Vehicle: Car: Security: Decoy
Decoy Magnetic Key Holders   (+18, -1)  [vote for, against]
Stop 'em snoopin'!

Know those little magnetic boxes you can buy to stash a spare car key in? You know, tuck it up under the wheel well in case you lock your keys in the car? The Decoy Magnetic Key Holder looks, smells, tastes, feels and sounds like the real thing but when the it's removed from the body of the car it:
1) Explodes, or
2) Stuns the thief with electricity, or
3) Superglues itself to the thief and starts hooting an alarm.

All models have a short time delay and a keypad under the sliding door to disable the device. 'Course you have to know what the code is to disable it.
-- phoenix, Apr 09 2002

cool idea, but if it Explodes the your front tire gone witch is more exspensive then having cops find where the joyrider ditched it (where i live thier isnt a market for stolen cars, just teens having some fun)
-- i-Mer, Apr 09 2002


Deceptive (urban) warfare. Croissant.
-- dag, Apr 09 2002


[i-Mer] The countdown doesn't begin until the key holder is removed from the wheel well (magnetic switch). The only thing that should get blown up is the thief's hand.
-- phoenix, Apr 09 2002


Sounds good unless you forget your code when it's in your hand.
-- ishotpac, Apr 10 2002


FIll it with white powder and a scrap of official-looking paper with the bio-hazard logo.
-- bristolz, Apr 10 2002


*grin* Now that we're at it, there's all sorts of stuff you could put in this device... explosives, superglue, an electric charge, acid, some poison that the skin can absorb, a fake key just to piss off the would-be thief, or maybe even a real key that just turns on a sonic-barrage sort of car alarm just long enough to stun them...

Okay, must stop typing. Evil side of brain starting to wake up.
-- Delcan, Apr 11 2002


Just buy a real key holder and smush a dog turd in it!
-- phazed, Apr 11 2002


phoenix, have a croissant! But I'm not sold on the idea of tasting a key holder once it's been under my car....

I like the fake key idea best. After about three tries I think the thief would leave. How about a pre-rusted, road-grunged holder that looks the same age as your vehicle to throw them off? Or one in camouflage colours? Or one with a false bottom that conceals the real key? Let's keep it low tech, ok?
-- Canuck, Apr 11 2002


Anything that explodes or stuns is a bad idea. Besides the moral question of whether you should be setting booby traps, it is fairly certain that the lawyer of a convicted thief will turn around and get a settlement against you worth more than the value of your car for what you did to his client.
-- horripilation, Nov 07 2002


The way cars are these days, it shouldn't be too hard to make a "Smart" key that functions just like the real key, except that it notifies the police via a cellular modem, or something similar built into the car's "brains."
-- ye_river_xiv, Jun 06 2008


[+] I like this because you can use the same explosive dye that they use in bank robberies.
-- Jscotty, Jun 06 2008


I like the fake key idea. The car's computer cuts off gas flow to the engine when it's inserted, so they'll sit there cranking it and either get caught or give up thinking it just won't start.
-- Bukkakinator, Jun 07 2008


Lovely screen name BTW, is "Bukkakinaor" french?
-- ye_river_xiv, Jun 08 2008


It's derived from the Japanese word Bukkake. Research at your own risk. (Knowing my luck, I'm probably spelling it wrong too.)
-- Bukkakinator, Jun 08 2008



random, halfbakery