A suite of effective anti-theft features are missing on cars manufactured in Canada—and it’s one of the reasons the crime has been on the rise throughout the country.
A recent CBC Marketplace investigation revealed that the U.K. models of some of the most-stolen vehicles, the Honda Civic or Jeep Wrangler, for example, come with better theft protection measures than their Canadian counterparts, such as tilt and intrusion sensors. This leaves Canadian consumers unfairly behind, says Elliott Silverstein, the manager of government relations at CAA South Central Ontario. “It comes down to the requirements the government has set out for manufacturers to comply with. The rules are a lot stronger and more in depth in Europe than they are in Canada,” he says.
CAA has been advocating for years to have standards updated, as Canada’s anti-theft legislation hasn’t been reviewed since 2007. “The biggest concern is time. Whenever there’s a manufacturing change, the question becomes, ‘What do we do now?’” says Silverstein. He noted that it’s urgent not just because legislation takes time, but so does manufacturing new cars or adding retroactive technology. And because not everyone will be able to buy a new model with updated anti-theft features.
At the National Summit on Combatting Auto-Theft back in February, Silverstein said the federal government made a commitment to update the legislation and reiterated that commitment this May, but has yet to provide further information.
As the CBC article noted, Canada has much higher car theft than the U.K., with 286.46 cars stolen for every 100,000 people, compared to 155.96 per 100,000 people. The U.K.’s reduction is a result of policy changes that took place over decades, Silverstein says, adding that manufacturers also need to be on board. “We need collaboration, and right now, we’re not seeing that fully from the manufacturers because they haven’t necessarily treated the challenges with the same urgency that others have.”
CAA has been working to spread awareness about products like after-market immobilizers (such as wheel or tire locks), which can help prevent theft in the interim, though Silverstein acknowledged “that’s not a long-term permanent solution because we’re not expecting consumers to have to pay more after paying a lot for a vehicle.”
There’s also potential in two-factor authentication, a technology most of us use in our daily lives for something as simple as email. “If we want to update our password on our favourite streaming service, we enter a six digit code,” he says. “But why is it that our second largest possession outside of our home has little to no security of that manner?”
Ultimately, Silverstein described car theft as “moving target” and stressed that it’s not a victimless crime. “At the end of the day, you still have a victim. It impacts your ability to get your family from point A to point B, or potentially do your job, not to mention the trauma of it. There’s a human impact that often gets forgotten.”
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