mblackuk

Hey all,

Was a miserable start to the year as my 2021 nx300h was stolen outside our house in London on the 8th Jan.
Luckily I had gap insurance and as it turned out it was a blessing in disguise.
I started in 2008 with an IS220 and then had an RX450 but moved to a place without a drive and they kept crashing into the RX so I downgraded the size a bit, still they kept hitting the car which is really annoying.
I decided for the first time to do a business contract hire through my company as it is a huge saving and went for the Takumi NX450h+ in sonic grey yesterday (nearly defected to Mercedes and went with a full electric since you only get taxed on 2% of the value of the car but i didn't like it or any of the other ones i tried, tesla, Audi etc. plugin hybrid is taxed on 8% of the value of the car in the UK) so now two weeks of waiting time before i get it.
Anyhow, wanted to ask regarding extra security, whether it's worth spending on a ghost alarm (tracker is useless as the police simply doesn't care and won't lift a finger to help).
Any recommendations or perhaps any other tips re this model would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,

Lexicon1

you may want to check the topic on the Rav4world website...

toyotaman7

Interesting how similar Canada is to England. I thought it was only in Canada.

I was just reading a very recent story about a person in Ontario, Canada that had their RX stolen few days ago, they tracked it and followed. Called police and were put on hold. Tow truck that was moving it to the container was there and police was still was not interested to check out the tow truck driver or do anything.

It almost seems like there is a smooth system setup to supply vehicles to overseas without any barriers.

Droid13

Yes, there have been multiple stories with similar outcomes. Another one about a man that had his pickup stolen, he had multiple trackers. He traced it to the cooling off area (where thieves leave it to see if it is tracked) but no response from police. He hounded authorities for days and finally, 17 days later someone actually came to retrieve it from a loaded container bound for some far off land. Some insurance companies here mandate 3rd party trackers for some vehicles, but not much help if no one does anything even if they can track it. But maybe getting slightly better, a bunch of people were arrested caught with almost 100 stolen cars. We'll see if they get 3 mths probation and promise not to be so naughty in the future. Car theft is actually becoming a top talking point in the run up to the next federal election here.

We try to do things politely in Canada. The thieves line up at the driveway to the dealerships and as you drive away with your brand new car, the thieves get in, take you home, wish you a good day and then drive your new car to the railyards for shipment to Asia or Africa. If you want to keep your vehicle, pick it up Friday or Saturday. Car thieves only work 4 days a week.

TheCDN

This is an incredibly frustrating subject for so many Toyota and Lexus owners here in Ontario. Some stories tell of multiple repeat thefts of cars and their replacements, leading to increased insurance premiums on the owners, just to add salt to their wounds! It seems absolutely ridiculous how easy it is to break into one of today's highly sophisticated cars. I mean an iPhone has face recognition, fingerprint technology, 2 factor id confirmation, passwords etc. but engineers waist little time developing ways to prevent theft of your second biggest purchase you will make in your life.

Apparently anything that will take more time to slow down the act of stealing the car will help, things like 'The Club' which is a steering wheel locking bar is said to be quite effective and it's cheap too!

lsft

Hope this video helps. But Canbus attack is just one attack. They can still use the OBD port to program a key or other methods.

JasDmw

After our 22 RX 350 was stolen from the Park N Fly @ Toronto Airport, we replaced it almost a year ago with our NX350h. We are still traumatized, wondering of the car will be there when we get back to it after an outing. We bought a steering wheel lock that has a combination lock instead of the key lock The Club has. Lots of You tube videos showing how easily the lock cylinder can be drilled out.

Agree that the manufacturers all need to step up. There is a meeting in Ottawa today. But knowing our Government, nothing much will come from that. My insurance went up this year as I'm sure everyone's has. This needs to be addressed on a number of fronts including much more severe consequences for the thieves. But as you state, they have a lot of smart Engineers at these companies. They should be able to integrate some tech into the cars to circumvent this rampant problem. Canada is recognized as a supplier of choice for stolen cars worldwide. This has to change.

TheCDN

I'm living in southern Ontario as well, and am constantly worried of theft too! We keep our vehicle in our garage all the time when not being used. I have security cameras on my home facing the road, I take extra precautions when choosing my trips and where I park etc. We had our insurance rate go up by 33% for our '22 NX350h at our 2023 renewal date! That's with bundled policies, 5+ years of clean driving records, and group insurance discounts all helping to reduce our final bill! Simply put, that money could have gone into increased purchase price of my vehicle ONE TIME with better antitheft tech, not every year to my insurer. Auto insurance rates in Ontario are the highest in Canada. My agent confirmed that as we own one of the 'sought after' vehicles by thieves, this primarily has resulted in our rate increase.

Droid13

I was just reading up a bit on the news articles about the car theft topic being discussed today by top Govt officials. I just about fell out of my chair laughing (soon to follow by crying when the reality of this sinks in) when I read that the Minister of Justice govt assigned Toyota Highlander XLE has now been stolen 3 times. Wow. Some serious butt kicking needs to be done, not sure how much of this is for show or (and I'm not holding my breath) something will actually get done.

Billst

CANBUS attack - protect with Croton Oil (look it up )