Toyota told him the company needed a police report to allow the real-time location to be shared, even though that paperwork would not be done until the incident was long over — something the owner said didn't help in the middle of the night when the car was fleeing at high speeds.
That prevented the car from joining thousands of others never seen again in a surge in auto theft that shows no signs of stopping: insurers estimate that they paid out $1 billion last year because of car thefts nationwide. YRP Const. Maniva Armstrong said her force shared information quickly with the Durham Regional Police and the OPP.
“We work closely with law enforcement agencies to confront this industry-wide problem. When a customer reports their vehicle to the police as stolen, it triggers a police report which allows us to work directly with police on their behalf,” Michael Bouliane of Toyota said in a written statement. “Once we have the police report, we actively share any information we have with the police.”
One big problem is a convenient push-button start requiring no second security feature, like a key. Once it’s defeated, a stolen vehicle is its own getaway car.