Headlight thefts

You have been warned

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/crime...-midlands/

April 4, 2013 10:59 am
Thieves targeting trendy £700 Land Rover headlights in West Midlands
Headlights worth hundreds of pounds are being stolen from top-of-the-range cars across the Midlands, police revealed today.


Target – Land Rover Discovery headlights


Vehicles in the West Midlands, Staffordshire and Shropshire have all been targeted by thieves, with four Land Rover Discovery models attacked on one night alone in Stafford.

The lights are worth at least £700 each.

Simon Cooper, chairman of the Staffordshire and Shropshire Land Rover Club, which has 250 members across the counties, said: “Land Rovers are frequently targeted.

“We get members reporting that their cars have been targeted but it usually the older Defender types because the new vehicles are a lot harder to steal from. What I am surprised about is how they actually managed to get the lights out.

“You have to get under the bonnet and it is fiddly at the best of times. But if they want it that badly they seem to have ways of getting it.

“I had a friend have an entire exhaust system worth £3,000 taken. It is unbelievable.”

Staffordshire Police confirmed that they were investigating the four thefts in Stafford and said they were aware of similar crimes elsewhere in the West Midlands. Earlier this year three Land Rovers were targeted in Bridgnorth.

Mr Cooper added: “The headlights on the new type Discovery and Range Rover are LEDs and a very expensive piece of kit.”

The new Land Rover features a metal concentric circle headlamp design with Xenon bulbs and LEDs.

Suspicious

Stafford borough councillor Peter Jones said: “Any suspicious activity should be reported to the police immediately.”

Wonder if they're as easy to steal as Porsche lights?

Aren't they likely to get some serious shock, there are plenty of warnings regarding bulb replacement?

They would get a huge shock if they didn't do it properly, when I had my RRS headlamps converted to have Audi'esque LEDs under the lamps they fitter insisted that e had the keys and they were placed a long way from the car where he could see them and where they wouldn't interfere with the cars electronics. There is a lot of stored charge in the ballasts for bixenons

(04-04-2013 08:39pm)Evo-king Wrote:  Aren't they likely to get some serious shock, there are plenty of warnings regarding bulb replacement?

Hopefully, theiving ba5t4rds

(04-04-2013 08:39pm)Evo-king Wrote:  Aren't they likely to get some serious shock, there are plenty of warnings regarding bulb replacement?

It's fine if you switch off the headlamps first. You are asking for trouble if you try to change bulbs with them on.

We have had a warning round here

Apparently they are stealing them from Porsches for use in cannabis farms for growing the stuff

(05-04-2013 08:51am)mark_n Wrote:  It's fine if you switch off the headlamps first. You are asking for trouble if you try to change bulbs with them on.

Does that mean if you left your lights on auto, and someone had a go at removing them they would get a shock in more ways than one or not?

If so I might be tempted to leave them on auto.