Auto theft is falling, but few Canadians feel vehicles are secure: survey

Few Canadians have faith that new vehicles are secured against modern auto theft tactics, a new report suggests, with growing calls for governments and manufacturers to mandate stronger anti-theft measures.

The new auto theft impact survey released Tuesday by Équité Association, a non-profit anti-fraud organization, found just 18 per cent of respondents believe vehicles being sold today can withstand key fob attacks, reprogramming and other methods of bypassing security systems.

It also found nearly two-thirds of Canadians surveyed (64 per cent) are worried their vehicle may be stolen, despite Équité reporting a 33 per cent decline in auto theft across the country since 2023.

“Canadians are feeling vulnerable,” Bryan Gast, Équité’s national vice president of intelligence and investigative services, said in an interview.

“The decline (in auto thefts) is reflective of the efforts that have gone into place, but … all of that is reactionary. Vehicles are still being stolen. So to move to prevention, we need the vehicles to be harder to steal in the first place.”

The survey found 72 per cent of Canadians want those security measures built into vehicles during production, rather than sold to them as add-on products after purchase.

Sixty per cent said they want to see government mandates for manufacturers to implement advanced anti-theft technology, while 66 per cent called for a coordinated approach between governments, industry, law enforcement and vehicle owners themselves — the latter number up from 61 per cent in 2023.

Équité partnered with Angus Reid to survey 2,503 Canadian adults online in early June for the report.

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The survey comes after Équité published its annual analysis in February which found that, while auto thefts are declining from their peak earlier this decade, almost 47,000 vehicles were reported stolen last year and more than a third of those were never recovered.

That report noted auto thefts cost victims $900 million in 2025, with Gast noting stolen vehicles remain a big profit driver for organized criminals.

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Tuesday’s survey found 35 per cent of Canadians have either experienced auto theft themselves or know someone who has. Those numbers are highest in Ontario, at 40 per cent, particularly in the Greater Toronto Area (47 per cent) and Peel (61 per cent).

The federal government has sought to crack down on auto theft by launching a national action plan in 2024, following a cross-country summit on the issue that same year.

Ottawa’s new bail and sentencing reform bill, which became law last month, includes stricter measures specific to vehicle theft such as mandated consecutive sentences for violent offences. Obtaining bail will also be more difficult for those accused of violent or organized crime-related auto theft.

While increased law enforcement and border protection resources are starting to yield results, the action plan also called on Transport Canada to update the Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations to ensure vehicles are protected against modern theft tactics.

The department published the proposed amendments in December, which if adopted would update standards for required vehicle immobilization systems to protect against electronic attack tools, in line with United Nations regulations.

Équité, which has participated in consultations for the proposed amendments, is calling for the government to go even further by requiring cybersecurity testing for all new vehicles made and sold in Canada, something international regulations also call for.

“The vehicle is essentially a large computer now, with many components, and that’s how criminals are … basically able to steal the vehicle,” Gast said.

“They’re accessing the computer, and that’s what we’re calling for cybersecurity testing: make sure that it is secure from unauthorized access.”

Concerns about unauthorized access of vehicle computer systems have been raised amid the debate over the federal government’s deal to import a limited number of Chinese electric vehicles into Canada.

Industry and cybersecurity experts have called Chinese-made EVs “rolling spy vans” due to the potential for the Chinese government or Beijing-aligned hackers to obtain data collected through the vehicles’ software. However, those experts have noted the same vulnerabilities exist in vehicles made in the rest of the world — including Canada.

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Global News reached out to Transport Canada and Public Safety Canada for comment on the Équité survey, but did not receive a response prior to publication.

The federal government’s latest announcement on auto theft measures was a $1.6-million investment in three new anti-theft technologies being developed by Canadian companies.

The projects include an artificial intelligence-powered steering wheel lock that detects for tampering and an external switch that pairs with a driver’s smartphone to prevent unauthorized starts.

While Gast said such third-party add-on devices can play a helpful role in preventing thefts, they need to complement improved measures from manufacturers.

“Right now, a vehicle without any extra measures is extremely easy to steal,” he said. “And the after-market — whether it be immobilizer companies or tracking service companies — all of those things fill a gap, because it isn’t a quick change for manufacturers to correct vulnerabilities.”

Ottawa says the proposed vehicle safety regulation amendments are expected to cost manufacturers up to $800,000 to implement, primarily through engineering costs.

The Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association said in a publication on vehicle theft last year that its members “continually modernize and improve anti-theft measures to strengthen vehicle security for their customers,” and monitor for emerging threats by working with regulators and law enforcement.

The document called for a coordinated policy approach that ensures vehicle security measures aren’t undermined by “right to repair” laws, which manufacturers argue require access to data beyond what’s needed for repairs.

Gast emphasized the need for all stakeholders to work toward better security, something that’s reflected in the survey results.

“What we don’t want to have happen is to think, ‘Okay, we’ve had two years of decline (in auto thefts), problem solved,'” he said. ‘There’s still a significant problem.”