The average thief is probably not N is not a safe bet for most values of N. Pros exist and technique gets spread from person to person. BITD car stereo systems were the target of choice and I assure you they were significantly more difficult and time consuming to remove than popping open the glovebox on a car that's missing a button. All I'm saying is if car companies are shilling this bs as a security measure I'd take that with a rather large grain of salt.

The average thief is a lot smarter, stronger and good with tools than you think.

They also network and know a lot of stuff.

They know that people rarely put anything more valuable than a few coins in glove boxes and so rarely bother opening them.

Seen a lot of cars that have been broken into, seen a lot of open glove boxes too.

rare is not never, so if the effort is low enough some will open them and search quickly.

Source?

I bet it takes mere seconds to angle grind your way into a glovebox. Thick hardened steel bike locks resist angle grinders for less than a minute. Thieves also talk to each other and spread techniques.

Angle grinders are surprisingly bad at cutting some materials. Thick plastics that become all melted and sticky and then catch fire are one of those.

This is bizarrely accurate. 1/4 plate steel? Zero issues. Wood anything? Forget it.

I'm pretty sure my steel toed boots could open the glove box really quickly.