Thieves targeting catalytic converters

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Thieves are climbing under cars and truck and sawing off catalytic converters, an essential part of the emission control on the exhaust systems. Not only can it ruin your car to drive without one, it is also illegal because of the loud noise it causes.

Mary Ferris is just one of several drivers recently victimized.

"I was leaving to go to a client meeting, and I started my car, and it sounded like my brother's motorcycle," said Ferris. "Our maintainence man came over and got underneath and pointed out a three-foot section missing from my exhaust."

On Wednesday, her catalytic converter was stolen from her parked car.

"I was immediately in tears, freaking out, had no idea what to do," said Ferris.

However, she pulled herself together and went to her mechanic, where she learned she was not the only theft victim.

“This is the second vehicle we’ve had in the last three days," Larry Powers.

(The theft of catalytic converters may be a newer trend in Austin, but it's not unusual elsewhere.)

At the mechanic, Ferris also learned just how close she was to destroying her car.

"You don’t know until you get in your car and you actually start it. And it was actually dangerous for me, because they cut my cooling line of my transmission, and if I had driven anywhere or tried to go anywhere, it would have done some serious damage to my car," said Ferris.

Powers said the thieves are likely selling the catalytic converters for quick cash.

"These converters retail for over $600 dollars, and I have heard on the black market as much as $300 or $400,” said Powers. “We may see a pattern developing.”

Powers added they are easy to get to.

"What the perpetrators are doing is (climbing) underneath the vehicles with a battery-powered saw, cutting the catalytic converter at both ends of the tailpipe, and then absconding with the product," said Powers.  "It’s just thin metal exhaust pipes they are cutting through, although quite noisy - which surprises me if it's happening in a residential neighborhood that nobody spotted it. But it only take a few moments to cut it off."

Powers says aside from parking your car in the garage, there's really not a lot you can do to prevent them from being taken, leaving Mary Ferris frustrated.

"If I park my Forerunner here again with a brand new catalytic converter on it, who’s to say they aren't back next Tuesday," said Ferris.