The question is how far is this trend spreading?
A report from CTV News in Canada is shedding a light on the trend of Ram truck theft in Ontario, particularly the York Region. Like what we’ve seen in other Canadian car theft rashes, thieves are targeting Rams which are left overnight in a driveway, although they’re also hitting airport parking lots and other areas.
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CTV News says demand for newer Ram pickups has increased overseas, driving the demand for stolen models. We’ve covered before how thieves will often swipe cars from Canada as well as the eastern US and load them into shipping containers, often stacking other items to hide the contraband from authorities. From there the containers are shipped to Africa or the Middle East and the vehicles are sold for a tidy profit.
We’ve seen Stellantis vehicles, mostly Dodges, Jeeps, Chryslers, and Rams, targeted by thieves in the US quite a bit over the past three-plus years. While Dodge has released a software security update for higher-powered Chargers and Challengers, it seems like the problem is just getting worse. In fact, thieves are even hitting the factory storage lots.
Thieves will carry around devices that allow them to reprogram the ignition in a vehicle to pair it with a new key fob they also have on hand. They also practice getting into these vehicles without attracting too much attention, something that’s far easier in the middle of the night.
We’ve seen law enforcement agencies suggest everything from using a steering wheel club to having a kill switch installed in a vehicle to protect against this kind of theft. Even better is parking inside a locked garage at night, although we’ve also seen vehicles stolen in broad daylight.
Ultimately, this is the price that’s paid for the convenience of push-button ignitions, a technology we question should even be in any vehicle. But car thieves are a determined and resourceful lot, with some figuring out how to steal certain Kias and Hyundais using a phone charging cord, so it could be worse.
Images via YouTube
