Its the endemic, chronic weakness of door and ignition locks, and the woefully small total number of key combinations used by the subcontractors who make the locksets for the Japanese manufacturers which cause the theft spike for the rice burners.

Sort of an additional example - if one is needed - of the dedication Toyota, for example, puts into assuring the safety of its vehicles.

Ninety nine percent hype, 1 % reality.

Go by NHTSA recall.

The top ten stolen vehicles in Iowa were Fords, Dodges, Chevrolets and Pontiacs -- must have sealed off the junkyards in the Midwest.

junkyards in the Midwest

Is this expression not a redundancy?

Theft rate is also related to the longevity of a given model in the marketplace, and the interchangeability of parts. That's why the Ford F150 is on the list.

As the first poster said, it was a shortcoming of the key designs. I had an old nissan key that would operate any of the three nissans that my family had back in the early 90s. You could literally file the high points of a key down and get into just about any car of the same make.

Before these, it was 80s Nissans/Datsuns. It's because those particular models are easier to hot wire. People don't steal cars because they need a dependable ride; most stolen cars are used for a single ride. It's typical to find stolen PDX cars in eastern Oregon and California.

The theft rate of 1990s Japanese cars is also driven by the demand for used parts.

My solution is to own cars nobody wants to steal. A Ford Escort wagon? I might as well leave it unlocked. AMC Pacer? Get real. Smart cabrio? I admit, it does get locked -- at least when the top's up -- but most joyrider thieves wouldn't touch it for fear of getting laughed at, and considering how hard a sell they are, I can't imagine the black-market demand makes it interesting to pros. Might as well steal a BMW Z4, they're a dime a dozen around town.

So what is the police department's clearance rate for auto theft in Portland? Anyone know?

Bluecollar - the better question is what is the difference of the clearance rate for vehicles stolen from the general public and those stolen from the popo (there were at least 2 such thefts in the news in the last year)