A Morro Bay mechanic shop owner repeatedly saw his customers fall victim to catalytic converter thefts, so he decided to hit the drawing board.
Bill Todd, owner of Todd's Garage, had seen all of the other similar devices on the market and decided he could do it better.
"I was actually installing some anti-theft catalytic converters and I was baffled by the design," Todd said.
He says they were way too hard to install and created issues when a customer would need a smog check.
Cat Armor - what he's calling his device - is designed to be installed in just three minutes.
"They are really easy to install. You can install them with just one wrench which saves people money and once they're on, they are extremely hard to take off," Todd explained.
He went on to explain that there are no devices that can completely prevent a catalytic converter theft but these devices are designed to make it very hard for thieves in hopes that they will move on when they realize it's not an easy steal.
The way it works, is it targets the bolts that thieves need to remove to steal the part of your car.
"It slides over the bolts that are being removed to steal the catalytic converter. It has security hardware, as you tighten the bolts they snap off so you can't get the piece off," Todd said.
He created three different versions of his device to protect the different types of Prius cars. Todd says Prius's are targeted the most due to the hybrid build. The precious metals that the catalytic converters are made up of are even more desirable in a Prius, sometimes going for thousands of dollars an ounce.
Right now, he has these devices ready to sell for Prius's, but is working to expand to more makes and models.
