Loaded, Unlocked: Cadillac Made Life Easier for Thieves
IT is not the sort of list that automakers aspire to top: in August, the Highway Loss Data Institute, an industry research group affiliated with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, named the Cadillac Escalade as the vehicle with the highest rate of insurance claims for theft. The group reported that 2007-9 Escalades had a claim frequency of 10.8 for every 1,000 insured vehicles, about five times more often than the average passenger vehicle.
In addition to claims for the entire vehicle being stolen, that figure includes break-ins and the theft of parts like chrome wheels or GPS navigation systems. The industry group noted that while the Escalade was equipped with ignition immobilizer technology, thieves could still haul the luxury S.U.V.’s away on flatbed trucks.
Actually, it wasn’t nearly so tough.
After the theft figures were released, news reports emerged suggesting that the Escalade’s popularity with thieves could be traced, in part, to the ease of stealing one.
One demonstration of how thieves got around the antitheft electronics was provided by a Detroit television station, WXYZ, which obtained video from a security camera that showed an Escalade being stolen in 14 seconds. In the video, a thief breaks the driver’s side window and enters the truck. Quickly, an accomplice pulls up behind the Escalade and pushes it down the street.
That would not work in most recent vehicles because the steering wheel lock makes it impossible to steer the stolen vehicle. But General Motors eliminated the steering lock from Escalades in January 2006, reasoning that the electronic security system provided sufficient protection.
The decision to forgo a steering wheel lock, a feature that has been around for at least four decades, is not endorsed by experts. The National Insurance Crime Bureau emphasizes the value of locks as an antitheft measure, an extension of common-sense precautions, while an electronic immobilizer is only a third-layer defense.
Walt Herndon, chief operating officer at Herndon & Associates, a Michigan firm that investigates auto theft, said that several carmakers had eliminated steering wheel locks when they introduced antitheft electronics.
“It’s not just G.M. vehicles,” Mr. Herndon said. “Push-and-steal is a common method of taking S.U.V.’s and pickup trucks. Without a steering lock, it’s simple.”
G.M. has taken steps to make Escalade more secure, reinstating the steering lock for 2010 models. And for 2011, G.M. installed laminated side-window glass, which is harder to penetrate, to discourage the bad guys.
Credit: The New York Times
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