Introduction and info on 3rd Gen Tundra Thefts

I've haven't belonged to this forum for long, starting out as a 2023 Tundra Crewmax Platinum owner. It was black, had some accessories including running boards, dash cam, weathertech mats, etc. I had it for 1 year and 2 months, and I LOVED it. Just a great truck. Previous truck was a 1995 Ram Ecodiesel Limited which I also loved, and it was smashed into parts by a red light running Tractor Trailer. Busted me up but didn't kill me.

In October of 2024 my wife went out of country, parking our Tundra in a high usage location in a parking garage run by the Toronto Airport authority. It was on the 2nd floor, in a handicapped spot, with large amounts of people going in and out during all hours of the day. We were on week 2 of 4 weeks and in South Africa when our daughter face timed us, letting us know the truck had been stolen, driven 2500 kilometers (the drive from Toronto to Montreal is approximately 500 kms), and discovered in a seatainer at the Montreal docks. Yeah, it was bad, and the b@#@t%$ds had broken 3 of the 4 windows out, pulled the drivers side front panel out, and hot wired the truck. The Montreal police were reporting 35 cars a week being stolen at the time. When I finally got to see the truck it made me sick. They think, based on the huge dent ini the roof right behind the windshield that they drove so fast over a speed bump that it struck an overhang in the garage. They also reported that they had no reports of gates being busted out the day it was stolen, so it appeared to be an inside job. All in all, after dealing with the insurance company and having the truck moved down to where I lived, it was about a month and a half until we settled. They bought me out for what I paid originally, but the replacement 2025 equipped identical to the 2023 had risen $15,000 over what I had originally had paid.

I couldn't part with another 15k, so I hummed and hawed and bought a 2022 Tundra Hybrid 1794 edition with 46 thousand kilometers (29 thousand miles or so). Being paranoid about another theft, I checked out anti theft offerings which were a Ghost 2 system with is a total bypass system impacting the Canbus, or alternatively a dealer offered system called 'tag' which puts a bunch of hard to find, gps type tracking buttons throughout the truck. Ghost 2 looked good, but expensive at $1500.00, and the tag system was/is $250. The Ghost 2 became a no go as the dealer told me of two(2) 2024 Toyota Grand Highlanders who had the system installed had all of the coding for the ECM and Canbus wiped out from the install, seeing the owners on the hook for $12,000 to have all of the system information re-installed. The producing company of the Ghost 2 called Autowatch, took no responsibility for the impact to the vehicles. True story. The downside of the tag system is that, while they have a 95% recovery success in 24 hour of the theft, the vehicle is still abused in the attempted theft process.

I get my new/used truck in a week, and for now it will sit under my movement-driven flood lights and high resolution Reolink camera setup in my driveway. For now I have purchased two steering wheel and brake pedal anti-theft bars, one on my steering wheel and one on my my steering wheel to brake pedal. I foolishly thought being in a small rural town would help reduce theft risk, but the Toyota dealer nearby said dealers are losing new trucks right off nearby lots, with RAMs being the most attempted or actually stolen. There's a list of top ten most commonly stolen vehicles with Lexus, Hyundai, Dodge 1500s, and Jeep Wranglers being on it. One insurance company has an up front additional fee of $1500 over top of your regular yearly insurance cost unless you install one of two anti-theft systems. Others are jumping on the bandwagon with up front penalties, and yet others give a useless $25 a year reduction if you use the tag system.

If anyone has any other or better ideas other than not buying a new Tundra, I'd love to hear about it. Car theft has gone crazy in Ontario and Quebec, I'm sure it's everywhere else as well.

Not the nicest way to do an introduction, but I thought sharing the info would be handy.

 

Welcome from NY.
What about hiding a Apple Air Tag in the vehicle, the battery lasts about 1 year before you have to change it.

 

Welcome from LA (Lower Alabama)! I second the Apple Air Tag, though it will alert another iPhone user to its presence. Hide it well, and respond quickly to any event.

 

Pull the fuel pump fuse / relay when you leave it parked somewhere long term. Thieves are crafty, but dumb and in a hurry

 

The apple air tag, in of itself, works albeit for a very short window and alerts the thiefs to it's presence. Assuming they do steal the truck, they then could take it wherever to find it, but to your points, it's an annoyance and if they know it's there in the beginning, they may move on to easier pickins. Thus far I have bought a 'Club' for both my vehicles as they slow things down and are visible, and I will be putting an apple air tag in for the cumulative effect. Thanks for the feedback guys.

 

Just thought I'd drop in here and say; I have had two attempts on my Tundra in the last 6 months. The first attempt our neighbours caught them in the middle of it and they took off without my truck. I had a smashed window and had to plug some wires back in next to the steering column. The second attempt was stopped by the immobilizer I had installed after the first.

DO NOT put a club on the steering wheel. They cut mine and it cost 5k to fix. Luckily the immobilizer stopped them. I also have a camera that flashes a read light and plays a siren when someone's in the driveway. That also didn't deter them I live in a nice neighbourhood in a nice city, but 14 Tundras have been stolen from the area in 2025 with many more attempts.

I'll be trading in for a GMC soon and will have an immobilizer installed on that too. They are just targeting Tundras and unfortunately I've had enough.

 

Just out of curiosity, where do you live?
Thanks

 

Also, where did you get the immobilizer from and what manufacturer is it. I was warned it wipes out the ecm and canbus info, costing over 10k to reinstall. Thanks

 

Welcome from NC

 

Hi there!

Newbie Canuck here. Just picked up a new Tundra last week and the theft craziness is a true problem, especially in the Toronto-Montreal corridor (including Kingston and Ottawa). I traded in the toughest car to steal (Tesla) for this Thief target. Call me crazy LOL.

I've been looking into the forum and elsewhere as per what I can do to "try" to keep the truck as long as possible. The dealer already had installed the Tag system. It is unfortunate that the window break add-on isn't functional on the Gen3's. I bought a Faraday box "just in case" they try to get the signal from inside the house.

As the OEM All-weather tires are crap in the snow, I found some "brand new" wheels and tires on FB Marketplace for a better price than buying them brand new. While picking them up (locally), they were less than 2 months old. The owner traded his 2019 Tundra for a 2025 and they did so much damage trying to steal his vehicle in the driveway it was insane... He also got an attempt on his RAV4 in a local Wal-Mart a few weeks ago. While the Rav4 fits in the garage, his Limited L TRD (like mine) doesn't fit.

He brought it back to the dealership (and lost considerable coin) to buy an American pickup with less bells and whistles and will go back to a Tundra when he moves in the woods and can fit the truck in a garage...

These scumbags are still around. last year, my next-door neighbor's Wrangler XE was on the verge of being stolen. His dog woke him up and when he got in the driveway, the dash was on the floor and the Jeep was running (thieves got away). Only a few months ago, a Highlander on the other street got stolen (and recovered 2 days later). Fun times...

The icing on the cake is that these thieves are usually kids/minors. They get $200 cash for every car stolen and they barely get a slap on the wrist when they get caught.

I REALLY HOPE that Toyota works on finding a way to deter these thefts. Pin to drive would be a Captain Obvious method to assist in the deterrence while putting mechanisms in place that even if you rip out the dash, it disables the possibility of starting the vehicle.

Rant done and crossing my fingers that I won't be part of the statistics anytime soon...As only a week old, I'm loving my new wheels!

 

Hey, yeah the Tundra theft here is insane. Seems like our sentences/bail for these crimes are too low and not enough to deter thieves.

I put BFG Trail Terrain tires on my truck from Costco. They're first in the snow and quiet on the highway. They look awesome too.