Govind Tekale
Auto thefts fell 18% across Canada last year — real progress by any measure. Yet insurers paid out roughly $900 million in vehicle-theft claims, and one newly popular SUV is disappearing from driveways at a rate of better than one in nine.
Équité Association‘s November 10 report names the Honda CR-V Canada’s most-stolen vehicle by volume for 2025, with 2,137 thefts out of more than 550,000 insured CR-Vs on the road — a title it also held in 2021 and 2022. It’s followed nationally by the Honda Civic (1,813), Toyota RAV4 (1,147), Ram 1500 (1,072) and Ford F-150 (1,057). Ontario alone accounted for nearly three-quarters of all CR-V thefts, with its own top five led by the CR-V (1,598), Civic (1,041) and Lexus RX (863).
If you own or are shopping for a Honda CR-V, RAV4, F-150 or a three-row SUV like the Toyota Grand Highlander or Lexus TX, this report affects your next insurance renewal. Even as national thefts dropped, organized crime stole more than 11% of all insured Lexus TXs and 8.63% of Ontario’s Grand Highlanders. Installing an insurer-approved immobilizer or tracking system can help waive high-theft surcharges and slow down the relay and reprogramming attacks behind most of these thefts.
Why Outdated 2007 Rules Leave Keyless SUVs Vulnerable
Canada’s federal anti-theft standard hasn’t been updated since 2007, leaving many keyless, push-to-start vehicles exposed to key-fob relay attacks and OBD-port reprogramming that can defeat factory security in under a minute. Équité’s CEO has called for Transport Canada to align the rules with current global practice, noting that enforcement alone won’t solve a problem fueled by organized export networks. Roughly half of stolen vehicles in Ontario and Quebec are never recovered, meaning many end up stripped for parts or shipped overseas rather than returned to their owners.
The CR-V’s volume lead and the Lexus TX’s rate lead are really two different questions wearing the same headline. Raw theft counts are driven partly by how many of a given model exist on the road — the CR-V is stolen more often in absolute numbers partly because it’s everywhere. Theft rate tells a sharper story: organized rings are targeting specific, newer, high-value SUVs at a pace roughly 20 times higher per vehicle than the CR-V sees.
What are the top 10 most stolen vehicles in Canada for 2025?
By volume: Honda CR-V (2,137), Honda Civic (1,813), Toyota RAV4 (1,147), Ram 1500 (1,072), Ford F-150 (1,057), Lexus RX (964), Chevrolet Silverado/GMC Sierra 1500 (927), Toyota Tundra (787), Jeep Wrangler (603) and Hyundai Elantra (484).
A layered approach — an OBD port lock, a CAN-bus immobilizer and a steering-wheel lock for parked vehicles — remains the most practical defense while federal standards catch up.
