Xenon headlights a hot thief item


By Wayne Parry
Associated Press
Oct. 11, 2002


NEWARK, N.J. - It was dark, Benjamin Benson was tired after a long day at the office, and he slumped wearily into his car, flicked the switch for the headlights and pulled out into traffic.


"I start driving, and a police officer pulls me over and says, 'Put your lights on!' " the Ramsey lawyer recalled. "I said, 'Officer, they ARE on.' He tells me to pull over into a parking lot. He gets out of his car, I get out of mine, we look at where my lights used to be and both our mouths are gaping open. There's wires hanging out of these two big holes."

Benson's Acura had fallen prey to the latest craze among thieves - stealing high-intensity xenon headlights from expensive luxury cars.

Dealers, body shops and insurance companies say the thefts are driven by a lust for the moon-blue lights among urban youths, who transplant them to spice up their cars.

"They're retrofitting these into their Hondas and making them into low-riders," said Richard Black, who owns a body shop in Newark.

While the thefts have been sporadically reported in other parts of the country, the problem is worse in northern New Jersey, New York City and its Westchester County and Connecticut suburbs.

Nationwide, 300 to 400 of the lights have been reported stolen in the past year, most of them in the Northeast, according to Acura spokesman Mike Spencer.

About the best explanation anyone can offer for the trend here is that New Jersey, the most densely populated state, has a high concentration of expensive cars in office parks, shopping malls and park-and-ride lots - a virtual auto parts buffet for thieves.

"It's an epidemic, totally out of control," said Dominick Pardo, another Newark body shop owner.

"I mean, it's just crazy how many of these are getting stolen."

In Denville, thieves ripped 20 headlights from cars at an Acura dealership last year. Similar thefts at a Wayne dealership prompted the business to hire an overnight security guard.

And more than 50 lights were taken from cars in Fairfield last year, mostly from shopping centers and office parks.

The headlights can cost $2,000 to $5,000 to replace, depending on how much body damage the thieves inflict while trying to get to the lights.

 

Hopefully this will not become the case for Mini xenon lights. There are a lot of Honda and Acura's out there, but not very many Minis (right now anyways). Is this happening mostly with Acuras (so thieves can swap them into their Hondas) or other cars also?

 

Acura Xenon headlights are interchangable with Honda headlamps. I believe the thieves are using them in their Civics and Accords. Otherwise, they are selling them.



_________________
....that car is a bad ***** --
-- Shut your mouth!
-- I'm talkin bout MINI!
-- We can dig it!!!

 

So... I think it's time that we all try to find out what other cars can utilize our xenon lamps. Maybe we can get ahead of the game by using the ever famous Mini Bonnet Latches!!
Does anyone have any info on the lamps issue?
Motor On!!