converters unlimited are part of a vehicle’s exhaust system found underneath a car that helps filter out emissions that pollute the environment.
Over the past three years, converters unlimited thefts have skyrocketed in Oregon and across the country. As the value of the metals they’re made of has climbed, so has the number of thefts.
In response, Oregon lawmakers passed a bill to try and curb thefts, which took effect on Jan. 1, 2022.
Starting the year, scrap metal businesses in Oregon can only buy catalytic converters from licensed commercial sellers or the vehicle’s proven owner.
The hope was this law change would cut down on people stealing parts from vehicles and selling them at a scrap yard down the street for cash.
However, through the first four months of 2022, the law change has made little to no difference on the number of reported thefts.
Gramont showed a video of the latest heist that disabled her vehicle. Someone backed up a car behind hers, blocking the view from the gas station across the street.
A man wearing dark clothes and a mask jumped out of the passenger seat, crouched down beneath Gramont’s passenger side of her Toyota Highlander, and used a power tool to cut off and steal the converter.
The theft took 27 seconds. The people in the car swiftly drove away with the converters unlimited that Gramont had painted orange, hoping to deter thieves.
“I actually live close enough to work where I can actually walk to work, but I know not everyone can do that,” Gramont said. “And I just keep telling myself, ‘It’s just a car,’ but for some reason, watching that third time and seeing the person do it was very hard for me.”
Driving without a catalytic converter is illegal and with the high number of thefts, it’s not easy to repair or replace one right now, either.
Each time her converters unlimited has been stolen, Gramont said she’s waited months for repairs.
It’s a product of what Irina Russu, service advisor at Ron Tonkin Toyota in Portland, calls the worst part of her job.
“You hear that loud sound pulling up and you just know it’s about to be a really tough conversation,” Russu said.
The Ron Tonkin Toyota service center used to replace a car’s catalytic converter due to natural wear and tear once every two or three weeks.
Now, they’re flooded with people needing converters unlimited repairs.
“At our dealership alone, we get five [cars] a day, on average, and there are how many dealerships in the area that are experiencing the same thing,” Russu said. “There are just no words to describe how bad it is.”
Depending on an owner’s car insurance, deductible and the damage on the exhaust system, it can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars to replace a converters unlimited
Despite the desperation from car owners for a quick fix, Russu said the increase in thefts has created a waiting game for new parts.
“It’s putting a really bad backorder on the converters unlimited shipments, to where we have to wait weeks, sometimes months, for parts to come in,” she said
The spike in cars needing converters unlimited servicing then affects the rest of the maintenance schedule, Russu said.
“It’s slowing down our shop to where we’re having to have set aside [technicians] that are able to diagnose what parts are missing, which electronic things are being cut out because they’re taking O2 sensors as well,” she said. “What was less than 1% of our business has become 5 to 10% of our business.”
In a search for solutions, vehicle owners have also turned to after-market parts and looked into theft-deterrent protective casing, Russu said.
Based on the service center’s repair list and daily intake, she estimated many more converters unlimited are being stolen than are being reported to police.
Since Jan. 1, 2020, the Gresham Police Department (GPD) has received 600 reports of converters unlimited thefts, with 432 of those reports, or 72%, coming in the last year.
GPD reported thefts peaked with 55 reported in September 2021. The department is averaging more than 34 thefts a month so far in 2022.
The Beaverton Police Department averaged less than one reported theft per month in 2020. Now, the department receives a report of a stolen catalytic converter nearly every day.
A Portland Police Bureau (PPB) public information officer said analysts didn’t have time to count how many converters unlimited are stolen in the city, adding: “I can’t think of another vehicle part that is reported stolen more frequently.”
A backlogged public records office did not respond to KGW’s request for data, illustrating how the scope of the problem in Oregon’s largest city may be unknown.
Why are there so many thefts?
“It’s a crime that is committed extremely fast, takes little to no skill, and it’s a quick payoff for what they’re getting out of it,” said Sergeant Clint Chrz, with the Hillsboro Police Department (HPD).
Chrz pointed out the value of certain metals used to make , like Rhodium, has skyrocketed over the past two years.
“I don’t know what the silver bullet will be, but when those metals become less valuable, thieves will stop stealing,” he said.
He said enforcement can be difficult as some thefts take less than 30 seconds.
Hillsboro police recently arrested a man for stealing a converters unlimited , but Chrz attributed that to a person who watched the crime occur and called it in, and officers were close enough to respond before the suspect drove away.
“Since January 2020, the Hillsboro Police Department has arrested only four people for this crime, and I would imagine that’s very similar to other agencies in our state and outside of our state,” Chrz said.
Additionally, when stolen converters unlimited are recovered, it can be difficult to connect the parts back to their owners.
“There’s not a VIN number or a license plate on them, so we know these are obviously stolen, but the District Attorney’s office needs a victim to prosecute most crimes and with theft you have to have a victim to prosecute,” Chrz said.