Japanese Cars Hot In America

[Mulboyne]

Kyodo via Japan Today: Honda's 1995 Civic model most-stolen car in U.S. in 2004
Honda Motor Co's 1995 Civic [above left] was the most-stolen car in the United States in 2004...Toyota Motor Corp's 1989 Camry model [above centre] was the second most-stolen car, followed by Honda's 1991 Accord [above right]. The report says the number of stolen cars in the United States during 2004 came to 1,237,114 units, meaning a car was stolen in every 25.5 seconds.

[kurohinge1]

Great photo, Mulboyne-san.

That's exactly how their owners last saw them.

[IkemenTommy]

The problem with this another same report that's been floating around is that it won't say why the car was stolen. No one knows whether the cars were stolen because they were hot sought after items or because those Japanese cars have poor security features and easily stolen by theives, or both.

[Greji]

The problem with this another same report that's been floating around is that it won't say why the car was stolen. No one knows whether the cars were stolen because they were hot sought after items or because those Japanese cars have poor security features and easily stolen by theives, or both.

They go after the big sellers. The bad guys are so sophisticated now that they can defeat any lock and security system. It's simply a matter of selecting the car that they know will bring them the most money.

So security systems are simply an inconvenience, not a deterrent. However, having said that and noting you can't stop a career crook from stealing your car if he wants it, the security systems are still needed to keep the amateurs at bay.

[IkemenTommy]

Then shouldn't cars like Lexus or Mercedes give them better payout? I wouldn't be messing with a little Civic if I were a thief. I'd go for the big bad boys.

[Greji]

Then shouldn't cars like Lexus or Mercedes give them better payout? I wouldn't be messing with a little Civic if I were a thief. I'd go for the big bad boys.

Quanity not quality!

They have recently broken several big rings stealing cars for shipment from J-land to overseas locales, HK, mainland China, SEA and Russia. A lot of entertainers known for their fancy gaisha were victimized.

Of course, the FG's were depicted as the main perps!
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/features/life2004/fl20041019a1.htm
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=2&id=351652&page=7

[FG Lurker]

I read this somewhere else too... The main reason these models top the lists seems to be that these cars sold millions and millions of units. So many out there = lots stolen.

Something showing numbers of stolen cars vs number of registered cars for a given model would be a lot more revealing.