Catalytic converters are new theft target

on February 09, 2008 at 8:57 AM, updated February 09, 2008 at 9:10 AM

The owner of a pickup truck parked in a northern Muskegon County car pool lot starts his vehicle.

The engine suddenly roars like a race car.

The problem: A missing catalytic converter -- the device attached to vehicle exhaust systems that filters environmentally damaging engine emissions.

While law-enforcement authorities in Muskegon, Oceana and northern Ottawa counties say they haven't seen many catalytic converter thefts, it's only a matter of time before the area catches up to the rest of the state and nation.

"It's on the radar," said Harlan Rypma, who is in charge of service operations at Don Rypma Chevrolet-Buick-Pontiac in Whitehall. "We've been notified that it's been cropping up in the area."

Global demand has resulted in higher prices for scrap and recycled metals. When the price of copper started rising, for example, so did the number of copper thefts.

The copper theft epidemic has thieves stealing from homes under construction, vacant homes, churches, farms, businesses and utility companies. A survey by the U.S. Department of Energy found that copper thefts cost utility companies nearly $1 billion during a one-year period.

Thieves are targeting catalytic converters largely because they contain small amounts of three precious metals -- platinum, palladium and rhodium. The metals are used in the lining of the converter.

Extracting the precious metals from a catalytic converter isn't something backyard thieves can do themselves -- like removing the copper from an air conditioner before visiting the local metal recycler.

Bryan McGannon, spokesman for the Washington D.C.-based Institute of Scrap Recycling, said there are very few places that process catalytic converters for the three metals.

"Local scrap dealers, in most cases, collect the catalytic converters and move them on," McGannon said, adding that prices paid by scrap dealers for catalytic converters vary greatly throughout the country.

"We advise our members that unless you have an existing relationship with an auto dismantler or an auto shop, you should take a long, hard look at someone bringing in a truck load of catalytic converters," McGannon said.

Rypma said if a vehicle's catalytic converter has been stolen, "as soon as you start your engine, you'll know. It sounds like you have no exhaust. It sounds like a race car."

He does not recommend driving to a repair shop. Call a wrecker. If the catalytic converter is missing, "you've got heat going places it shouldn't be. It could be melting the components underneath the car," he said.

Rypma said replacing a catalytic converter may cost anywhere from $600 to $900 because some vehicles have up to four converters. "Quite often they are in an assembly where they all come together. If one is stolen, you have to buy the whole assembly," he said.