Over thanksgiving, I was watching the local news when a breaking news story popped up. Someone stole a catalytic converter from a brushfire truck at a mobile Alabama fire station. How ridiculous, I thought.

At the time, I was wondering that it was so random and thought why people would do that. Then, after looking further into it, I noticed that this is a part of a recent trend.

On Dec 4th, in Orangeburg South Carolina, someone stole 17 catalytic converters from a Toyota dealership

Then in Missouri, there were 20 catalytic converters stolen throughout Lawrence county neighborhoods.

SO, I wanted to find out why this trend has grown so drastically recently.

 

The catalytic converter gets its name from the catalyst within the converter converting harmful gasses to something not so bad.

There are several reasons why you may need to replace the converter:  it can become clogged from burning too much oil or coolant, it can become damaged from going from a hot state to a cold state too quickly, cracking the metals within it, or whenever someone steals it, which is more common than you might think. Recently someone stole a converter from a brush fire truck in a mobile Alabama fire station.

Why do people want to steal your converter and why can it cost $2000 to replace them?

Stay tuned, to find out!

The Catalytic Converters Function

For the catalytic converter to do its job properly, it is made of expensive metals like platinum, Rhodium, and Palladium, which in this case are the catalyst. As you may or may not remember from high school chemistry, a catalyst is a substance that causes a chemical reaction to happen faster, without being used up. They are placed in two different honeycomb layers to achieve maximum surface area and for maximum efficiency these metals need to be nearly 400degrees. These metals are separated into two catalyst chambers: a reduction chamber with just the platinum and rhodium and an oxidation Chamber with the Platinum and Palladium

Thus, converting carbon monoxide which is poisonous and basically gets rid of the ozone layer, nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide which causes smog and acid rain and hydrocarbons, which is unburnt fuel into N2, O2 CO2 and H2O. which are much more palatable gasses that are not nearly as bad.

Basically, if that was confusing, it turns bad gasses that your car creates from its combustion chamber into not as bad gasses for the sake of the environment.

Watch this for a better explanation with visuals:

 

Why are they so expensive?

 

So, why has the theft of catalytic converters increased within that past few years? Why was the theft 10x higher in 2019 from 2018? Well, look at this graph:

From 2018 to 2019, the cost of rhodium per ounce increased from around $1,800 to $6,000 by the end of 2019. Now, it’s around $14,000 per ounce, which is insane. This is mainly due to COVID-19 halting the Automotive Industry production.

 

Within a typical converter, there is roughly 3-7grams of Rh, which is rhodium, Pd or palladium and Pt for platinum. together, these metals are the platinum group metals or PGMs.

The jewelers, electronic manufactures , and other industries love to use these metals.

So, you basically have a diamond ring underneath your car. 

 

Catalytic Converter Theft

Since there is a rise of thefts, how would you know if its stolen? Well. You will know… It is basically a louddddddd exhaust leak because the theft hacksawed your exhaust leaving a gaping hole. So, how could you prevent these thefts especially since the price has been skyrocketing?

 

Well, park in well-lit areas, near trafficked areas. If you have a garage, obviously, that would be the best choice. You can install a security device onto the converter itself. You could also calibrate your current cars security system to go off during vibrations. Which would ensure the system to go off when the thief tries to saw off the converter.

 

Catalytic Converters are a necessity and if someone stoles yours, I am sorry that had to happen. Maybe you can buy one second hand and see if that will help you pass emissions.

If you would rather see more visuals as I explain this, watch this: