Lock your tailgates!!!

kebo · Jul 18, 2016

I really hadn't thought about the tailgate being a quick and easy target for thieves, but I will keep mine locked from now on. But dang, I had NO IDEA that some tailgates cost $3000 to replace!!!

Were they gold plated with diamond studs in them???

Deputies investigating string of tailgate thefts - wistv.com - Columbia, South Carolina

hawkeye08 · Jul 18, 2016

They are very easy to take off, especially unlocked. I have mine locked and also have a theft prevention lock on the hinge. It is still fairly easy to remove, but not as easy as the other one in the parking lot that isn't locked..

grnspot110 · Jul 18, 2016

The hinge lock I tried interfered with the closing of the gate, so I replaced it with a simple worm clamp. Won't stop theft, but hopefully it'll slow them down enough they'll go to the next one!

I don't lock my tailgate around home (small town), but do when I'm in bigger cities or away from it elsewhere.

two_bit_score · Jul 18, 2016

I had a spare tire stolen from under my truck on night. I had a lock on the tailgate on the old '95 for years and finally thought it was old enough to live without it.

Glad they put a little lock out on the newer trucks though. I used it last week when I had to drive through Houston and stopped at Bass Pro in Katy.

TBS

QRTRHRS · Jul 18, 2016

One more good reason to lock the tailgate is safety. First off, to my knowledge, no one has disproved the engineering studies that say leaving the tailgate down will improve mileage. Yet, people still do.

I know of an accident where a pickup with a dropped gate got hit at an intersection. An innocent person lost thier life that day when the tailgate dislodged and went through the victims windshield and killed them. Could it happen with a closed gate? I suppose but I would expect it to happen more so with an open gate.

4570Man · Jul 18, 2016

I always keep my tailgate closed to contain the junk in the bed. My tailgate doesn't have a lock, and I wouldn't lock it if it did. I open it several times a day, and locking it would be a huge inconvenience. The local junkyard gets $100 for a tailgate. My dad bent his tailgate beyond use, and he wasn't satisfied with just any junkyard tailgate. He is still waiting for a junkyard tailgate of the correct color to turn up.

bdog · Jul 19, 2016

On our GMC the tailgate locks automatically when you lock the doors and unlocks when you unlock the doors. Nice feature. I would never take the time to lock one manually and have to unlock it all the time it just gets used too much but this is handy.

brown40 · Jul 19, 2016

I think there was a study that found the "buffer" created by the turbulence in the bed allows the air to stream back over the top of the whole bed, whereas the tailgate down (or what they were studying--those mesh replacement "fuel savers"), allows the air streaming over the cab to create steady downforce on the truck bed, and decreases MPG. It was many years before the internet--back when the mesh tailgates were new--and I was "needing one" to save money. Don't know about the full covers and tonneaus...

Bird · Jul 19, 2016

bdog said:
On our GMC the tailgate locks automatically when you lock the doors and unlocks when you unlock the doors. Nice feature. I would never take the time to lock one manually and have to unlock it all the time it just gets used too much but this is handy.

Same with my 2015 Ford F150. First truck I ever owned with a locking tailgate. But I can remember when Dallas had the tailgate theft problem more than 40 years ago; it's not something new.

Renze · Jul 19, 2016

kebo said:
I really hadn't thought about the tailgate being a quick and easy target for thieves, but I will keep mine locked from now on. But dang, I had NO IDEA that some tailgates cost $3000 to replace!!! Were they gold plated with diamond studs in them???

Deputies investigating string of tailgate thefts - wistv.com - Columbia, South Carolina

Here in Europe there was a string of movable seat thefts: of the Renault Espace MPV which had seats that could be slid as well as turned 180 degrees, and also removed if the owner would want to pack cargo instead of people. Noteworthy is that there also was a lively trade on Ebay in these things, which stopped when owners punch lettered their names in the seat frames so they could recognise their own seats at the Ebay sellers.

They would tell the seller that they inspected the condition thoroughly, and when they found their markings, they would say they were a bit disappointed with the condition, but thanks for the look. Then come back with police