Ford has faced a bit of a theft epidemic at its own storage lots in the Dearborn area recently, a trend that actually started over a year ago when a number of Blue Oval performance vehicles had their wheels stolen. Things have only gotten worse in the months since, as between July 1st, 2021 and July 2nd, 2022, a grand total of 75 Ford F-150 pickups were stolen from the same Ford-owned lot, while a rash of Ford F-150 Raptor pickups have been taken on two separate occasions recently. This past weekend, 15 more vehicles were lifted from storage lots – including a number of Ford F-150 Raptor pickups worth a reported $700,000 – some of which were recently recovered with missing wheels, grilles, and even engines, according to TCD Dearborn News.
So far, police have recovered seven of the stolen F-150 Raptor pickups, with three of them found in nearby Detroit. At least three of those trucks were missing their wheels, while one appears to also be lacking an engine, too. In total, the 15 vehicles taken this past weekend – a group that included the Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator as well – were worth a grand total of $1.3 million.
These vehicles were taken from the very same Dearborn storage lot as more than a dozen Ford F-150 Raptor pickups that were stolen back in June. Several more examples of FoMoCo’s rugged high-performance off-road pickup were lifted last month as well, though Michigan State Police were able to recover some of those vehicles, as well as apprehend three suspects believed to be involved in the rash of thefts.
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This total doesn’t include the 75 vehicles previously taken from a Ford-owned lot, which, assuming an average MSRP of $65,000 USD, is worth around $4.875 million. Unfortunately, that total continues to climb with each passing week, which is taking a big toll on the automaker, police, and the surrounding community.
We’ll have more on Ford’s vehicle theft problem soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for 24/7 Ford news coverage.
Comments
Not sure why someone would bother taking the base Raptor’s engine. It’s really not that special.
So, how in the hell are they stealing these vehicles? Inside job no doubt!
Ford must be OK with the theft or they would put some real security in place. Dearborn is like a lot of U S cities a very small percentage of population doing most of the crime. Is this happening at other Ford plants?
this keeps happening over and over, it’s time to start bringing the lead out.
It is the right thing to do
It keeps happening over and over and you still don’t hire security, which would be less than that 4.8 million you lost. With all the technology ford has and you make the easiest vehicle to steal. I’m a loyal ford customer but get your head out of your a$$es and do what’s needed.
Here’s the catch, they have insurance so it’s actually mostly us paying for their careless behavior. I’m sure the deductible was less than any meaningful action they could’ve taken.
They leave keys in all cars in storage lots
I see Ford has gone with coil spring rear suspensions on the F150s like dodge did on their 1500 trucks…I’m old enough to know that didn’t work out so good for Chevrolet in the 1960s..The Chevrolet pickups had coil springs while the GMC trucks had leaf springs,,that was when GMC was a heavy duty truck,..The American Manufacturers do nothing but put out cheaply made junk…NO MORE FOR ME,,,
Only on Raptor and Lightning. The standard trucks still have rear leaf springs.
I don’t want to be a jerk, but coil springs make for a LOT nicer ride and much better handling. I’d say it’s fair to assume in the last 70-ish years springs and gas struts have been perfected to the point there are virtually zero issues. I’ve never even heard of a coilover issue that wasn’t caused by extreme abuse (like jumps) or severe rust.
I couldn’t have said it better than Wayne did. Who is in charge up there?
$700,000 worth of Raptors? That means only 5 or 6 were stolen depending on what dealer you go to. And looking at the brakes on the truck shown without the wheels – maybe bigger brakes should be implemented, that’s a lot of weight for those little brake rotors to slow down, especially for a Baja 1000 Race designed truck.
Let’s see….6 armed guards, at $25/hr times 12 hours a day times 365 days equals $657,000/yr. Seems a bit better than $4.8 mil.
Now you’re making too much sense.
Unfortunately, $25/hr is enough to pay someone to get shot at by armed thieves. Plus, Ford has run the numbers for when one of these guards does shoot one of these thieves. The legal liability for shooting somebody’s baby “who never hurt anyone” will cost them millions.
What Ketterer said.
Having grown up in SW Michigan and living in the NW Detroit burbs for a year, there’s a good reason that the rest of the state would like to fence off three or four counties in the SE portion of the state and force either Ohio or Canada to take them.
An electronic fence with motion sensor, infrared, magnetic fields, heat sensor this would stop the low life Thief steal those automobiles
Here’s how it works. Guard shack minimum wage employee gets $1000 to blind eye vehicle movement out of the factory by opportunistic disgruntled employees. Including the keys too.
Most of these trucks aren’t stored at factory lots. They’re stored at rented lots throughout the surrounding area. They are waiting on semiconductor chips or other supply chain delayed parts. Watched by low wage, 3rd party, security in a guard shack.
Why is everything in america stolen people are so greedy I believe you should work for what you want it’s such a shame.
In related news Ford is ‘reevaluating’ it’s security company contract!!
It’s no wonder, put all this technology in these trucks and charge an arm and a leg for them, it makes it too tempting to steal! Henry Ford wanted to make cars for the masses. Only the chosen few can afford theses techno-bots! Whatever happened to the basic trucks with rubber floor mats and am radios? At least offer them.
I would think if they were really worried about the theft, they would have enhanced the security. clearly an inside job….. if you can’t trust your own employees, who can you trust. Bugs, sensors, tracking software, additional security, cameras …. this should never happen unless insurance money is more cost effective than additional security.
First its massive recalls and now poor security leads to massive thefts, I guess this company is doing its best to cut corners in hoping to save money, and the opposite is happening.
It wouldn’t surprise me is the thieves behind this job are former employees with a score to settle. Since Ford will file an insurance claim to minimize their losses, expect their insurance premiums to go way up.
With all of the cheap wireless trackers out there, why doesn’t Ford buy a bunch of them and hide them in random spots inside of all of these vehicles (till sold), and provide the police with the tracker info, with fully automated alerts to the police station when the vehicle disappears from the lot? Seems to me like it would be a great way to hunt down and put an end to these car theft rings.
Back in the day
At a us navy shipyard crane operator saw car hoods in parking lot being opened ( car thieves stealing batteries)( got like 12) he called security one thief resisted and got shot for his resistance. Long Beach California police called to take 3 thieves arrested away.
After work biggest problem trying to figure out whose battery was whose !
All navy security shipyard guards were armed 1911,45’s. Government installation ya know.