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Though Honda rounded out the top two spots, the vehicles making the 2011 list were evenly split with five belonging to foreign brands and five to U.S. automakers, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) Hot Wheels report.
The report examines vehicle theft data submitted by law enforcement to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and determines the vehicle make, model and model year most reported stolen in 2011.
The most popular models among the domestic brands were Ford, Dodge and Chevrolet pickup trucks each holding one spot with the Dodge Caravan and Ford Explorer rounding out the domestic models.
For 2011, the most stolen vehicles* in the nation were:
1. 1994 Honda Accord
2. 1998 Honda Civic
3. 2006 Ford Pickup (Full Size)
4. 1991 Toyota Camry
5. 2000 Dodge Caravan
6. 1994 Acura Integra
7. 1999 Chevrolet Pickup (Full Size)
8. 2004 Dodge Pickup (Full Size)
9. 2002 Ford Explorer
10. 1994 Nissan Sentra
The report examines all theft data without regard to a vehicle’s insured status − if a vehicle was reported stolen to law enforcement, it is captured in this report.
Once again, 2011 is on track to continue the national vehicle theft decline. Preliminary 2011 FBI crime statistics indicate a 3.3 percent reduction from the 737,142 thefts recorded in 2010. Vehicle thefts have not been this low since 1967.
“While overall thefts continue to decline, we are seeing a trend toward increases in the thefts of late model vehicles − ones that are theoretically harder to steal due to sophisticated key code technology,” said NICB President and CEO Joe Wehrle.
“Today’s vehicle thieves are typically professional criminals who have figured out how to get the key code for a specific vehicle, have a replacement key made, and steal the vehicle within a matter of days. We are aware of nearly 300 thefts that took place in the first three months of this year in which we believe replacement keys using illegally obtained key codes were used to steal the vehicle. We are working closely with our member companies, law enforcement, and the vehicle manufacturers to track these illegal key code transactions and stop the thefts or recover the stolen vehicles before they can be resold here or shipped out of the country to be sold overseas.”
* This report reflects stolen vehicle data reported to NCIC in 2011. No further filtering of information is conducted (i.e., determining the total number of a particular make and model currently registered in the U.S. for comparison purposes). For purposes of this report, full size pickups include half ton and larger capacity models for all makes.