BigBadBug

Picking up my new 2013 FX4 S/Crew with EcoBoost this morning. After plunking down this much cash, I'm concerned about vehicle theft.

90% of the time, the truck is going to be parked in a safe location, where theft would be pretty difficult.... but the other 10% of the time is at places like airport parking lots (I travel out of town a lot for biz) and late night college parking lots.

Using the search button, I've found plenty of suggestions, but very little actual concrete "how-to" info. Here's my thoughts thus far on methods of protecting this beast.

1. Alarm System. Honestly, I hate these things, as they invariably go off at 2am, **** off all the neighbors, and drive you nuts. I also drive on very rough offroad trails a lot, and people talk about these not surviving long in this kind of environment and/or going off unexpectedly.
2. Steering Wheel "Club" Lock. These (and similar pedal locks) are more of a visual deterrent than real protection, as it seems a thief can easily cut the steering wheel rim with a hacksaw and remove the device. I already own one of these, so I'll start using it, but I'm not really expecting it to do much.
3. Relays and fuses. Lots of people on forum say to "pull a fuse", "pull the starter relay" or "pull the fuel relay" but no one really seems to be doing it; it also seems highly inconvenient every time I park. Same with the idea of disconnecting the battery (plus it will affect my radio favorites and such, right?)
4. Hidden Kill Switch. This seems like a good idea, but it has to be a) easily accessible; and b) actually work. Who has actually done this?
5. Get a trunk monkey. :-)

I'm leaning toward the Hidden Kill Switch idea, but I'd love to hear how others have actually implemented this.

Any other means and methods you folks have done? And, just as importantly, any actual real world experience implementing anti-theft systems?

Many thanks in advance. New to the site and Fords, so forgive some of my dumb questions. Cheers!

2013FX4RD

Hidden kill switch is a good idea. Also, I've been looking into getting the Ford Remote Access, one of the things it does is send an alert to your smart phone if the truck is being tampered with. May not stop a thief, but may allow you to alert security?

byte

look into a disabler with gps tracking... gps will help you to recover the truck if it is stolen

efusilier

Best advice. Get good insurance and sleep well. The odds of your truck getting stolen are very slim. But keep it and the tailgate locked. More likely to get broken into than stolen outright.

standfast85

From a cops perspective: Get some type of GPS tracker and be done with it. Most vehicle thefts nowadays are done with a tow-truck (here in Memphis anyway) so a kill switch probably wouldn't do you any good. Oh, and full coverage insurance, that's a good idea too.

BCMIF150

I've got to agree with this.

**** is going to happen but with good insurance, I don't worry about it.

TexasEd

blinking LED on the dash

On the kill switch I would like to figure out how to wire a relay that would activate the ignition circuit when the keyfob unlock was pressed 3 times.
I got this idea from the automatic tailgate lock thread where a guy bought a module to count the unlock pulses and activate a solenoid to pop open the tailgate on the third one.
If you used the same module with a latching relay you could have you ignition wire cut and disabled but activate it with the keyfob. You'd still need to use the key to start the truck though.
This wouldn't work with a remote start unit and probably too finicky of a mod for most people.

dac79

I have a 2 way Viper remote start/alarm. More so for the remote start.

cfree

Trunk monkey FTW!

Seriously, I never trusted car alarms for the same reasons you mentioned. I asked a similar question on another forum a few years back and the general consensus was have good insurance and get a GPS tracker. And most of all, enjoy your new truck!

Half_ton

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