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

A man was watching TV in Guelph, Ont., around 4 a.m. on Thursday morning when police say he heard a noise outside of his home.

He went outside to see what was going on and found that someone was driving off with his Toyota Tundra.

The man was not alone in his loss. Ten Tundras have been stolen in Guelph since Nov. 1 while thieves have also taken a crack at stealing eight others, according to local police.

Police services in southern Ontario are reporting similar crimes. Waterloo Region said there have been 12 thefts and attempted thefts of Tundras while Barrie reported 10 thefts since Jan. 1.

“There are certainly trends that come and go, and criminals might target certain vehicles just because they have a market for them,” said Amanda Dean, vice-president of Ontario and Atlantic for the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

But both police and the insurance industry representatives say the Tundras are not alone in being targeted by thieves.

A couple of Tundras have gone missing in the New Tecumseth area over the past month while between Jan. 23 and Jan. 28, four trucks went missing, including a Tundra, two Dodge Rams and a Ford F-150 Raptor.

“It’s not necessarily specific to Tundras,” said Nottawasaga OPP Const. McKayla Cotey. “New luxury vehicles are being targeted as they can provide higher rates of profit.”

Cotey also said more common vehicles are being stolen, as well,  as they may be resold or used in the commission of other crimes. But Dean figures that a large portion of the vehicles are headed out of the country.

“The vast majority are being sent to overseas markets and resold or used in whatever manner,” she said. “There is a portion of vehicles that do stay within the province and within the country.”

Équité Association, a national organization focused on insurance crime and fraud, publishes an annual list of the most-stolen cars in Canada. In 2023, it reported the 2021 Toyota Highlander was the most stolen vehicle, with 3,414 reported thefts.

The Dodge Ram was second on the list with a  reported 3,078 vehicles. Rounding out the top five were the Lexus RX series, the Honda CR-V and the Toyota Rav-4.

The prominence of Toyotas on the list is similar to what police are seeing in Guelph.

“I am not aware why Toyotas are particularly popular right now, but we have noted Toyotas (and related Lexus vehicles) have been the most commonly stolen brands in Guelph for the past two years, when considering thefts believed to be tied to organized crime,” Guelph police spokesperson Scott Tracey told Global News.

In a statement to Global News, Toyota Canada noted the theft problem plagues the entire auto industry in Canada.

“It’s a uniquely Canadian problem, as it is a low-risk/high-reward opportunity for organized crime groups operating in Canada,” the statement read. “Unfortunately, higher demand for certain vehicles in overseas markets leads to increased targeting of these vehicles by criminals in Canada.”

The company said it has been taking a multi-tiered approach to protect customers.

“We’re adapting technology at a rapid pace — throughout the lifecycle of the vehicle — to quickly respond to new theft methods and tools,” the statement read. “This approach includes the redesign of vehicles to harden access to critical systems and components, the deployment of new connected services like our stolen vehicle locator system, and the addition of new onboard technologies to combat electronic attacks on vehicles.”

Police say the thieves are using a wide variety of tactics to steal cars and trucks in Canada such as relay and reprogramming technology, hacking into the onboard diagnostics and identity fraud.

The relay and reprogramming technology seems to be the most prevalent situation in Barrie and other areas.

“It would appear that that cloning of the ignition system and rekeying is how the are being stolen as many victims are still in possession of both sets of keys,” a statement from Barrie police noted.

While there are financial costs to having one’s vehicle stolen, Dean says the loss creates other issues for clients.

“It impacts the consumer’s mental state and health,” she said. “When you think about it, it’s a very stressful situation to go through that feeling of violation.”

Dean says her group is lobbying the federal government to ensure that the border guards are paying as close attention to items as they leave the country as they come into the country.

Insurers have said a majority of stolen vehicles are boosted from two provinces – Ontario and Quebec –before they float away from the country through the Port of Montreal. Two years ago, around 1.3 million shipping containers filled with goods, including 70 per cent of Canada’s legal vehicle exports, travelled through the port, port authorities said.

The IBC is also looking to Transport Canada to adjust its policy surrounding anti-theft technology.

“The last update to that piece of legislation was in 2007,” Dean said. “That’s long before a lot of technology that we see in today’s cars. We need the rules and regulations tightened so that these things can be standard within vehicles.”

She noted that both the Ontario and Quebec governments have attempted to clamp down on the issue of late.

While thieves will always look for ways to steal vehicles there are countermeasures owners can take to protect their sizable investment.

“We encourage all owners to park indoors when possible or at least in a well-lit area. Make sure doors and windows are closed and locked and utilize anti-theft devices such as a kill switch or brake lock to make vehicles more difficult to steal,” Tracey said.

Police in Waterloo also recommend getting a tracking device for your vehicle. Such a device was recently credited with helping Waterloo police recover 20 stolen vehicles in Hamilton.

They also recently released a video in which a suspect brushed away the snow from a truck window and then left after spotting a tracking device.

The police spokesperson in Barrie also recommended “adding a steering wheel-locking device. Park another car in front of your truck and ‘pin’ it if you can.”

*With files from The Canadian Press