Heavy traffic leaves the downtown core in Toronto on Jan. 14, 2021.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
I’ve read about the increase in car thefts and see that some insurance companies are charging an additional $500 in premiums for cars more likely to be stolen. I haven’t seen electric cars on any of those most-stolen lists. Does that mean EVs are harder to steal? – Kelly, Toronto
Thieves could likely steal most EVs if they wanted to – but when it comes to car theft, it’s “all about supply and demand,” an expert said.
“Any push-to-start vehicle is capable of being stolen, but it depends on what’s in demand overseas – [thieves] have a shopping list,” said Bryan Gast, vice-president of investigative services at Équité Association, an anti-fraud non-profit established by a group of Canadian insurance companies. “When it comes to EVs, there’s not a high demand for EVs in West Africa because there’s not the infrastructure to charge them there. What’s being stolen are [gas-powered] SUVs and pickup trucks.”
There’s another reason electric vehicles aren’t stolen as often: While EVs are growing in popularity, there still aren’t very many compared with gas cars. That means a lower supply for thieves.
For example, as of 2021, the most recent Statistics Canada numbers available, there were 152,685 registered battery-electric cars on Canadian roads. That comprised only about 0.6 per cent of the country’s more than 24 million registered passenger vehicles.
Car thefts up in 2022
With worldwide shortages of new and used cars, car theft has become a big business, Gast said.
In 2022, car thefts increased 50 per cent in Quebec, more than 48 per cent in Ontario, more than 34 per cent in the Atlantic provinces and more than 18 per cent in Alberta, Gast said.
According to a report by the Canadian Finance and Leasing Association, a car is stolen every six minutes in Canada.
Here’s how to protect your car against theft
“In 2022, there was over $1-billion in losses [from theft],” Gast said. “Organized crime has moved into this space and the majority of thefts in Ontario and Quebec are being stolen for export to West Africa, [other regions of] Africa and the Middle East.”
Before the pandemic, the most commonly stolen vehicles tended to be cars built before 2007, when Transport Canada started requiring engine immobilizers – which require a key or a fob to start the car – to prevent hot-wiring.
But that is changing, Gast said. Last year, the 2016-2021 Honda CR-V was the most stolen vehicle in Canada – with more than 4,100 reported stolen.
Thieves using tech
Thieves can use two ways to steal newer cars that have a push-button start. With the first method, thieves break into your car and plug a laptop into your car’s onboard diagnostic port under the steering column. Then they use software, which is available online, to program a blank fob to start your car. To deter potential thieves from hacking into your port, you could install a port lock, Gast said.
The other method is a wireless relay attack, where thieves don’t even need to break into your car – they can open it from your driveway, Gast said. They use a device to scan the signal from your keyless fob, which most people leave near the front door. Then they can quickly create a cloned fob that lets them get into your car and start it, Gast said.
To thwart this method, consider keeping your fob in a Faraday box or bag that blocks electromagnetic signals.
“They’ve got the tech now to steal your car in less than a minute,” Gast said. “They’re very brazen and very quick. Most thefts used to be between two and five in the morning and now they’re happening in the middle of the day.”
While some cars are harder to steal than others – for instance, some car companies let you turn off the fob’s signal when you’re not using it, Gast said – thieves adapt quickly if there’s a demand for a vehicle.
Nothing stays theft-proof forever, he said. Last year, a security researcher in Austria developed a way to break into a Tesla remotely.
Gast wants Transport Canada to update Canada’s Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations to make all vehicles tougher to steal.
“Back in 2007 [when Ottawa started requiring immobilizers], we didn’t even have the iPhone in Canada yet,” he said. “We have a lot to catch up on.”
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