Tesla Motors Inc Model S Least Stolen Car In The U.S.

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Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s Model S is undoubtedly one of the best cars on the road. Despite its runaway popularity and high-end features, it is the least stolen car in the United States. The vehicle comes with anti-theft alarm and immobilizer system. Today, most high-end cars come with anti-theft technology that makes it difficult for the average perpetrators to steal those cars.

Tesla has a theft rating of 0.15 per 1,000 units built

According to The Irish Times, Honda Motor Co Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:HMC) (TYO:7267)’s Accord was the most popular car among thieves. About 54,000 of them were stolen last year in the U.S.About 84% of those stolen cars were built-in 2007 or before. That’s because Honda added anti-theft immobilizers to Accord in 2008.

Tesla’s Model S was the least stolen car last year. Going by the number of cars stolen would be an unfair comparison because there are a lot more Honda Accords on the road than Model S. A better way of comparison would be the number of cars stolen per 1,000 units manufactured. Using that standard, Model S has a theft rating of just 0.15 per 1,000 units produced.

In contrast, across-the-board average is 3.51 cars stolen per 1,000 produced. It’s still unclear why thieves don’t go after Model S. Maybe they haven’t yet figured out a way to circumvent Tesla’s security systems, or it’s hard to steal, or perhaps it’s not worth stealing yet. Tesla’s car comes with a 3G chip, so it can be tracked and shut down remotely.

Most Tesla cars are with their first owners

Another reason could be little demand for Model S parts yet. Most thieves steal cars not to drive or sell them. Instead, they take cars to be broken for parts. Model S is an expensive and recent car, so most are in the hands of their first owners and covered under warranty. That may change in the next few years, however. The car has been vulnerable to security attacks. Last month, hackers at SyScan Conference in Beijing were able to gain access to the car’s on-board systems.

But the San Francisco-based company is beefing up security of its cars. Earlier this month, Tesla’s vehicle security chief Kristin Paget made an appearance at the DefCon security conference in Las Vegas, looking to hire dozens hackers to protect Tesla cars from cyber attacks.

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