Carmaker shows off security features to deter car thieves

Ford's anti-vehicle theft device is activated.

At its Oakville plant on Tuesday, Ford Motor Co. showed off a new security feature it hopes will give its customers the edge in an arms race against car thieves, as several automakers try to bulletproof their vehicles from sophisticated tactics.

Company group product manager Ian Grotenhuis touted Ford’s Start Inhibit feature as a game changer against the most common strategy, a cloned key that can start a stolen vehicle as if a thief has owned it all along.

“We’re really trying to stay one step ahead of thieves as they advance their tactics,” Grotenhuis said, as he showed off the system that’s being rolled out across several newer models.

“A feature called Start Inhibit can proactively lock down your vehicle so that a thief can’t drive it with or without a key.”

It’s one way car manufacturers are fighting back against thieves taking advantage of security features that were once cutting edge but are now obsolete.

CTV News was invited, in part, because of a story we did two years ago that demonstrated how cloning a key fob could be done with a device that could be ordered online.

It worked on a Ford Escape in the CTV Fleet, demonstrating the tactic that Peel police’s Det. Sgt. Greg O’Connor says they see too much.

“We do see the cloning of the keys as the primary method,” he said.

“A theft report takes a lot of time. It takes hours and response time for officers to canvass for video, obtaining statements. And we know that stolen vehicles are being used for further crimes.”

Those tactics reached their peak in 2023, with more than a billion dollars worth of cars stolen across the country each year, according to Equite Association, a not-for-profit organization whose members are a variety of insurance companies.

After a multi-pronged approach involving several levels of government, restrictions on devices that can clone keys, and a proliferation of aftermarket anti-theft devices, car theft dropped significantly by 2025.

But the numbers are still staggering.

According to Equite’s most recent report, some $900 million in cars were stolen last year, with profits ending up with organized criminals and stolen vehicles disguised and sold domestically or shipped overseas.

The Ford system offers, through its FordPass app, alerts every time a vehicle is accessed, started, moved, or factory reset. If a vehicle is stolen then subscribers can ask for the company to track it and provide its location to law enforcement.

And once the Start Inhibit function is enabled, the car can’t be started unless the operator can enter a code into the car’s console that has been generated by the app.

The service costs $9.99 a month, though it is offered free for at least a year on new models, the Ford representatives said.

‘When there’s a will, there’s a way’: police

O’Connor, of Peel Regional Police Service, said he believes the new efforts to secure the cars by the manufacturers are a step in the right direction.

But in the arms race, he said, thieves will be constantly innovating as there are hundreds of millions of dollars at stake.

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way. And I think there’s always going to be an attempt to continue doing these things,” said O’Connor.