After the Prius in 2021, another Toyota model, the RAV4, won the uncoveted title of most stolen car in France last year, according to the annual ranking published by Auto Plus.
A second consecutive title… but for a less coveted trophy: that of the most stolen car in France. After the Prius in 2021, another Toyota model won the prize last year, the RAV4, according to Auto Plus annual ranking published this Friday, February 17.
A “magic enclosure” to steal a RAV4?
Toyota’s SUV is at the top of the ranking, with 240 thefts for 10,000 insured vehicles. With the explanation, a rather simple but surprising process to steal the RAV4 and other models including its high-end brand Lexus, such as the NX, second in the ranking, with a rate of 83 thefts for 10,000 units.
“A nomadic enclosure signed JBL would be able to open Toyota and Lexus in a few seconds. In truth, it is a decoy, which houses a hacking kit dedicated to certain models of the Japanese firm”, explains Auto Plus.
“A system sold under the coat a few thousand euros, but so effective that it will arouse vocations among all budding thugs”, can we read in the magazine.
Toyota Rav4, Lexus NX, Audi A3
May the owners of fifth-generation RAV4 (the one sold since 2018) be reassured, however: “last October, the gendarmerie will eventually bring down the criminal networks which imported the famous ‘magic’ enclosure”, continues the magazine.
The rest of the ranking is less surprising, with fairly popular models in France, such as the Renault Mégane 4, in fifth place (38 flights for 10,000), or the Toyota CH-R and Peugeot 3008 (9th ex-aequo, at 29 flights).
Flights on the rise
More worryingly, Auto Plus points out that the number of thefts rose sharply last year, with 134,000 thefts recorded in total, once morest 127,700 in 2021, a jump of 9%.
“This year, for the first time since 2016, there is an upsurge in thefts which is explained in particular by the famous mouse thefts”, explains on the microphone of BFMTV Nicolas Bernard, editor-in-chief of Auto Plus.
“The era of master locksmiths to pick cars is over, today there are computer systems, electronics, which are increasingly easy to handle. The first comer can steal your car just by having bought a device on the internet”, he continues.
This gives an impressive figure of 360 thefts every day or 15 stolen cars per hour. Sometimes with formidable electronic theft techniques, thanks to “more and more sophisticated tools, which allow them to seize a vehicle in less than 3 minutes, even, on certain models, in barely 40 seconds”, explains the specialized magazine.
There are parades. “When you have a car that is fragile and/or prized by thieves, the ideal is a closed car park. When you don’t have one, there are old-fashioned methods, for example a cane on the steering wheel, they slow down thieves because when they arrive with a computer and a mouse, but not at all with a screwdriver, they see that and leave”, advises Nicolas Bernard.
