My 4Runner was stolen. PSA: install kill switch / anti-theft system

Hey group. Had one of the most heartbreaking days of my life. I was up in Toronto for a week. And on the 2nd day I woke up to my 4Runner missing. It was stolen. They seemed to have known what they were doing. They disabled the tracking and created their own key. Toyota safety connect ain’t worth a damn. No real hope of being retrieved. I put a lot of work into my 4Runner with after market parts. But sadly in hindsight I didn’t put in the most important. A kill switch or some aftermarket antitheft system. Come to find out they are pretty easy to steal. I had no idea my car was missing until I walked to the parking lot. No notification nothing and when I checked tracking it was still saying it was in the lot but hadn’t been updated in 9 hours.

Thankfully. I had an AirTag in my backpack and was able to locate all my stuff dumped out on the side of the road 30 mins outside of town. Unfortunately no car. But I was able to get all my stuff minus some camera gear/drone. And my passport that was in the glove box. Also found one of my windows and and my dashboard and glove box and my pop out speaker from the car lol

Hopefully my insurance doesn’t try and give me a run around because this sucks. Anyway just posting this to give yall a heads up on investing in an aftermarket antitheft system. IGLA looks to be what I will invest in on my next 4Runner. And also never taking my car to Canada again.

Cheers

When I saw this title I thought "It's gotta be Canada" which is an unfortunate stereotype at this point. I agree, would never take a land cruiser, 4runner, or any nice hobby car near any major city in Canada. Or I would if I was doing a sting operation!

The only comfort is the thieves always get what's coming (if not by the law, then in their personal life).

RIP, sorry for you and hope you added your upgrades to your insurance! Good luck on your replacement!

Very sad to hear. So, all of you, keep your key in an aluminum case or disable your key when you are home. I am thinking they might have removed the built-in GPS Toyota tracker. They may have also used a jammer, but Toyota trackers work over the internet. You can find these vehicles in the Gulf; I found some videos where 4Runners are being driven in the Arabian desert.

Canada has a bigger issue with this. I think this came from Australia. A kill switch is one of the best things you can add.

If we have to leave our car parked outside for any period of time, can’t we just pop the hood and pull a starter relay or fuse while we’re away?
I just got my 4Runner and am already thinking ahead of when I have to park it at the ‘secure’ parking garage at the airport.

I have a port lock and kill switch.

Is this mostly an Ontario / Toronto thing, or are LCs and 4Runners being stolen at the same rate all over the country?

I’ve been visiting Vancouver and other areas in southern British Columbia for decades and never heard about this problem out here.

By the way sorry to hear. Also, fob stored in small fob sized faraday pouch.

How do you know they cloned you key? Seems like a big assumption seeing how you don't know when it was stolen.

If they are good enough to do all this do all you really think a kill switch is going to stop them if they want it?

mfoga said:

How do you know they cloned you key? Seems like a big assumption seeing how you don't know when it was stolen.

If they are good enough to do all this do all you really think a kill switch is going to stop them if they want it?

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I mean they could always tow your car. But kill switch still blocks a replicated fob.

mcd_ovrlnd said:

By the way sorry to hear. Also, fob stored in small fob sized faraday pouch.

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Unfortunately that isn’t gonna stop a CAN bus injection. My key was on the 40th floor in my Airbnb….

mfoga said:

How do you know they cloned you key? Seems like a big assumption seeing how you don't know when it was stolen.

If they are good enough to do all this do all you really think a kill switch is going to stop them if they want it?

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security footage from the parking lot. It was at 4 in the morning. Took less than 5 minutes. Its a huge problem in Toronto and they target Toyotas to ship overseas

mcd_ovrlnd said:

I mean they could always tow your car. But kill switch still blocks a replicated fob.

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Thief's have got around them for years, they are one of the oldest theft prevention items you could put on a vehicle. While its sucks to say it but if you own a vehicle someone wants they are more than likely going to get it.

FlaRunner904 said:

security footage from the parking lot. It was at 4 in the morning. Took less than 5 minutes. Its a huge problem in Toronto and they target Toyotas to ship overseas

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They have some fancy gadgets out that can mimic your key fob. If you would like I can find you a video detailing how it’s done or give it a Google. Its

mcd_ovrlnd said:

I mean they could always tow your car. But kill switch still blocks a replicated fob.

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Yea kill switch can be found actually. I’m looking into a IGLA. prevents the car from doing anything unless you press a custom sequence of buttons and is hard to find

mcd_ovrlnd said:

I have a port lock and kill switch.

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I wouldn’t bring your rig in to Canada if that’s all you have. From everything I’ve learned the past few days. That barely slows them down.