full fledged GPRS / GSM tracker that sends texts based on shock, movement, door status etc.. It's track-able via the web or through an App. With different commands via text messages, I can request status, location, battery connection state, BU battery percentage. I can also deactivate the fuel pump via text message - for it to kill immediately or when the vehicle comes to speed <7 MPH and a host of other features (many of which become redundant to the alarm system I installed). I use a similar, though older 2G based SIM (that works just fine) on my Harley. It's a very reliable/robust system that only cost me $5 a month for the Simple Mobile 2/3/4G Sim.
So, while I can't necessarily stop the attempted or actual theft of the car. I can just about guarantee that:
- It won't be easy
- It won't be without making me aware of the attempt
- The devices are next to impossible to find/access and equally as difficult to defeat
- If stolen with a Tow Truck "yanker" style ... I'll know exactly where it's headed or has arrived to
I'd never had a vehicle stolen in my life (and I've owned 70 or so) and I don't plan on being a repeat victim.