When the catalytic converter was stolen from Vanessa Reimer's Toyota Prius in Long Beach, she thought the repair would be simple and take a few weeks at most.
Then his local dealer gave him the bad news: the replacement part could take six months to arrive. Reimer, who is pregnant, may have a baby before her Prius has a new catalytic converter.
“At first, I thought there must be something I could do,” said Reimer, 32, a speech therapist at an elementary school, before learning there were 100 other drivers waiting on the same stretch. “But there are too many people in the same situation.”
For several years, older Priuses have had the dubious distinction of being the number one target for catalytic converter theft in California. Drivers whose converters have been stolen are now experiencing a second indignity: Thousands of Prius owners are ahead of them in line to receive the same part, and delays could stretch for months.
Thieves target hybrids because their catalytic converters have a higher concentration of precious metals compared to cars that run solely on gasoline. The Prius, which was the best-selling car in California a decade ago, is an easy and lucrative target, with tens of thousands still on the roads.
The theft of catalytic converters from Prius cars has been a growing trend in the city.
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The Times called the parts departments of a dozen Toyota dealerships in Southern California and asked the wait time for a catalytic converter for a 2011 Prius. All service centers said the part was backordered and not available. available immediately. Most said the wait would be more than three months and, in some cases, up to eight or nine.
“Too many are being stolen and there are thousands on backorders,” one employee said apologetically. Another said: “If you come now you'll be looking at the end of August.”
Toyota corporate representatives did not respond to questions from the Times.
Even getting an expected repair date is no guarantee, as Anwar Glasgow, 25, discovered when his catalytic converter was stolen in January. A Toyota service center in Van Nuys said repairing its 2012 Prius would take six months, maybe less. Now they believe their car won't be ready until October.
Glasgow's insurance will pay to install the new part, but it won't subsidize a car rental for more than a month or repair your inoperable Prius so you can buy something else.
“To be honest, I'm screwed,” said Glasgow, 25, an aspiring actor who now walks and skateboards 3 miles one way to his job as a waiter at a Mexican restaurant. The robbery “feels like being kicked while you're on the ground… it's pretty demoralizing.”
The frequency of reports of partial theft of older Priuses, a category that includes the theft of catalytic converters, increased in California by nearly 850% over a two-year period, according to the Highway Loss Data Institute, a nonprofit organization funded by by the insurance industry.
There has been a “sharp increase” in the number of catalytic converter thefts in Los Angeles this year, according to Police Chief Michel Moore, with 406 more reported in the first five weeks of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.
“I'm very taken aback,” Moore told the police commission last month. Thefts can take as little as a minute, he said, and are “easy wins” for teams looking for favorite makes and models of cars.
Fed up with theft and long waits for replacement parts, some frustrated Prius owners are abandoning their hybrids altogether.
Ryan Eason, 28, discovered in January that his catalytic converter had been stolen from a secure garage when he and his fiancée got into the car to go look at wedding rings.
Ryan Eason is photographed in the Arts District on March 8. Eason's catalytic converter was stolen from his 2013 Toyota Prius while he was parked in the garage of his apartment in mid-January.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
A Pasadena mechanic did the job in about seven weeks, much faster than Eason's local Toyota dealer's estimate of six to eight months. As soon as the repairs were completed, Eason drove to his parents' house in Carlsbad and left the Prius there.
“I don't think it's a permanent solution,” said Eason, an attorney. “But since this car is a prime target, I'll keep it somewhere safe for now, so I don't have to think about it for a while.”
There are only a few catalytic converters that the California Air Resources Board has approved for use in older Priuses, including one sold by Toyota for about $1,800 and a Magnaflow model listed for about $2,800. Both are sold out almost everywhere.
Catalytic converters have one of the longest lead times in the industry, taking four to nine months to manufacture, said Mark Wakefield of AlixPartners, a global consulting firm that works with automotive clients.
The devices, which house porous ceramic bricks coated in precious metals, are complicated to manufacture and difficult for automakers to produce more in a short time, particularly as the industry tries to recover from supply chain problems, Wakefield said.
June 2022 photo of 112 catalytic converters seized by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department throughout the Inland Empire.
(San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department)
When new converters arrive, automakers must decide whether to install them in new cars or send them to the service market, Wakefield said.
Making replacement parts for older cars “is not really the supplier's core business,” he said. “The main business is new cars.”
Toyota doesn't have the same wait times for all of its cars, as Mark McNeill, 46, and Nara Hernandez, 44, recently learned. The couple, who live in Silver Lake, drive Toyotas: he, a Highlander SUV, she, a Prius.
In December, the Highlander's catalytic converter was stolen on a rainy night. The repair took three days.
In January it was the Prius' turn. The couple's mechanic estimated the repair would take five months, but after two months of waiting, the deadline became seven months.
“I don't think I'll see my car for a year,” Hernandez said, adding that his mechanic said 60 other Priuses were ahead of them in line.
Living without two cars would be virtually impossible with two trips a day and pick-ups and drop-offs for their two children, the couple said.
“We were forced to make a quick decision instead of waiting for better options,” Hernandez said. They decided to buy a new car, which was a huge financial blow right after Christmas. Once the Prius is repaired, they plan to install a protective cage around the precious new piece.
John Jackson, a city planner and owner of a Toyota Prius whose catalytic converter was stolen last fall, waited weeks for it to be replaced. He is shown in his car at his apartment complex on March 14 in Los Angeles.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
In September, John Jackson, a 31-year-old developer, had his catalytic converter stolen while his car was parked on a side street in Palms. The repair took about six weeks and cost him $700, he said, including his deductible, fees and gas for a rental car, and a shield he installed in an attempt to protect the new catalytic converter.
“Now it's happened to some other people I know,” Jackson said. “They came to me asking me what to do and I had to tell them, 'Look, this is the schedule. You're going to be without a car for months.'”
Jackson said he's leaning toward an electric car when he finally replaces his black 2011 Prius, in part because cars without gasoline engines don't have catalytic converters to steal.
In the meantime, Jackson said, automakers should do more to try to prevent these thefts, including engraving catalytic converters with vehicle identification numbers to discourage illegal resales.
A bill introduced last year in Sacramento would have required automakers to do just that. The bill, sponsored by the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, failed in the Assembly.
Two other laws that went into effect Jan. 1 require recyclers and scrap dealers to retain evidence that their catalytic converters were obtained legally and prohibit people from purchasing the devices from anyone other than an authorized seller.
In Los Angeles, it could soon be illegal to own a catalytic converter without proof of ownership, such as a bill of sale or a note from the previous owner.
Los Angeles Police Detective. Mario Santana, left, helped by the detective. Lisa Nguyen, etches a vehicle identification number into a car's catalytic converter as a preventive measure against theft at a free event in 2022.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
The City Council voted 8-4 Tuesday to tentatively approve an ordinance that would make rape a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, up to six months in jail, or both. The ordinance is scheduled to come up for a second vote in April.
Similar laws have been adopted in other Southern California cities, including Desert Hot Springs, Mission Viejo, Irvine and West Hollywood.
San Fernando Valley Councilman John Lee said LAPD officers have complained that it is “nearly impossible to hold catalytic converter thieves accountable for their crimes.” Tracing such a device to its owner and proving that someone who had it was involved in the theft can be complicated.
Reimer of Long Beach, who faced the prospect of being without a car throughout her pregnancy, had a mechanic install a catalytic converter that is not approved by the California Air Resources Board. The solution cost him $600, he said, and saved him hundreds of dollars in rideshare fees.
But the vehicle won't pass the smog test this summer without a Toyota converter. So you'll have to go back to the mechanic, assuming the part arrives in time.
