Any Canadian owners (Ideally in Ontario / Toronto area) can chime in on break-ins?

[gsolo]

I went on vacation last February and flew out of Toronto. Got back after a week in the Rockies and found that my Landcruiser was stolen about 1.5 hours after I parked it.

I won’t even drive my vehicle in Canada again. Which is a something because I live in NY about an hour away from the border.

It’s a huge problem up there and the police couldn’t have cared less. To be fair to them, they said that there is no backing from the govt to address it.

Fuck trudeau.

The new 2026 model has added a "Motion Sensor Alarm". I wonder if that might help deter theft? I tried looking for information about this feature in the 2026 owners manual but could not find anything.
Although I am far from Toronto, I am considering having the TAG system installed and plan to purchase a steering wheel club for my Land Cruiser when it arrives.

I may misunderstand the TAG thing… but in my opinion, it's completely worthless if the car finds itself somewhere in Africa. I doubt that someone would care if a part or a truck is tagged. They know where it’s coming from.....

Many alarm systems have sensors, including the hood and tilt. So it may scare off a thief in some cases.

 

[LCNorth]

I may misunderstand the TAG thing… but in my opinion, it's completely worthless if the car finds itself somewhere in Africa. I doubt that someone would care if a part or a truck is tagged. They know where it’s coming from.....

Many alarm systems have sensors, including the hood and tilt. So it may scare off a thief in some cases.

The idea behind the Tag is that as soon as you notice the vehicle stolen, you report it to Tag and then the Tag people locate the vehicle. They have staff to look for it all over Canada. When they find it (visually, in-person), they report the location to Police and sit on it until the cops come and get it. There was an article in the news about how the cops didn't come one time for 8 hours, but that was an exception.

This is why thieves typically steal the vehicle and take it to a 'cooling off' location: to see if anyone comes to get it. They assume there could be trackers in it, because they can't be sure they found all of them. (Tag hides 5 in your vehicle and even they don't keep a record of where they are.)

The Tag folks usually find the vehicle while it's in the cooling off location. I'm pretty sure the funding model includes payments from insurance companies. It costs them a heck of a lot less in a claim to get the vehicle back quickly and just pay for whatever minimal damage was done taking it. The longer it is in thieves' hands, the more damage is done to it as they prepare to ship it overseas.

I plan on getting the Tag done at some point, and I have a Club to be an obvious deterrent. And I will take one of my other cars to the GTA if I'm going that way. Beyond that, well, that's what insurance is for.

 

[Lounge Alot]

I'm in Sauga and no issues in nine months parking at home or around town. I intentionally try to park in bright open spots and leave it dirty and dumpy and did not dress it up in fancy stuff other than slapping an anti-theft decal on the back which probably makes the difference...

Keep calm and carry on and with a search you'll find Canada's rate at 265 / 100K is lower that many and falling in 2025.... for comparison according to the NICB's Vehicle Theft Trends report Washington, D.C. had a rate of 1,149.71 thefts per 100,000 people, a 64% increase year over year. This pushed Colorado, which had a rate of 583.25, out of the top spot. Nevada, with a theft rate of 572.70, rounded out the top three.

 

[J44]

which ilga system specifically? they have a few

IGLA pro 231

 

[naanpizza]

I'm in Sauga and no issues in nine months parking at home or around town. I intentionally try to park in bright open spots and leave it dirty and dumpy and did not dress it up in fancy stuff other than slapping an anti-theft decal on the back which probably makes the difference...

Ah, thanks! I'm in sauga too. Do you mind if I ask what area you're in? And what decal did you add?

 

[jpto]

I may misunderstand the TAG thing… but in my opinion, it's completely worthless if the car finds itself somewhere in Africa. I doubt that someone would care if a part or a truck is tagged. They know where it’s coming from.....

Many alarm systems have sensors, including the hood and tilt. So it may scare off a thief in some cases.

TAG can actually get the police to come recover the stolen car vs an individual calling in about their airtag. TAG claims a 99%+ recovery rate.

TAG is pretty shifty (rightfully so) about the tracking technology they use but it's more precise than airtags and apparently resistant to jamming.

I'm guessing they're using cell based/radio tracking for a general location layered with RFID tracking for a precise location.

 

[Lounge Alot]

Do you mind if I ask what area you're in? And what decal did you add...

Meadowvale. Just joking around about the decal... was thinking that slapping a Bronco logo on the rear might be an anti-theft device! But maybe Bronco is a high-theft vehicle too.

One note: the LC insurance was quite a bit cheaper than my pickup as pickups have higher theft rates. I got a neighbour on Peel Police and they said the worst theft targets are overnight and full day parking lots like YYZ and GO stations. They pointed me to to this webpage for tips: Protecting Yourself and Your Property I am looking at an IGLA but just hate adding more crap to an already complicated vehicle.

 

[ultane]

Here ya go.. This decal might help.. (seen on the back of a four runner from Idaho)

 

[dubel]

I had a Mustang stolen years ago with an expensive immobilizer alarm on it. I had parked in the Dadeland Mall garage and it was gone in under half an hour. Police said the thieves likely just towed it away. No one questions a tow and they can just claim someone called it in. It was found stripped and worthless a few weeks later. Total loss and it wasn't even a nice mustang. If you live in a high theft area it's not worth owning a sought after vehicle. If you are traveling to a high theft area it's best to rent a car.

The thieves either successfully steal your vehicle or do considerable damage attempting to. Either way you are left with a deductible and a major inconvenience.

 

[HammerTheWall]

Before you know it, these LCs will pop up in your nearest Middle East conflict with an M2 mounted on that First Edition roof rack.

That won't happen...drops gas milage by 2mpg.

 

[naanpizza]

Meadowvale

Ohh nice, I'm in the Erin Mills area, pretty much right there. That makes me think maybe I can get away with the LC and not get it stolen haha. Do you park in the garage overnight? I don't have garage access thats the only issue

 

[Lounge Alot]

> Do you park in the garage overnight?

Would say about 50% the rest of the time I have stuff in the garage and have to leave the LC outside. Nothing to do with the LC but for the driveway I follow the Peel Police recommendations for vehicles outside... park the beater behind the LC, have a bright motion light and a security camera panning over the area.

 

[dato6966]

From my research, Toyota UK is offering a CAN bus protection solution called the "Toyota CAN BUS Gateway Blocker," which is a hardware device designed to prevent the CAN invader theft method by isolating the ECU from the rest of the vehicle CAN network when the ignition is off. The cost quoted by a dealer for this blocker is around £325 for the part, with additional fitting fees not specified, This blocker requires installation by a Toyota main dealer and is intended to enhance vehicle security against CAN bus electronic theft attacks.

This solution has been rolling out since around 2023, mostly for models pre-2022 that are vulnerable, and it is available through Toyota UK's service network. It seems from limited information that it also is fitted to the Land Cruiser. Maybe it's time to start putting pressure on Toyota-North America for this since there is clearly a problem and Toyota UK (& maybe elsewhere is addressing the issue). The other bigger question is since Toyota knows how to block this type of theft, why isn't it automatically installed at the factory? Presumably cost but my insurance premium increase, as one of the most stolen vehicles would far outweigh this cost.

I'm currently using a heavy duty steering wheel lock for SUVs - and other security at home but investigating other measures that can be layered on to what I've done

Of interest is the recent thefts in Japan - yet Toyota seems deaf to the problem

Position	Model	Thefts In H1 2025	Thefts In H1 2024
1	Toyota Land Cruiser	765	590
2	Toyota Prius	289	287
3	Toyota Alphard	191	303
4	Lexus RX	141	80
5	Lexus LX	120	112
6	Toyota Crown Series	107	44
7	Toyota Hiace	97	60
8	Lexus LS	55	44
9	Toyota Harrier	50	17
10	Suzuki Carry	43	44

 

[J44]

Bad day….. had my LC for a year now…. I travel (fly) every month, for work from Toronto. I pay to park my LC at the Premium parking at Toronto airport , a separated gated area with in the main parking. I park close to the main, well lite elevators area, can clearly see lots of cameras. I landed tonight after 3 days away, passenger rear window broken in, my key will not work, driver door opens and my dash on the left side has been ripped out. Nothing in my truck has been taken , tools socket set, odds and ends. I have the IGLA immobilizer installed. I think what happened they came through the window and hooked up the laptop to the OBD port, got it started, put in reverse and the immobilizer kills the motor… I think they then started looking for a kill switch , took a crow bar to my far right dash board, area with fog light switch, and busted it all,out. So when I get to it today the battery is so dead, can’t do anything, like open doors etc. Cops came, a tow truck driver really good, showed me, under the hood on the passenger side remove the lid to the fuse area, and there is a positive “red” terminal to jump your battery, positive to the red terminal and ground to raw metal close by. Got it started, put garbage bags on window, drove home will deal with window and dash tomorrow.

 

[APIOQM]

Damn, sorry to hear that. At least you can take a bit of joy knowing how pissed they must have been when they weren’t able to drive away with it. Those immobilizers really do work.

 

[J44]

Damn, sorry to hear that. At least you can take a bit of joy knowing how pissed they must have been when they weren’t able to drive away with it. Those immobilizers really do work.

Thank you, yea what sucks is the alarm must of being going off for along time to totally kill the battery and no one comes to check it out.

 

[dato6966]

I'm in the Ottawa area & installed the 41.22 Kill Switch last summer. My thinking at the time was I'd sooner have the vehicle unable to start than have a tracker that finds it after the theft. The car I had a couple of years ago was a favourite to be stolen. Sure enough right out of the driveway it got taken and recovered only a few km's away crashed into a ditch with $14k damage which was all cosmetic. Insurance wouldn't write it off as for some reason the airbags hadn't gone off - if they had it would have been a write-off. Got the car back all fixed - many months later as this was COVID time, with OEM parts and went to trade it. CarFax showed it as a stolen recovery and dealers all immediately took 50% off the trade value so it went from $48k down to under $30k was finally the best offer. To my thinking after that experience I'd sooner not have the vehicle recovered because as a theft recovery you take a beating at resale time & I'd sooner deter the theft by immobilizing the vehicle so they can't take it. If they do damage then insurance calls it vandalism not theft & the damage is likely to be minimal. However, just got my new insurance quote for the LC and there's now a $500 extra charge this year as it's a high theft vehicle because I don't have an insurance approved tagging system installed. The insurance subsidizes the approved system and it costs $400 & then they remove the extra insurance charge. I'm adding this extra layer of "protection" but still will have the 41.22 Kill Switch as the 1st line of defence - plus a bar on the steering wheel - and if it gets stolen I'll be hoping it's a write-off or can't be found.

 

[gsolo]

IGLA does work. However, if it’s only the Toyota alarm, we wouldn’t even know if it went off.

With an aftermarket alarm, you can add additional sensors for glass breakage, hood opening, vehicle tilting, etc. Plus it screams much much louder (like really loud).

You can also block the OBD port, though I’m not sure how effective that really is — it looks like just two screws to remove. Mine came preinstalled by the dealer, so it might still be something to consider.

Plus, an extra blinking light can help deter temptation — fingers crossed that it’s enough.

 

[Lounge Alot]

Yeah, had my LC taken from peel Heartland in a busy parking lot in the middle of the day, fully witnessed and on camera ~4 minutes total theft time, same scenario, break window, pull back switch panel by left knee for CAN BUS access. It had a TAG so tracked it to QC. but got caught up in the "Chickadee" take down. So much mishandling and no parts, months later still no wheels and this theft scenario won't be fixed until TSS 4.0 Arene (search that post) so moving on.

Police on the ball and learned a lot from the car theft team: people hired everywhere to spot and tag high-resale-value cars, once a week of thefts lined up "vacationers" arrive to steel and then leave, then corrupt shippers hired to move them across borders. Big operations and repeat thefts are common. Also corruption on the recovery side with auction buy backs: check out COPART and ADESSA ~30 LC up for auction on any given week.

 

[gsolo]

Interesting... also, technically, if IGLA is properly installed, you should not be able to add/remove keys without proper authorization. It blocks access to CAN BUS (digital and analogue signals). So, @J44, I'm surprised that your keys weren't recognized.