Antitheft measures?

That's the long game lol.

Anyways with Toyota any press is good press it seems. They're the #1 technical of choice in the third world? "Look how tough our trucks are!" They get stolen and sold overseas at stupidly high prices? "Some vehicles are in more demand than others, our vehicles are coveted by soccer moms and African warlords alike! Oh what a feeling!".

Nothing phases Toyota, they just don't care or in fact they love this reputation for being the Kalashnikov of trucks, they get off on it I swear.

 

Lol one of my old work buddies had a keypad pass code you need to unlock to start the car. It was on a Chevy Beretta so not sure who'd steal it but he did live in a bad part of town. Was mounted just in front of the shifter.

 

Professional car thieves don’t steal Tacoma’s lol they go for high end cars like Audi bmw Mercedes Ferrari .. how many professional car thieves are like I’m going to steal a Tacoma .. lol

 

Organized crime steal them and 4Runners and Lexus SUVs and flip them in Africa or the Middle East for double MSRP or more.

 

interesting, I thought the port/custom would at least inspect the cargo before allowing out of the country, probably organized crime bribed the port, or used fake paperwork for those stolen vehicles. That's messed up!

 

cool story .... chances are pretty slim .

 

You would think but as it turns out these guys have people everywhere, in the DMV, at the port of Montreal, possibly in Toyota/dealerships leaking VINs and addresses. Beyond messed up.

Also police are pointing at border services, border services are pointing at police. Federal police say it's not their problem. Just no one doing anything about it;

https://globalnews.ca/news/4297929/stolen-cars-export-canada/

 

back when i lived in Venezuela one of this custom vaults is what i had on my land cruiser, they were actually very convenient to use, bolts on the underside were welded so there is no quick way of getting it off without a key without spending a few hours and making a lot of noise

edit: attached the same picture twice

 

I now think you are wasting our time and yours too. I just did a simple google search:

 

...and another list from 2020 for Canada:

 

and before 2020, it was this:


Fords Everywhere!!! Not a damn mention of a Tacoma or a 4Runner.

 

Let's go to the US...

Hmmm, no mention of a Tacoma or a 4Runner here either... let me check something....

 

I'm going based on news from the last few months;

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toro...e-organized-crime-montreal-gta-cars-1.5833753

Since October, more than 80 SUVs — mainly Lexus and Toyota models — have been stolen in Peel Region.

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/it-took-t...icles-stolen-in-one-night-in-kanata-1.5259741

Ottawa Police are investigating and say the vehicles stolen were Toyota’s Highlander and Tacoma models.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/loca...than-200-high-end-lexus-toyota-stolen-in-2020

Another 35 newer model Lexus and Toyota SUVs and Tacoma trucks have been taken in 2021.

https://stittsvillecentral.ca/ottaw...ught-with-stolen-vehicles-one-in-stittsville/

particularly larger SUVs and 4Runners including the Tacoma still run the risk of being stolen from laneways and car dealerships.

------
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/loca...rucks-tracked-down-to-montreal-parking-garage

Interestingly it seems like the GPS app on newer models is actually worth a damn. My Taco doesn't have it but my 2021 T4R should;

Despite being stolen Sunday, Todd Thompson’s flashy red 2017 Toyota Tacoma truck will soon be back in his driveway.

Police told Thompson the chances were slim that his truck would be found.

“They told me it was probably already gone.”

But, unknown to Thompson, another Toyota Tacoma had been stolen minutes after his truck disappeared. The 2020 model possessed one feature Thompson’s truck didn’t — a built-in GPS tracking device.

“It’s because of that tracking device that we were eventually able to find the trucks,” Thompson said.

The two Tacomas, along with a Toyota 4Runner, were found in the Montreal Forum mall’s parking garage. All three were neatly parked on the third storey of the garage.

 

...so here in the US, there were over 200K Tacomas sold in 2017 and... wait for it... 221 have been stolen. 56 are suspected of insurance fraud lol.
So, the rate is around 1 in a 1000 of getting your truck stolen.

Let's chat....
Are those bad odds?
Well, you have a 1 in 1100 chance of drowning.
1 in 33 chance of developing skin cancer.
1 in 200 chance of getting murdered.
1 in 500 of a house fire.
1 in 3000 of getting hit by a meteorite.

So, you are 3X more likely to get hit by a meteorite than getting your Truck stolen.

Goodbye.

Wait...

One of only two articles I found. 200 total Toyotas? Really? Let's multiply that by 10 (as the US has 10X more people) and that makes 2000.
Compared to the US table I posted above, we get 4X more Jeeps stolen a year than all the Toyotas put together in Canada!
Now,
Goodbye.

 

You realize that California alone has more people than all of Canada right? These 200 thefts are just from a single city of 990K people. So multiple that by 37 (national population) = 7400 and then by ten for the population of the US = 74000

 

So...for a capitalist democracy like Canada, I assume that more stolen Tacomas will lead to more insurance payouts, and insurance companies will use their lobbying power to pressure the government to do something, and then lead to crack downs and procedures to curb auto thefts.
Seems like in Canada the organized crime "lobbying power" trumped insurance companies.

 

Sounds like someone needs to plan a stakeout...get the air-rifle or roden pellet gun primed and ready for some butt-cheek plinking...

 

Many of the stolen cars/trucks get exported to Eastern Block countries or South to Cartels.

Authorities are not equipped to inspect every container traversing through the ports. Some vehicles are being driven across the US/Mexio border.

Thieves collect $3-5,000/vehicle. This profit coupled with the misdemeanor laws is pushing car theft up. Big $$, low chance of getting pinched, minor consequence.

Until Insurance Co and the public get fed up......this trend will continue.

In truth, there is little that can be done to prevent the theft by the owner. Yes, there are actions which will slow the theft and make another vehicle an easier target.

 

It’s my limited understanding that professional thieves usually do not go for exotics. Those types of cars stick out due to limited production numbers and the buyers are usually dudes who only want to track them. I guess they could go overseas, but who would buy them? Parts are less risky and worth a ton.

 

Insurance companies just raise our premiums. So every Tacoma or 4Runner or Lexus owner gets dunked on because local/federal law enforcement can't figure out how to stage a sting operation. They literally know the port these things sail out of. Stakeouts, under cover work, bait cars, something. It's police work 101 but there's either no budget or interest for it.

The arrests they make are almost always the low level guys who either get off easy or are easily replaced by the Tony Soprano types masterminding this.

So then you figure the consumers should pressure Toyota right? Well I'm not boycotting Toyota and depriving myself just to make a stand that won't make any difference. Again, doesn't help that all of Toyota's competitors have basically given up on every challenging Toyota in any meaningful way, they are all allergic to making reliable body-on-frame 4x4s or something. This circles back to why thieves target Toyotas to begin with, no one overseas would want a POS Ram 1500, Tahoe or Colorado. Those things would last all of two weeks in the bush and are hardly worth the freight costs to send them over. It's a miracle GM and Dodge sell these things as it is.

So you got a perfect storm. Toyota is the only manufacturer who makes highly desirable sub-exotic vehicles, they are also one of the worst manufacturers for security measures, Canadian law enforcement and border control are either uninterested or unmotivated to do anything about this and insurance companies just pull their weight with consumers, who have no real alternative but to punish themselves by buying a Chevy.

At minimum Toyota could just export the Tacomas/4Runners and Lexus SUVs to Africa themselves and undercut the thieves. Apparently these trucks are so coveted because they are North American market only, which allows the thieves to ask stupid prices for them.