LOCAL

Answer Man: Mission parking decks safe? Catalytic converter thefts booming?

John Boyle
Asheville Citizen Times
Mission Hospital says its security team regularly patrols the facility's five parking decks.

Today’s batch of burning questions, my smart-aleck answers and the real deal:

Question: How safe are the Mission Hospital parking decks? I hear at least two catalytic converters were stolen from Toyota Priuses lately. Does Mission staff the decks with security patrols? And how many decks do they have?

My answer: This is why I only drive low-riders. Just park that sucker on the ground and dare the thieves to nab your catalytic converter. Plus, it's a great look on a 23-year-old car driven by an old fat guy.

Real answer: I'm still trying to dig my way out of the avalanche of statistics Mission provided on the safety of its parking decks. 

I jest. The hospital was not a font of info on this one. Mission spokeswoman Nancy Lindell did say via email that Mission takes "the safety of our patients, colleagues and visitors very seriously.

"Mission Security patrols our campuses both on foot and in vehicles every day on every shift," Lindell said. "All of our parking decks are equipped with security technology such as an abundance of cameras and emergency call boxes."

Mission Hospital is the largest medical facility in Western North Carolina. It has five parking decks, which its security team regularly patrols.

Also, Mission Health employees can download the LiveSafe app for free, and it "has many features designed to keep staff safe and to accurately report concerns in real time.

"The Mission Health Security team works hard every day to ensure the safety and well-being of everyone who comes to our campuses," Lindell said.

Mission Hospital has five parking decks — McDowell Deck, Biltmore Deck, Cancer Center Deck, 1 Hospital Drive Deck and the St. Joseph's Deck.

Now, about the catalytic converter theft. 

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This is a real problem in Asheville and most of the country.

Lindsay Regner, deputy public information officer with the Asheville Police Department, sent me some catalytic converter theft stats for April. That did show "one vehicle related to Mission."  

For the month of April, APD took reports for 44 stolen catalytic converters, including 18 from Toyota Priuses. That total number is way up from 21 in March, 18 in February and 20 in January.

The graph APD provided shows the number of converters stolen, "not the number of incidents, since there were multiple converters stolen at one time in a few of the cases," Regner said. 

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Car Talk, the syndicated column by Ray Magliozzi, addressed the catalytic converter theft issue April 14 in a column we later carried in the paper. It offered a good summation of the issue, and why Priuses in particular are targets.

"All catalytic converters contain tiny amounts of some rare minerals: platinum, palladium and rhodium," Magliozzi wrote. "In the past five years, rhodium has gone from about $600 an ounce to something like $30,000 an ounce. Or even more than the weed Snoop Dog likes. So, even in small quantities, rhodium is very valuable."

Thieves can sell stolen catalytic converters for about $200, but it can cost the car owner $2,000 to get one replaced.

You've got to love a good Snoop Dog reference.

Magliozzi also noted that "Prius converters have more rhodium than other cars," possibly related to their small carbon footprint. "So thieves are targeting Priuses in particular (though not exclusively), because their converters are worth hundreds of dollars."

Thieves crawl under the vehicle "and use a large pipe cutter to cut the exhaust pipe right near the engine, just in front of the converter. Then he'll just take the whole exhaust system — the converter, the muffler and the tailpipe — and scram," Magliozzi wrote. "The next morning, you get in your car, and it sounds like the Gatling gun."

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Replacement catalytic converters run about $1,500, he wrote, and a new one from Toyota will run about $2,500. So, it's definitely not a small crime.

Usually, thieves can sell the stolen converters, which reduce pollution when still on the vehicle, for about $200.

Obviously, park your car in the garage if you can. If not, keep the parking area well lit, park closer to buildings or your house, and consider surveillance cameras. 

The website Thespruce.com, cited by Allstate Insurance, offers these additional tips:

"Security devices are available that attach to the converter, making it harder to steal. Having the converter welded to the car frame also makes it more difficult to remove. If you have a security system on your car, calibrate it so vibration sets it off. This ensures the alarm activates if a thief tries to saw off the converter. Video surveillance around your garage or driveway is also useful if you have the budget for it. Engrave your VIN number onto your catalytic converter to make it easier to identify in case it does get stolen."

Catalytic converter theft is a problem throughout Asheville. APD gave these examples of locations of converter thefts for April:

Businesses 

• 1300 Patton Avenue — a business car.

• Business in the 800 block of Fairview road — two vans.

• Company truck in the 800 block of Hendersonville Road.

• 3900 block of Sweeten Creek Road.

• Civic Center parking garage downtown.

• McDowell Street parking garage — personal vehicle, at Mission Hospital.

• Buck Shoals Road.

• 700 Block of Riverside Drive.

•100 Block River Hills Road.

• 1400 Sweeten Creek Road.

• Olney Road — company vehicle.

• River Ridge Drive — business truck.

• 1900 Block Hendersonville Road.

• 3700 Block Sweeten Creek Road — two buses.

Residential (Regner noted that "a common thread is a Prius vehicle" in resident converter thefts):

Austin Avenue, Harvard Place, Choctaw Street, Carrier Street, South Bear Creek Road, 

Murdock Avenue, Maple Ridge Lane, Greeley Street, Saluda Street, Tanglewood Drive, Verde Vista Circle, Louisiana Avenue.

This is the opinion of John Boyle. To submit a question, contact him at 232-5847 or jboyle@citizen-times.com