Dodge Vehicles Top 2006 Most-Stolen List
Three Dodge vehicles -- the Magnum, Charger, and Stratus, a sedan the company stopped manufacturing in America in 2006 -- top a list of 19 models made in 2006 that were stolen more frequently in that year than the median theft rate for all vehicle models in 2005, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Monday in a report of preliminary 2006 theft data. NHTSA asked for public comments by Sept. 12 on why the preliminary 2006 theft rate -- 2.08 thefts per thousand vehicles -- rose by 12.4 percent from the prior year's 1.85 per thousand.
The data come from the FBI's National Crime Information Center, which includes theft information from nearly 23,000 criminal justice and law enforcement agencies nationwide.
The 19 models include 18 cars and one multipurpose vehicle, but no light trucks. "Although this publication reflects preliminary data which may change, the agency is aware that the data does reflect a possible second year with an increase in the overall theft rate (MY/CY 2005 & 2006)," NHTSA's Federal Register notice states. "In the final notice for CY/MY 2005 the agency indicated that since there was only a slight elevation, the agency was not concerned but would monitor this to see if it was a beginning of a trend. If the final data for CY/MY 2006 does show a second year of increase, especially of the magnitude indicated by this preliminary data, the agency will explore what could be causing these elevations in the theft rate."
Six vehicles made by DaimlerChrysler and six made by General Motors are among the 19 high-theft 2006 models; one each from Ford, Lamborghini, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Honda, Rolls Royce, and Nissan are on the list.