This Toyota brand is disappearing from driveways in Ontario. It’s not the only one

A antheral was watching TV successful Guelph, Ont., astir 4 a.m. connected Thursday greeting erstwhile constabulary accidental helium heard a sound extracurricular of his home.

He went extracurricular to spot what was going connected and recovered that idiosyncratic was driving disconnected with his Toyota Tundra.

The antheral was not unsocial successful his loss. Ten Tundras person been stolen successful Guelph since Nov. 1 portion thieves person besides taken a ace astatine stealing 8 others, according to section police.

Police services successful confederate Ontario are reporting akin crimes. Waterloo Region said determination person been 12 thefts and attempted thefts of Tundras portion Barrie reported 10 thefts since Jan. 1.

“There are surely trends that travel and go, and criminals mightiness people definite vehicles conscionable due to the fact that they person a marketplace for them,” said Amanda Dean, vice-president of Ontario and Atlantic for the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

But some constabulary and the security manufacture representatives accidental the Tundras are not unsocial successful being targeted by thieves.

A mates of Tundras person gone missing successful the New Tecumseth country implicit the past period portion betwixt Jan. 23 and Jan. 28, 4 trucks went missing, including a Tundra, 2 Dodge Rams and a Ford F-150 Raptor.

“It’s not needfully circumstantial to Tundras,” said Nottawasaga OPP Const. McKayla Cotey. “New luxury vehicles are being targeted arsenic they tin supply higher rates of profit.”

Cotey besides said much communal vehicles are being stolen, arsenic well,  arsenic they whitethorn beryllium resold oregon utilized successful the committee of different crimes. But Dean figures that a ample information of the vehicles are headed retired of the country.

“The immense bulk are being sent to overseas markets and resold oregon utilized successful immoderate manner,” she said. “There is simply a information of vehicles that bash enactment wrong the state and wrong the country.”

Équité Association, a nationalist enactment focused connected security transgression and fraud, publishes an yearly database of the most-stolen cars successful Canada. In 2023, it reported the 2021 Toyota Highlander was the astir stolen vehicle, with 3,414 reported thefts.

The Dodge Ram was 2nd connected the database with a  reported 3,078 vehicles. Rounding retired the apical 5 were the Lexus RX series, the Honda CR-V and the Toyota Rav-4.

The prominence of Toyotas connected the database is akin to what constabulary are seeing successful Guelph.

“I americium not alert wherefore Toyotas are peculiarly fashionable close now, but we person noted Toyotas (and related Lexus vehicles) person been the astir commonly stolen brands successful Guelph for the past 2 years, erstwhile considering thefts believed to beryllium tied to organized crime,” Guelph constabulary spokesperson Scott Tracey told Global News.

In a connection to Global News, Toyota Canada noted the theft occupation plagues the full car manufacture successful Canada.

“It’s a uniquely Canadian problem, arsenic it is simply a low-risk/high-reward accidental for organized transgression groups operating successful Canada,” the connection read. “Unfortunately, higher request for definite vehicles successful overseas markets leads to accrued targeting of these vehicles by criminals successful Canada.”

The institution said it has been taking a multi-tiered attack to support customers.

“We’re adapting exertion astatine a accelerated gait — passim the lifecycle of the conveyance — to rapidly respond to caller theft methods and tools,” the connection read. “This attack includes the redesign of vehicles to harden entree to captious systems and components, the deployment of caller connected services similar our stolen conveyance locator system, and the summation of caller onboard technologies to combat physics attacks connected vehicles.”

Police accidental the thieves are utilizing a wide assortment of tactics to bargain cars and trucks successful Canada specified arsenic relay and reprogramming technology, hacking into the onboard diagnostics and individuality fraud.

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The relay and reprogramming exertion seems to beryllium the astir prevalent concern successful Barrie and different areas.

“It would look that that cloning of the ignition strategy and rekeying is however the are being stolen arsenic galore victims are inactive successful possession of some sets of keys,” a connection from Barrie constabulary noted.

While determination are fiscal costs to having one’s conveyance stolen, Dean says the nonaccomplishment creates different issues for clients.

“It impacts the consumer’s intelligence authorities and health,” she said. “When you deliberation astir it, it’s a precise stressful concern to spell done that feeling of violation.”

Dean says her radical is lobbying the national authorities to guarantee that the borderline guards are paying arsenic adjacent attraction to items arsenic they permission the state arsenic they travel into the country.

Insurers person said a bulk of stolen vehicles are boosted from 2 provinces – Ontario and Quebec –before they interval distant from the state done the Port of Montreal. Two years ago, astir 1.3 cardinal shipping containers filled with goods, including 70 per cent of Canada’s ineligible conveyance exports, travelled done the port, larboard authorities said.

The IBC is besides looking to Transport Canada to set its argumentation surrounding anti-theft technology.

“The past update to that portion of authorities was successful 2007,” Dean said. “That’s agelong earlier a batch of exertion that we spot successful today’s cars. We request the rules and regulations tightened truthful that these things tin beryllium modular wrong vehicles.”

She noted that some the Ontario and Quebec governments person attempted to clamp down connected the contented of late.

While thieves volition ever look for ways to bargain vehicles determination are countermeasures owners tin instrumentality to support their sizable investment.

“We promote each owners to parkland indoors erstwhile imaginable oregon astatine slightest successful a well-lit area. Make definite doors and windows are closed and locked and utilize anti-theft devices specified arsenic a termination power oregon brake fastener to marque vehicles much hard to steal,” Tracey said.

Police successful Waterloo besides urge getting a tracking instrumentality for your vehicle. Such a instrumentality was precocious credited with helping Waterloo constabulary retrieve 20 stolen vehicles successful Hamilton.

They besides precocious released a video successful which a fishy brushed distant the snowfall from a motortruck model and past near aft spotting a tracking device.

The constabulary spokesperson successful Barrie besides recommended “adding a steering wheel-locking device. Park different car successful beforehand of your motortruck and ‘pin’ it if you can.”

*With files from The Canadian Press