LoJack

[MONMIX]

Who has it?
What are your thoughts and opinions on it ?

 

[A Wise Guy]

Why bother. If your ride is snatched and Lojack is activated it must come within signal range of a police car that has the lojack receiver in it for the system to do any good. Have you ever seen a Police car with 4 identacle antennas on the roof in a square pattern? If so, that's the lojack car. If the department decides not to use the car on a shift your lojack equipped vehicle could do circles around the police station and nobody would ever know.

 

[diablo5969]

Definitely get it. The LoJack equipped cop cars aren't the only things that track the stolen cars, it's done by a national satellite and GPS system. Wherever the stolen car is in the country, it'll be tracked. You'll get it back, there's no way they can hide the car.

My dad has it on his car. Luckily it's never been stolen so we've never had to test the system, but it seems like there's no negative part to having LoJack.

 

[Mike_H]

It is also good for a insurance discount

 

[jssong]

the only negatives i can think of lojack is that if the thieves know what they are doing, they will find the lojack and either disable it or throw it away somewhere. it also costs a lot. my dad has it on his car, but it was through the dealer

 

[diablo5969]

The theives can't find the LoJack transponder or whatever. It's hidden in a different place on every car. Like, if they're installed in 10 different Ford Explorers, they're hidden in 10 different places. The installers won't even tell the owner where the thing is hidden. I wouldn't be too worried about anyone finding it.

 

[jssong]

i know there are many locations that you can hide it in, however, people that know what they are doing will find it. i cant say how long.. the chances are the thieves will not know where it is and will not be able to get away with it. but it only takes a few hours for people to strip a car. if you think about it, our new x's have the pats. if they can get around that, im sure they will know of the chance of lojack being in the car.

 

[asterus]

Lojack has a new thing, where if you car moves without your transponder key for the system, Lojack will call your cell, page you, send an e-mail, call your house, ect.

David Larson

 

[jssong]

nice.. didnt know that new feature, but now the only way i can think of someone trying to steal your x, is if they

1) have a key to your x, so the transponder thing wouldnt matter

2) Have a flatbed, tow your x to a chop shop and strip it in a couple hours

3) had some gadget to duplicate your transponder signal, and fool the comp.

4) break into your x, pop the hood, swap a ecu that they have a key that will match the transponder, and hook that up.

so now if they go wtih the options 3 and 4, im sure they would be aware of the possiblity of lojack.

 

[VairKing]

Ok, Ive heard of the LoJack thing, and have a few questions...First, how much does it typically cost? Is it a one time installation deal, or do you have to pay for service monthly or whatever? Is this something that can be purchased and installed by anybody, or does it have to go into a dealer? Thanks guys...

 

[diablo5969]

LoJack only has the one time installation/startup fee. And it's not something you can do in your garage, but I think any good car audio shop would be able to do it. I'm not positive about that though.

 

[asterus]

No, hte transponder thing for LoJack is kinda like the mobile wand. It send out a signal that LoJack picks up. If that signal is missing, then LoJack is activated.

David Larson

 

[MONMIX]

Only LoJack certified instalers are allowed to instal LoJack.

New features are very neat too

You bring up some intresting points Jssong. That is the exact sort of stuff I was hoping to hear. Pro and con thoughts.

 

[asterus]

nice.. didnt know that new feature, but now the only way i can think of someone trying to steal your x, is if they

1) have a key to your x, so the transponder thing wouldnt matter
(It has nothing to do with the key, it is a little wand thing that emits a signal.)

2) Have a flatbed, tow your x to a chop shop and strip it in a couple hours
(It is not the wheels moving, it is the car moving. Its like hooked up to GPS or somthing, so even if it is towed, it iwll go off)

3) had some gadget to duplicate your transponder signal, and fool the comp.
(This would be extremely hard becasue it is the thing on the keychain sending out a signal and the Lojack mounted to the car is running passivley. )

4) break into your x, pop the hood, swap a ecu that they have a key that will match the transponder, and hook that up. (Like was asid before, Lojack can be hidden many doffrent places ont he car, and no one will know you have it.)

so now if they go wtih the options 3 and 4, im sure they would be aware of the possiblity of lojack.

 

[jssong]

well i didnt mean any of those scenarios mainly about lojack. i just stated possible ways for your x to be stolen. nothing out there is completely undetectable,but then again, things CAN be hidden very well.

I dont want you to get the wrong idea asterus. Im not saying lojack isnt a great idea. Im just saying that there are always ways around it. stealing the car is one thing, find the lojack and getting rid of it is another. However, wtih the technogoly of the pats transponder, stealing it would take a good car thief, not an ok one. finding the lojack would take a really experienced thief. By all means get lojack, if you have the money, and want added security

 

[asterus]

I agree that it is possible, but it is very improbable that the system will be defeated because 1. very few cars have the system and therefor it is unlikely that somone would be out looking for it if they didn't expect it. 2. even if they did expect it, they would have to do quite a bit of searching in the car before htye could find it and remove it. It would be even harder for them to search your car for it while it was in a parking lot, you would have to take it to a shop and start taking pieces off before you would find it. Like I said, it is possible, but improbable.


David Larson

 

[DeRocha]

I had lojack in my 5.0 mustang... One night after work my ride was gone. I called the police and gave them my VIN and that it had lojack.. I expected the police to call in a few hours to say they found it. A week went by and the car was found 35miles away at the end of a hill smashed into several parked cars ($7K worth of body/engine damage). Lojack refunded my $500. I located the unit in the Left rear trunk panel. The unit had a 5 foot antena they ran under the headliner. Anyway the thing failed due to a crappy install. The unit was installed to the rear panel with only velcro. So the unit was bouncing around in then rear and the ground wire had broken off. So I wish the damn thing worked so the @$$ wholes who stole my ride would have gotten a rude visit by the police... all in all its a good idea (when it works). I think the company will test the unit if you request it to verify it still works. Unless they changed things the unit works by transmitting a coded signal. Police cars with the special receiver equipment will then pick up the signal and be pointed to its direction.

The onstar system (subscription based) used GPS to find your car... We had some guy lose his mercedes. He reported the vehicle stolen and the onstar people provided the exact location to the police. The police arrived and arrested the 3 kids at a KFC. This system is nation wide whereas Lojack only works in states that have the special receivers...

 

[SVO]

Big brother is watching.

 

[huskyfan23]

I'm more worried about the stuff inside getting stolen. How many stolen Explorers do you hear about?

 

[X~FACTOR]

I got one. It was the only thing I added to my '97. It cost me $500 but paid itself in a couple of years with insurance discount. Fortunately, I have not put it to the test yet. :knock on wood: I feel that it is worth the money especially when your truck still has lots of value left. If nothing else it gives you peace of mind.

This is my very short thread on it.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88755&highlight=Lo-Jack

edit: shoot! this thread is old! Haha