A catalytic converter, a part of every car’s exhaust system since 1993, receives pollutants from the car’s engine, and breaks them down to their molecular level components so they can then be released back into the environment, in a far cleaner form than what is created when your engine produces power from gasoline or diesel fuel. It’s essentially a box that speeds up a chemical reaction.
The reason it is so attractive to thieves is the precious metals that are used to make it work. Platinum, rhodium, and palladium are bought and sold like gold and copper. Palladium is currently more expensive than gold, and rhodium is