Why some cars sold in Canada are easier to steal than the same models in the U.K.

When Anuj Sethi's Range Rover was stolen from his driveway in 2021, he says police told him it was one of six cars stolen on the same night in his Oakville, Ont., neighbourhood.

He was shocked to learn his car may have been harder for thieves to steal if he'd bought it in the U.K.

"This is completely not right. Car manufacturers should have the same security features all around the world," said Sethi.

CBC's Marketplace reviewed a recent report by insurance industry non-profit Equité Association of the 10 most stolen vehicles in Canada. Of those 10, six were made for roads in Canada and the United Kingdom.

When Marketplace compared features on cars sold in the U.K. with those sold in Canada, it found those six models had additional security features in the U.K. that aren't offered on Canadian versions of the same car, which can make them harder to steal.

The 2024 U.K. models of the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Wrangler, Land Rover Range Rover, Lexus RX, Honda CR-V and Honda Civic all have tilt sensors and intrusion sensors, which do not come standard on Canadian versions of the same vehicles.

Another feature Marketplace learned is on all of the U.K. versions except the Jeep Wrangler is double locking. This feature was not on any of the Canadian models.

Despite a much smaller population than the U.K., Canada currently has a considerably higher rate of car theft, with 286.46 cars stolen for every 100,000 people, compared to just 155.96 per 100,000 people in the U.K., according to 2023 figures from Statistics Canada and the U.K.'s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.

Car theft hit its peak in the U.K. in 1992 with 620,000 thefts, but in 2016, there were just 91,000, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

Bryan Gast, who leads auto theft investigations for Canada's insurance industry, believes that the more than 85 per cent decline in U.K. theft rates over that period can, in part, be attributed to automakers having to meet what he describes as "some of the most stringent security standards in the world." 

While car theft rates have climbed back up in the U.K., Gast says cars sold in Canada remain far too easy to steal, and automakers need to do more to prevent the vehicle from being stolen in the first place.

"When you can steal a vehicle in less than 30 seconds, there's issues."

While tilt and intrusion sensors and the double locking feature Marketplace found on those U.K. models aren't likely on their own to prevent a car from being stolen, layers of security like those can make a car more secure and more of a challenge to steal, says Steve Launchbury, principal engineer for automotive security at Thatcham Research, an insurance industry funded centre. 

"We are certainly making it more and more difficult," said Launchbury.