Top 10 Auto Thieves’ Favorite Vehicles!

Motor vehicle theft plagues all parts of the world and despite many efforts to curtail it, it still remains quite a pain for both the victims sometimes as well as law enforcement agencies. However many countries show a declining trend in motor vehicle thefts. Further, the thieves seem to have a greater affinity for some automobiles.

Often referred to as grand theft auto by police departments, the act of stealing motor vehicles has many motivations. And range from chopping and selling automotive parts to resale of vehicles and even for joyriding. In the year 2003 there were 1,261,226 cases of auto thefts in the U.S. which further decreased to 1,237,114 in 2004 showing a decline of 1.91%. The following are the thieves’ favorite cars in the USA based on 2004 data.

#1: Honda Civic: Introduced in July 1972 as a two-door coupe, the Honda Civic is the second-longest continuously running nameplate from a Japanese manufacturer. Now five generations old, it has won quite a few accolades throughout its history. Some of them include Road Test magazine’s 1974 Car of the Year; Motor Trend's Import Car of the Year; Car and Driver magazine's annual Ten Best; North American Car of the Year and the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) Car of the Year.

#2: Toyota Camry: Now over 6 generations old the Toyota Camry is a mid-size car assembled by Toyota. Launched in the year 1980 it’s manufactured at several places around the world, viz. Tsutsumi, Japan; Georgetown, Kentucky; Altona, Victoria, Australia and Guangzhou, China. In the year 2007 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) conferred a five-star safety rating for frontal crashes for both driver and passenger to the car (whether a thief or not!). You might want to take a peek into an innovation in air bag safety that recently came about.

#3: Honda Accord: The car made its debut in the year 1976 as a compact hatchback and later grew up in to an intermediate vehicle. Now 8 generations old, the vehicle has received several awards such as the Consumer Search's Best Family Car, Motor Trend's Import Car of the Year, Car of the Year Japan, etc. The car has also been featuring at the European Touring Car scene since 1995. Perhaps, it high value plus the “race-ability” is what makes it attractive for a steal and run operation! Off course, they can split apart its various automotive accessories and the engine and sell it to make money.

#4: The Dodge Caravan: The Dodge Caravan and Dodge Grand Caravan are minivans manufactured by Chrysler. The sister models of the product were the Chrysler Town and Country, and the Plymouth Voyager that later became the Chrysler Voyager. Being produced since the year 1984, the automobile is now in its fifth generation.

#5: Chevrolet Full Size C/K 1500 Pickup: This full-size pickup truck line from Chevrolet continued production from 1960 until 1998. The light-duty pickup truck was replaced with the GMC Sierra in 1988 and the Chevrolet Silverado in 1999.

#6: Ford F150 Series: The whole of F-Series from Ford Motor Company has been quite popular and has sold for over 5 decades. With the first ones produced in 1948, the most popular variant of the F-Series full-size pickup trucks is the F-150. It has been an immensely popular vehicle in the United States for 23 years in addition to being one of the best selling trucks for 31 years.

#7: Dodge Ram Pickup: The Ram is yet another full-size pickup truck from Chrysler LLC's Dodge brand. The Ram's head hood ornament was used by the company way back in 1933 to symbolize toughness of these trucks. The symbol was however dropped in the 1950s only to be brought up again 1981.

#8: Acura Integra: First produced in the year 1985, the Honda Integra, was sold as Acura in North America and as a Honda in other parts of the world. Sold both as a sedan and hatchback, the vehicle is a sporty front-wheel drive. Its position vis-a-vis other cars in the Honda lineup, the Integra was falls in the middle, just about the smaller cars like the Honda City, the Honda Civic and the Honda Logo.

#9: The Toyota Pickup: The Toyota Hilux and Toyota Tacoma are both compact pickup trucks built and marketed by the company. The Hilux name was adopted in 1969, until it was renamed the Tacoma in 1995.

#10: Nissan Sentra: This compact car from Nissan, competes with other compact models such as the Toyota Corolla, Ford Focus, Chevrolet Cobalt, Mitsubishi Lancer, VW Jetta, and Honda Civic in the United States. The Nissan Sentra was brought out for the 1982 model year as the US export name for the vehicle Nissan Sunny.

So now you know which are the most popular makes amongst the thieves’ must have lists. However, it’s encouraging to know, as it appears, that the thieves with the passage of time are finding it quite difficult to steal in the USA, see below for the trend.

The Interpol data on auto thefts further clarifies which automobiles are the hottest amongst the ‘stealy folks.’ Look below for the percentage of vehicles and their owners who are victimized across the globe.

The Interpol data pertains to the year 2007 that shows 4.2 million incidents of stealing across 149 countries. However, the hopeful part is that over 37,000 motor vehicles have been discovered.

In the UK, the fall in vehicle-related theft has been to the tune of 10 percent between 2002/03 and 2003/04. The trend is evident from the following illustration.

On the other hand the whole of Europe witnessed and estimated 450,000 stealing incidents in 2004. In Canada, motor vehicle thievery accounted for 171,017 missing vehicles in 2003. And in Australia, barring Queensland there were 8718 reported incidents of motor vehicle theft in 2007.

On the whole, the law enforcement agencies seem to be winning the battle against the perpetrators of auto theft, but it’s still a long way to go before auto theft is almost eliminated.

Airbag Safety System with Ears!

Till the time new age automobile safety systems, such as intelligent highways become common, a lot of innovations to improve automobile safety rely on making the existing safety systems more effective and efficient.

With the talks of encouraging stronger car roofs, and news of putting air bags on the outside, this year's Bavarian Innovation Prize winner seems to have taken a leap ahead to enhance passenger safety by a good margin. The award was jointly received by the international automotive supplier Continental and the Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences.

The prestigious award went to the innovation called the “structure-borne sound airbag.” Not only does this innovation promise to effectively sense an impact but it can also “hear,” the sound of impact. This additional functionally aides the device to react quickly and intelligently. Precisely, the system promises up to 50% faster firing times for air bags.

The system with ears is based on the technology called Crash Impact Sound Sensing (CISS). The research on the technology was carried out at the Institute for Applied Research (IAF) at Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences for several years.

How it Works?

The whole process of triggering air bags can be thought of to occur in two phases. The first is the detection of danger and the next step calls for the system to decide on what action to take?

The CISS works by hearing the danger as it approaches. It can detect both the accident as well as its severity from the typical structure-borne sound produced by the impact. Further, it can even differentiate much more quickly and more reliably between varied crash situations.

The second critical component of the cycle is to make a quick decision on release of the airbags. During serious accidents, the airbag safety system must decide within fractions of a second. For a typical frontal collision, the system has anywhere between 10 and 40 milliseconds to decide. The system's got to make a choice whether the airbags have to be triggered? Or are the airbags not needed at all, because the other elements, such as the crumple zone and safety automotive accessories viz. seat belts would suffice, etc.

The vehicle's rate of deceleration provides the necessary input to the system, and this information is then fed into the central airbag control unit (ACU) for analysis, all of which happens in a matter of milliseconds. The whole system has been integrated into a single high-performance sensor.


The structure-borne sound is produced when the vehicle deforms. During a crash, the sound is transmitted through the front longitudinal members of the chassis and frame, or the body shell's "railway lines," to the central control unit.

It's exciting to see automotive research geared towards making promising advancements in automobile safety with seemingly simple, yet highly effective tweaks here and there.

Study: Bumper Stickers May Mean Road Rage!

Bumper stickers on another automobile may predict road rage, find the researchers at the Colorado State University. So if you don't want to get into trouble you might wanna watch out for those harmless looking bumper stickers.

Apparently, the message on the sticker doesn't matter, so even if the message reads like “make peace, not war,” the person behind the wheel could be more prone to road rage. And this could be anything from honking, tailgating, getting angry quickly, or any other type of aggressive behavior.

Furthermore, the stickers are symbolic of “territorial markers,” that are associated with animals. The reasoning goes that since animals are territorial as it aided them to survive, and humans are animals too they display similar behaviors.

What's more intriguing is that road rage becomes more likely as the number of stickers increase. At the same time bumpers aren't the only place where people put stickers on. The rule applies whether they're placed on bumpers or any other exterior automotive accessories, hoods, panels, license plates, all are included.

Road rage is far from being uncommon. The American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety found that there were 10,037 reported incidents of aggressive driving in the US 1990 and 1996. Moreover, they also stated that this number was much less than the actual number. In yet another survey conducted on 800 drivers in Australia, by the Victorian Community Council Against Violence, 91% of the of the respondents agreed that eventhough they had experienced ‘severe road rage,’ they didn't report it. Further, 41% admitted to have comitted ‘road rage’ during the last 12 months.

The new study now brings to light a surprising new way people can avoid road rage. There are other ways too, to avoid road rage. Some of them are, not to look into the eyes of the a driver who's driving badly as it can make it look like you're expressing displeasure at the person, or staring at him. Not showing aggression yourself either by gestures, or excessive honking or by any other means.

Further, when things do get confrontational, apologizing and maintaining your cool does help. Some studies have also shown that humor also helps to pacify a mildly aggressive person, but it might backfire when one is raging aggressive.

When the automobile engine heats up, the engine's cooling system takes care of it, perhaps if the 'animals' called 'humans' too had an inbuilt cooling system, we wouldn't have had to worry about any road rage.

Is Auto Part Outsourcing In Reverse Gear Now?

Given the recent development in the auto industry, it appears that the big car makers in the US are looking eastwards in search of markets.

The sales of automobiles during the month of June in the US, is close to drop to an annual rate of 12.5 million units. Last year this figure was 16.3 million units, the differential amounts to a 15 per cent fall. The Canadian industry on the other hand is dealing with its own challenges.

Coinciding with these developments, the Big three manufacturers, namely GM, Ford and Chrysler would be exporting goods worth US$ 2.2 billion to China. The goods would include both the vehicles as well as automotive parts. There could be more deals such as these, following economic talks between the U.S. and China, which are to be held soon.

Why is China a promising destination?

Not to mention that the Chinese auto industry has it's own share of troubles, but it is still one of the most happening markets. According to a projection by Mckinsey, at present the country has the highest sales-growth rate for automobiles. Moreover, by 2010 it is expected to attain mammoth proportions and become the second largest market, just behind the USA.

There's little doubt about the fact that China's automobile production has been on the rise for years now. See below for the automobile production by the country during the past couple of years.
Between the years 2001 to 2005, automobile consumption in the country experienced CAGR of 54.42%. While the consumption showed an increase, the real promise lies in the fact the country still had only 11 automobile units for every 1000, and that's a much smaller market penetration of vehicles compared to other countries. For instance, in 2007, UK had 373 cars per 1000, US had 478 cars per 1000, Australia 485 had cars per 1000, Japan had 395 cars per 1000 and Italy had 539 per 1000.

However, simply because many people don't have cars doesn't make China a promising destination, the prime indicator of purchasing power (i.e. Per capita GDP) has continuously been on the rise. For example, in 1991 it wasn't even US$ 1000 but by 2006 it rose to US$7600. See below for the trend of the rising GDP. (the figures have been calculated in Chinese Yuan)

Not surprising then that the annual report 2007, of the largest Chinese automobile manufacturer Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) anticipates selling 1.90 million units of complete vehicles in 2008.

On the whole China seems to be a hot spot as far as the automobile industry is concerned. As far as the US is concerned, though there may be some differences between the two countries about investments, but as it is learned the high ranking U.S. and Chinese officials are working to smooth out even those.

Is It Rough Weather For Chinese Auto Parts?

The Chinese auto parts industry has consistently performed and grown over the past few years. However, now it may up against some tough times owing to increases in wages, local currency and prices of raw-materials.

The Times Bygone

Last year in 2007, the market growth of the China experienced record high growth in terms of both production and consumption of automobiles. As people's incomes rose so did consumption. The year 2007 witnessed a production of 8.88 million units and consumption of 8.79 million units.

In terms of exports China registered US$ 2.09 billion worth of trade. A year before that in 2006, the sales revenue of the Chinese auto part manufacturers reached US$ 58.30 billion. What's even more intriguing is the fact that the Chinese auto parts production is projected to reach US$ 115.6 billion in 2010.

A lot of this growth is attributed to roughly 1,000 auto parts oriented industrial throughout the nation, and that about 10% of these lie in prime regional development zones and clusters.

The Present Scenario

The present year is being seen as a year of correction year. According to the National Statistics Bureau, China, the growth rate witnessed during the first two months of 2007 was 90%. However, over the same period this year, it's just been 37% a big difference of 53%. Undoubtedly the growth rate has suffered quite a lot.

Increasing Raw Material Costs

The costs of raw materials such as oil and aluminum have risen, which in turn seem to have affected the cost of production. The manufacturers of automotive wheels and tires are worst hit as a consequence. On similar lines producers of molded plastic parts and automotive accessories for cars have also taken a beating.

Appreciating Currency

The Chinese Yuan has also witnessed the highest growth against the dollar since 2005, when the Chinese government took measures to liberalize the exchange rates. The appreciation has been to the tune of 14% or so against the US dollar, and most of the appreciation has taken place during the past year.

Considering the appreciating currency, it's a no-brainer that the first quarter of auto-parts exports this year grew at a rate of 24%, which is a good 9% lower than 33% last year and same quarter.

Rising Labor Costs

It's one of the most important constituent of production cost, and was also the one that gave the Chinese auto accessories and parts manufacturers an edge over manufacturers in US or Europe. Consider this, labor costs in China contribute only 5% to the cost auto parts produced, whereas in Europe or in the US it's much higher and lies between 20% and 30%. However, during 2005 the wages experienced a hike of 40% in that year itself, diluting the comparative advantage somewhat.

On the whole, the times for the Chinese auto parts manufactures do appear to be tough, and that the smaller fish are expected to take a bigger hit. However, as the Shanghai Daily reports, many Chinese companies are seeking consolidation through mergers and acquisition, enhancing managerial expertise and becoming more export oriented to overcome any roadblocks to growth.

63 Sweet Tips To Save Fuel!

Given the unreliable and dynamic nature of fuel prices, automobile users simply can’t depend on the transitory dips in the prices of gas. Perhaps, adopting simple fuel saving tips is the key to prevent the prices from burning a hole in your pocket.

Take a look at how gas prices have varied around the world over the last two years.

The following tips should help you achieve fuel economy as well as help protect the environment.

1. To begin with, choose the right car for your needs, if just driving around the town is what your needs entail, procure a lighter vehicle (hybrid or gas driven) instead of a big gas-guzzler.

2. Considered as one of the most important factors affecting fuel economy, the need to ensure the right tire pressure for your automobile can’t be overemphasized. Check the pressure of the tires at least once a week, remember that even over-inflated tires lead to higher gas consumption.

3. Timely maintenance of your car that covers ensuring the right levels of all essential engine fluids and keeping all the systems in shape can make all the difference.

4. If you keep your car cleaned up, it not only enhances its sheen but also prevents any dirt or snow to create unnecessary drag and frees the engine from working harder.

5. Until it’s absolutely necessary don’t carry extra baggage in the car’s trunk, as it would only increase the weight and force the engine to consume more gas.

6. Drive well within the fuel economy range of your vehicle, if you aren’t already used to driving slow enough then you’d need to make some adjustments here, but be assured that the benefits are real. The difference of gas consumption between speeds of 55 and 65mph can be as big as 2MPG.

7. Accelerating your car like a dragster burns up fuel real quickly, whenever you have to step on the gas do it gradually.

8. If possible rest your left foot on the floor than on the brake pedal, as even a slight press on the brakes could significantly increase the drag.

9. Operate the air conditioner wisely and only when you need it. If you can make do just by opening the windows partially for cool air it’s good. But remember that on highways opening up windows can backfire by creating more drag, so you’re better off with the windows up and the air conditioner on. Further, once the inside weather is cool enough turn down the power of the air conditioner, lest it puts undue pressure on your car’s engine.

10. Pick and choose the gas stations with the best prices in your area, there are lots of websites that keep a track of existing prices in different localities/regions.

11. Making good use of the discount gas schemes or gas rebate schemes of credit and club cards makes a lot of sense even if you save just a couple of cents on each visit to the station. Remember the good old quote “a penny saved is a penny earned.”

12. After referring to your owner’s manual, choose the lowest grade of engine oil available. No need to buy the premium grade unnecessarily.

13. Always shut the gas cap tight enough, or else the fuel could leak or evaporate.

14. If you need to travel just a small distance, prefer to walk. Not only would this help save gas but would also get the necessary physical exercise, so often recommended to live healthy.

15. Try to complete all your shopping on a single trip instead of visiting the market multiple times. Further, choose a shopping center that stocks a myriad of supplies so that you don’t have to move from one area to another to shop for different items on your list.

16. Always drive moderately, as driving like you were in a great hurry would only make you brake and accelerate erratically, thus burning up more gas.

17. Cruise control, speed control or Autocruise, no matter which name you call it by, do make use of it when you’re on a long trip on a highway.

18. Often not given enough weight though, idling can lead to significant fuel consumption. Avoid your car from idling and you would save quite a lot.

19. Try driving in the highest gear, the lowest gears are meant to get the car moving from the stationary position and cause the engine to consume more power than the higher gears.

20. Imitate truckers while approaching traffic lights. Truckers act wisely by looking ahead to see if the lights are about to turn red and accordingly begin to slow down as stopping is imminent. Further, if the lights are already red and you slowly cruise towards them they might turn green while you’re still rolling. Thus you won’t have to stop at all.

21. Plan your trip so that you can decide upon the shortest route along several stops to complete the trip.

22. Buy a bicycle to use when the trips are too short to be covered by a car and too long to be completed by walking. Determine the yardsticks for too long and too short based on your own preferences.

23. Use public transportation whenever possible, not only can it save gas, but would also free you of the effort and care it takes to drive yourself.

24. Make use of a fuel catalyst, they can either be poured into the fuel tank at other times they need to be installed. The catalysts increase fuel economy by efficiently burning up the gas.

25. Cleaning, properly maintaining and replacing the air filters when needed also helps to augment the car’s efficiency.

26. When you rev up the engine while starting up, and warm up in excess of about 30 - 40 seconds, it leads to undesirable gas consumption. Hence, a warm up of 30 - 40 seconds is just all right for the purpose.

27. Refer to the owner's manual and follow the manufacturer's advice for the maintenance schedule.

28. Use the manufacturer recommended motor oil as much and as often as it has been advised.

29. Get your vehicle refueled in the mornings or late evenings when it’s cold. In low temperatures the oil is denser and hence you may get more gas for the same amount of money.

30. Avoid placing luggage on the rooftop unnecessarily as it creates a lot of drag by contorting the car’s aerodynamics. In fact the best thing to do is to remove the roof rack completely, as even an empty rack causes sufficient drag.

31. Avoid using tires that are too broad, they might be fancy but certainly are deterrents to good fuel economy, as they create more drag.

32. Carpooling allows for savings not just for you but also for others around you.

33. Use manual transmission, as an automatic transmission still can’t match your assessment.

34. Choose a route that’s the shortest, has minimum traffic lights and low traffic.

35. Get your car refueled only when the gas is about to run out, this is so as even the weight of the gas can be considered as load that the engine needs to pull, thus leading to a greater gas consumption.

36. Preferably, park you car in the shade to reduce gas evaporation due to heat. This also decreases the need to use the air conditioner, as the car should remain cooler in the shade.

37. During summers don’t fill up the tank till the brim as it might overflow when the gas’s temperature increases. This happens because gas stored at the station is at a lower temperature than it is outside i.e. in your car.

38. Try to drive at constant speeds.

39. Get your car’s wheels aligned properly by a professional.

40. Disable the “all wheel drive” feature when you don’t need it.

41. If you use a toll road get a pass made to avoid waiting at the plaza for a long time.

42. Always park your car in the garage instead of the driveway or in the open, as it would prevent the engine from becoming too cold. A cold engine takes up more time and energy to warm up than a warmer one.

43. If you own an SUV or a vehicle with a third row seating, consider removing it to lighten the load on your car.

44. Work from home on a few days of the week if you can afford to, and your employer agrees to it. This way you’ll be able to cut your gas costs by a good margin.

45. Many communities make use of zip cars, a zip car belongs to a group of people who procure it and each one may use it as and when needed before passing it on to the person who needs it next. Find out if the people in your community would be interested.

46. When approaching hills accelerate before you begin the climb and not while actually climbing.

47. If two of your stops are nearby then park somewhere in between and walk to your destinations.

48. When looking for a parking spot in the lot, park at the first free space that you find. You’ll save by not wandering around for the perfect spot.

49. When holidays are approaching fill up all your gas three days in advance to shield yourself against the price bump.

50. Keep a record of how many miles you drive and how much you spend, keeping other factors constant a spike in your spend might be a sign that your car needs service or a check-up.

51. Don’t rev the engine just before you shut it down.

52. Choose the roads that are straighter and shorter, changing too many lanes and taking too many turns uses up extra fuel.

53. Whenever you park, try to park in a manner that you wouldn’t need to reverse it when you start off again from that spot.

54. When buying gas find out if the retailers can deliver it right to your home. This way you can avoid using up your gas to reach a gas station.

55. Always check that you’ve removed the emergency brake before starting off.

56. Remain tuned in to radio stations to know of any traffic jams in advance.

57. Whenever possible stay away from rush hour.

58. Choose Wednesday mornings to buy gas as the prices are expected to move up towards the weekend after that.

59. Avoid purchasing gas when the prices are running high, wait if you can till they drop down.

60. Make use of overdrive gears as they reduce the speed of the engine leading to lesser consumption of gas.

61. Always disengage the automatic choke once the engine has warmed up.

62. If you’re standing say at a railroad crossing, allow the automatic transmission to cool down by shifting to the neutral gear.

63. Keep a safe distance from the car ahead of you so that you don’t have to break hard frequently to avoid colliding.

On the whole, it takes only simple steps to save gas, however the toughest part is to retrain ourselves to use and treat our automobiles differently. Once, we do that, saving gas is as easy as it can be.

Japan's Auto Exports To Reach 7 Million

The year ending 2009, Japanese automobile manufacturers are expected to register 7 million auto units in exports, the highest ever exports by the country in 23 years. This feat would be possible due to the rising demand for automobiles in the Gulf nations and South America, and other countries, reported the Nikkei

The graph below shows Japan's exports from 1997 through 2007.

The news comes at a time when the North American auto industry is up against tough times with declining production and sales. The US market is particularly hit with the May 2008 auto sales down by 14%. As I had covered earlier that the Canadian auto industry also grappled, but the outlook was to get brighter by the end of 2008. A recent report from the Conference Board of Canada projects that the Canadian automakers' efforts to reduce costs would cut losses by $430 million and would help it to earn a profit of US$155 million this year.

The projections further note that though the Japanese auto industry exports to North America would decrease by 8%, it would make up for it by exports to other regions. Moreover, these projections are also in contrast to the reports of the expected fall of 26% in pretax profit for the Japanese auto industry including the auto part manufacturers. The forecast is welcome for Japan for sure, but possible appreciation in Yen and increases in raw material costs would also affect how the industry actually fares?

The contribution of the Japanese auto industry to the country's economy is large. Not only does the industry accounts for 10% of employment, but also contributes over 10% to the output of the manufacturing sector.

The following graph features the number of motor vehicles produced in Japan during the last 10 years.

Japan's stock market reached its highest mark this year after the Japanese automakers registered higher sales. Further, as the Yen weakened against the dollar, it raised the hopes for the Japanese exporters. Nikkei reported an average rise of 1.2 % on Wednesday and the top Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co Ltd. reported good growth in contrast to the rest of the industry in the US.

There's word about inflation around, but with the recent developments in Japan, it might have spelled the end of deflation for the Japanese industry.