LEAF broken into last night - computer-nav/stereo stolen

Hi guys! Haven't posted for some time, since we had a baby along with our toddler keeping us busy. I'm two weeks out from celebrating my LEAF's one year delivery date, and have bad news. Thieves broke the driver side window last night and cut out the entire center console computer and stereo. It was parked in front of my house in Stockton. I'm posting because I'm desperate for suggestions. If my computer is sold and someone tries to install it, isn't it keyed into my CARWINGS account, and it'll be found? I'm not sure what the market is for these things, but needless to say, I am beyond pissed. :evil:

Sorry to hear your car was damaged. I don't believe they will be able to do much with this unit in another car. Seems silly to steal it. I could be mistaken, but I believe the carwings computer is not in the head unit, but mounted elsewhere in the car.

Yeah, so sorry to hear about this incident. You probably contacted your insurance company. But did you talk to Nissan Customer Service or a dealership yet?

The LEAF has a "security system" and also a car immobilizing function. Not sure how they work... but do you know if your car horn sounded or will your car start with that part stolen?

Watch for it on Ebay.

The unit is pretty much useless and the people that stole it are amateur thieves. Professionals do not brake windows and steal units they know have no value. At this point the car needs to go to the dealer to get fixed. Once they find out what it is they will dump it. Put a search on ebay and see if it shows up for sale, but likely it won't. Don't expect it to be going into a LEAF anytime soon.

Sorry to hear this, brother. Hope you find it and hope they catch the b@stards.

That's beyond FUBAR!!! Hope Nissan gets you back together ASAP!

GoingGreener said:

Yeah, so sorry to hear about this incident. You probably contacted your insurance company. But did you talk to Nissan Customer Service or a dealership yet?

The LEAF has a "security system" and also a car immobilizing function. Not sure how they work... but do you know if your car horn sounded or will your car start with that part stolen?

Click to expand...

Thanks, and I'm actually on vacation, but my parents are staying at my house watching the kids, and they didn't hear anything. Insurance will replace it, but it's Sunday, and I'm out of town, so I haven't talked to Nissan yet. The car did turn on, per my father, who I left the keys with. It's just so irritating that people will break into anything these days. I'm always one to defend the high crime rates in my city, telling people that the bad elements generally stay in their own neighborhoods, then stuff like this happens. It sucks.

Oh no, ruining that as well. It totally sucks!
Lately around here, broad daylight won't even discourage criminals from strong-armed robbery. Really scary and sad.
Glad that your family is safe though. And hoping the insurance and replacement processes go smoothly.

Funny, all trims of the LEAF are advertised as having "vehicle security system" (separate from immobilizer). Sounds like it's a superb system if someone can smash a window and open the door from the inside without the car making a peep.

Sorry to hear about your car. What a bummer. Hopefully Stockton Nissan gets the repair done quickly.

Sorry to hear that.

If the thieves knew anything about the car they broke into, they would have gone after the batteries.

I hate being broken into - makes you feel so violated.

Really sorry to learn about the loss. Hopefully local Nissan dealer would fix the car soon enough.

Hi:

I couldn't help but think of this recent article in the NY times about the rich/poor divide in California, and Stockton was mentioned as being on the 'rough' side of the tracks, sadly.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/14/us/californias-economic-split-pits-west-against-east.html

America has always had the 2-sides of the tracks mentality, but as an American who moved to Canada recently, I feel the divide in the States to be excessive.

There has to be a better way to provide more community safety+security for all Americans, no matter what kind of neighborhood your from, poor, middle class or rich. Sorry for your loss.

-- Chex in Montreal

An update: Nissan says my alarm didn't go off when the window was broken because there is no motion sensor, and the thief likely jumped in/out the window, never opening the door, which the alarm is attached to.

In addition, the nav system does have a unique electronic identifier. However, our insurance adjuster informed us that the thieves actually sell the units back to shady dealers, who then reprogram the units and keep them until they need to reinstall them in someone else's car in the future. She said they sell for $300-500 to dealerships, which would have paid around $2,500 new, so they make a nice profit.

On the evening of our LEAF break-in, there were two other vehicles in our neighborhood that had nav systems stolen. One was a brand new truck, which was purchased last week. It's a bummer, but at least my house wasn't broken into and everyone is safe, so we move on and take measures to hopefully prevent this from happening again.

Cindi

Just thought I'd update on the repair costs. Our insurance deductible is $500, and we chose to take the LEAF to the Elk Grove dealership. There's been delays between them and the insurance adjuster, but today we learned the repairs will run around $12k!!!! That's because when the thieves cut the wires for the nav system, they also cut the main electrical harness that goes to the master battery system. I don't know how we drove it to the dealership, but we did.

wow $12k, is there any chance the repair shop cut something while evaluating the damage?

Something does not sound right. Seems there should be a less expense solution. They could build a custom wire harness connector and mount it to a custom bracket for much less than that. Then again your at the dealer and they will probably on install the factory part which may require complete dis-assembly of the car to install. Sounds like a design flaw that Nissan should be aware of. You probably wont be the last to have the "radio" stolen.

These events are going to make insuring the Leaf very expensive in the future. Sad.

Yeah, something doesn't sound right. The nav system on my Prius went out, fortunately under the extended warranty, although there weren't any wires cut by thieves. $12k is way too much. My Prius got fixed for about $2500.

So are the components of the repair:

* Glass
* Center console surround piece
* Nav unit
* Wiring harnesses or connector repair
* Labor