Car stereo faceplate security
filed in Misc Car Questions
Question: I just had a Sony CD player installed in my 82 Accord. It has a detachable face plate, but since I paid several hundred dollars for this piece of electronics I wanted to learn if theft of these stereos still occurs. Where I park my car every day, I have notcied more than once cars broken into with stereos ripped out.
Something which gave me doubts about the absolute security of face plates is that in almost every store, there are several display faceplates that as salespeople told me have been ripped off.
Is it possible that the thief steals the core and gets a faceplate somewhere else? Could a thief just order a new faceplate? Maybe I am paranoid, but the occurence of car theft in this area seems especially high.
Answer: I had a Kenwood KRC 740 with the “partial” detachable face, where the tuning buttons section pops out, and leaves a big hole and a flashing red LED behind. Well, if you were reading carefully, you noticed the word “had”, past tense – it was stolen less than 3 months after I bought it. When I went shopping to replace it, alot of salespeople and even some customers I talked to said the same thing about faceless head units getting stolen, and then faceplates getting stolen from store displays.
Stores seem to be getting more careful with their faceplates, and replacement faceplates are *supposed to be* hard to buy [Kenwood gives you a card it says you *must* have in order to get a replacement, but I never tried to use it, I had the face and no head unit to put in in! 
]. Also, they are apparently expensive to replace, as well.
I ended up buying a KRC-660, with the full detachable face. I think a full detachable may be better, because the thief can not tell what radio he would be stealing, whereas with the partial face, he may see which type it is and know weather or not he can find a face for it. (he apparently searched every crevice of my car looking for the faceplate, by the way. He stole a flashlight, but left my sunglasses and tire gauge).
FACEPLATE vs. PULLOUT: the downside of a pullout (aside from the obvious size and weight you have to carry) is that theives have come to assume that you leave the radio under a seat or in the trunk when they see a pull out radio hole in the dash. Also, you are less likely to take it with you every time, and the time you leave it in can be the time a thief comes by.
In summary, I think the best you can do is get a full detachable faceplate, always take it with you, add an alarm if you don’t already have one, and hope for the best.
If anyone is looking for recommendations, I’ve seen just about every detachable face cassette tuner out there, and have an opinion about them all.
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