An 'unstealable' car? How a Toronto man defeated car thieves 9 times

As a wave of car thefts sweeps over Ontario, one Toronto driver stands out as an exception.

As a wave of car thefts sweeps over Ontario, one Toronto driver stands out as an exception.

Surveillance video shows thieves have tried to steal this driver’s 2018 Grand Cherokee at least nine times in the last six months, but spun their wheels each time.

And in one incident, special security measures the driver installed delayed the thieves until the police could arrive. An officer took one of them down after a chase through a North York street.

“I wouldn’t say it’s unstealable, but it’s pretty close,” said the driver in an interview. “I’m confident it’s not going to get stolen.”

CTV News Toronto isn’t identifying the driver, because he doesn’t want the people targeting his truck to target him further.

Police across southern Ontario are warning of a rash of thefts involving certain brands, usually through copying the signal that the car’s key fob emits, or convincing a car that a dummy fob owned by thieves is actually the driver’s own fob.

Statistics show how powerful those techniques are: there are 54 vehicles stolen in Toronto and Peel Region each day in 2023 — a figure up by roughly 45 per cent from a year ago.