Losing a Car Stereo Faceplate and Stereo Theft
The theft of car stereos used to be huge common place crime back in the early 1990’s. As of now, the reports say that car stereo theft is a rare crime and on the bottom of the list of things that would be stolen from your car. There are a few reasons why this seems to be true. In the past, stereos that came with your car were garbage, so people replaced the factory stereos with after market items. The problem with this was that they were easily transferable from car to car. So a thief could easily steal your stereo and find another buyer who could use it in their car.
To help prevent theft, car stereos went through some portability fads. Car stereo units were made removable, so that the owners could pull out the radio unit and carry it with them. This eventually evolved into the removable faceplates that we still have now. The problem with the pull out radio method was that people would forget to take the unit with them or they would misplace it. When you are busy in your travels, people can easily set things down and walk away without thinking about their items. The removable faceplate faced similar obstacles, but at least it can be easily locked up in the glove box. And if your faceplate gets stolen, you still have the stereo unit. Though, you are still stuck without a faceplate. The debate will then be to figure out if you can just buy a new faceplate, or if you have to still replace your whole stereo.
The cure seemed to be when car makers decided to start installing quality car stereos in their vehicles. Stereos became more permanently built in and factory specific, which limited the chances of transferring the unit from car to car. The cost of a better sound system was passed to the consumer, of course. But the results appear to be worth the cost.