Car Doctor Q&A

Q I have a 2004 Honda Civic. Every week in our local news there are reports of catalytic converters being stolen from cars. Police have video of it happening in mere minutes at the local shopping center. I asked my Honda Dealership if they had a fix for that, they said no. What can I get done to protect my catalytic converter and where can I get it done? I’d like to improve the overall security on my car. Do you approve of getting a “kill switch” put in? Does it have potential to damage the car? Who does that kind of work?

A Catalytic convertor theft is a major problem and to me the issue is some of the unscrupulous savage yards who buy these convertors with no questions asked and no documentation of who is selling them and where they came from. There are aftermarket companies that make metal shields and cable clamps designed to deter convertor theft. Adding a “kill” switch or better yet an alarm that disables the ignition of starter may help prevent theft. In addition, if it has a motion detector, I thief jacking up the car to steal the convertor may be scared off by the alarm. Any good repair shop or auto stereo store should be able to install an alarm.

Q My 2018 Honda Accord is a really nice car and gets great mileage on highway. I am concerned about one thing. Although it has a myriad of warning signals it doesn’t have low speed forward and backup warnings, which I think are helpful in parking and backing up. This was made immediately apparent on Christmas Eve day when I was backing out of a parking lot spot and collided with the rear of a large SUV. I’m unsure if she was moving because I was blinded by the sun and the rear camera wasn’t helpful. If the car had the proximity backup warning, I feel this could have been prevented. Is there any way to incorporate such a system for front and back for this car? Apparently, it was an option I was not aware of at time of purchase.

A Unfortunately, you can’t easily or at a reasonable cost add proximity parking sensors to that model. A quick check online shows many add-on systems that may help prevent backing crashes. I have only personally tested on unit, and it displayed a warning on my phone using a sensor built into the license plate frame. I found the range very limited and at the time the license plate frame was a bit bulky and in my home state you can’t use a frame that blocks any writing which this unit did.

Q I’ve a 2018 Volvo S60 and today I noticed that the rear window defroster while turned on didn’t seem to demist/work. Can you please advise on what could be causing this, what should I be looking for when I go to the auto shop and what kind of charges am I looking at? A I would start with the basics, looking at fuses and relays as well as the window grid itself. The problem could be a connection, broken grid or faulty reply (most common). Regarding cost, I would expect to pay about one hour’s labor to diagnose the issue. It is also interesting to note that some Volvo cars will limit defroster operation during certain times of hard acceleration and electrical demand. Perhaps before bringing the car in for service, give it a second try to see that in fact it is not working.

Q I have what is probably one of your most unusual auto advice questions, I’m selling a vehicle that I own outright to a private party who is not able to pay me the full purchase price

all at once! I would like to know if it possible to list myself on the title as a lienholder for collateral purposes in order to protect my interests.

A I have two cars that are titled in two different states and looking at the titles, this is not possible. Now you could draw up a contract that might help protect you if this is what you really wanted to do. My advice is have the buyer go to a bank to get a loan, if they can’t get a loan, you may want to reconsider the idea of you being the bank. I have seen many friendships and even family relationships harmed by lending money or setting up time payments for vehicles. If it is a good friend or family member that needs a car and you want to go ahead and sell them your car, it is possible that your first payment may be your only payment and you need to be okay with this.