I think the basic conclusion to this is that a thief will bust into the car, cut all the cords and run with it. They'll plug it in and discover it's not salable and they'll drop it in the bushes. You'll never see it again anyway...

Calvin

basicly unless the thief is a super duper whiz bang cyber terrorist like hacker who can defy any sort of electronic and physical security systems while the whole time contemplating how he will infact take over the world with his ever so charming personality and good looks.
i mean realy i know at least 40 hoodlums who are EXACTLY like this..seriosuly thought if someone is going to jack your [censored] they will take it and no matter what u wont see it again if i was brain dead and doped up and need more money for more crack i would take anything i could and if i couldnt use it i wouldnt care i would just pawn it off on the next crack head for 40 bux.

Im as confused as a baby in a topless bar...

Remember that scene from the Jackal where the Jackal puts contact poison on the door handle, and the guy pursuing him opened the door and promptly died? hmm..

How liable is the owner if a thief breaks in and kills himself or otherwise hurts himself in some awful way? I'm contemplating putting in a "screamer" speaker or two behind the console. Basically, they will have to give up hearing anything ever again if they're willing to spend the 5 minutes necessary to open the console and grab anything. Or sadistically, put a relay to the door locks so it will lock the thief in while the screamer speakers permanantly destroy the thief's hearing...

Calvin

Calvin

What if you accidentally do this to yourself?

Reg #2845: Mark 1 #00173, Mark 2 #119

It has been demonstrated many times in many countries that such "defensive" attacks are not lawful. A PI friend in Florida once advised that you can generally make a good case for blowing out the brains of an intruder (so long as he doesn't survive) but if you set booby traps to cause injury you're in deep [censored] (why do I get the feeling that's going to get auto-censored).

In any case, as another poster pointed out, it's a bad idea to set any kind of a trap that you're unwilling to be accidently snared by yourself.

Rob

It would suck to me. ;)

Calvin

So if I had a pit bull maul an intruder would the pit bull have to be put to sleep?

One of the interesting legal products they sell here in the US is a steering wheel lock similar to "The Club" however, it has a taser built into the center. If somebody gets into the car and triggers it, it'll stun the person sitting at the wheel as they're trying to cut through the steering wheel.

Calvin

Well in Australia that IS the case. My brother had that specific scenario.
Synopsis:
Uninvited person forced entry to the premises, dog woke up, dog alerted my brother that someone was on the premises by causing them to yell loudly and bleed profusely, my brother woke up, called police but neglected to inform the dog that he was awake and that it could stop.
Police arrived, called an ambulance, called the local city council ranger (dog catcher), called the whole thing excessive force. The intruder successfully sued my brother for damages!
Recently in the media here, have been a number of cases of business people protecting themselves/property with firearms (rifle or shot gun as hand guns are pretty much illegal for joe public) and being arrested for misuse of a firearm. the did not shoot the intruder, just fired a warning shot or two.


PeterH
" 'tis better to be silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt"