Vehicle immobilizers no longer required

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This article was published 13/09/2018 (2765 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A provincial law created more than a decade ago when Winnipeg was known as the car theft capital of Canada has been taken off the road.

The Approved Theft Deterrent Immobilizer Regulation was repealed last week after Manitoba Public Insurance persuaded the government the law was no longer needed.

MPI spokesman Brian Smiley said it’s because vehicle manufacturers have been putting in factory installed anti-theft equipment for several years now.

“Ninety-nine per cent of the fleet out there have them now,” Smiley said on Thursday.

“When Winnipeg was the car theft capital of Canada, 24 to 40 vehicles per day were being stolen. But when the Immobilizer program was put in, it went down to four a day.”

At the peak in 2004, more than 14,000 vehicles were stolen, but a law in September 2007 forced people who owned vehicles most at risk of being stolen to have an approved immobilizer before being able to register the vehicle and theft numbers dramatically dropped.

The latest Winnipeg police annual report showed that 2,327 vehicles were stolen in the city in 2017 — almost the same as the 2,321 taken the year before and less than the five-year average of 2,459 vehicles.

But Smiley said there is now a new vehicle theft problem which MPI will turn its attention to.

“Over the years, auto theft trends have changed,” he said. “Theft of a vehicle with keys is taking place.”

Smiley said about four vehicles per day are being taken when either owners leave their keys in vehicles or don’t watch them closely when they are in their jackets or purses.

“MPI will adjust its messaging moving forward, focused on owners needing to protect their keys to prevent theft,” he said.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca