Aftermarket head unit -- Any that aren't theft-friendly
 

This is my best guess for what forum to put this in...

I bought my girlfriend a Blaupunkt head unit which lasted exactly 2 weeks in her Civic before being stolen. To make it even nicer it was stolen on Valentine's day, and they busted out her passenger-side window. Our neighborhood isn't that bad, but we live downtown, and she has to park on the street.

It had a removable face, which of course she forgot to take off that night. Who can blame her? I bet I'd forget to take the face plate off 90% of the time.

1) Is there a head unit out there, hopefully in the $200 - $300 range that is useless if stolen, through the use of a security code, or some sort of "dongle" that is needed to reactivate the stereo after it loses power? Don't want to have to deal with amputating the faceplate from the head unit everytime you leave the car parked.

2) If there is a head unit that meets 1), is some retard thief going to bust out a window and steal it anyway? Anyone with any experience with this?

3) Should I just say eff-it, and put a OEM stereo back in the Civic, and quit worrying about thieving motherf*ck#rs?

i had a kenwood stolen out of my car before...it was one of them folding ones where when off only the back shows...that's why i always take my face out when i leave no matter where i am...

1)never seen one or heard of one...(maybe im wrong)
2)???....don't understand what u mean
3)just always remember to take the face out...if not then just put it back

By 2) I meant, if there is some security like factory stereos where you have to enter a security code to reactivate it if it loses power, does that even deter thieves, or will they steal any nice stereo and just figure out it's useless to them later?

Sadly, that's probably the case. It's like someone who steals your briefcase only to find out it had your only copy of your term paper and they throw it away :crap:

There's nothing that you can really do about this, unfortunately...

I've got a really low deductable for this reason - if it does get stolen, I can replace it fairly easily without a whole lot of money.

From what it looks like, it probably best to get an OEM stereo, and just forget about it. And the Civic will still have that Sweet-Ass Honda Sound (TM). :)

Thanks for everyone's help!

I know older eclipse (the brand, not the car) radios had a security feature that if you disconnected it, it needed a code to be entered from either the handbook or by sending it back to eclipse itself. You may want to check into that.

*EDIT* Found some info pertaining to what I was talking about. Seems now they use a key disc on their new HU's. Good news, the radios are in the middle of your price range.

http://www.katzcarradio.net/eclipse.htm

Eclipse. You choose a CD that locks the unit. If the unit is stolen, an 800 # is given to for the theif to call for free tech support. Eclipse pays to have the radio overnighted to them. The serial # can be displayed on the radio's display, so scratching the number off the sticker does no good. If it is stolen with the first year of ownership they give you a new radio for free. They have a three year warranty and sound excellent.

Thanks BillAce! Now I'm even thinking of getting one.

Bill, do they offer that on any of their HU's or only certain models?

Nakamichi is a VERY oem looking deck..check them out. Atleast they used to be.

Okay! I'm going to look into the both the Eclipse and Nakamichi HU's.

i had close to the same thing hapen to me in Jan. While they did break my window and mess up my cd player, they could not remove it from my dash. I'm not sure on the civic setup but we have 2 metal L brackets that hold the stock head unit in, by using those with my sony, who ever tried to pry it out faild. Now, if they would have taken more time and known more about the car, sure they could have taken it. Either way, I had to get a new one with insurance but it was nice to know that no one else was using the other one.

The brackets in our cars are pre common...usually, thieves smash the panel covering the screws (rip off) and unscrew the deck...It sucks cause you have to replace that panel plus any surrounding panels - they usually have 2 or 3 clips/screws/pieces broken, also....

All of hteir CD players have that feature.