A friend of mine asserts that manual transmission automobiles are less likely to be stolen than ones with automatic transmissions, because few enough people are comfortable driving a stick that many thieves will pass them by.
On the face of it, that seems reasonable: if you’re stealing a car, you want to get out of there quickly and without bringing attention to yourself. Not so easy if you keep stalling it out, so you go look for a car that’s easier to steal.
But is this true? Any statistics to prove or disprove the assertion?
No statistics, but it makes sense to me, especially if the thief is thinking about how hard it will be to sell the car once he’s stolen it.
But… if you are talking about a car that is highly prized by thieves for its component parts, then all bets are off. A chop shop doesn’t care what type of transmission it is; there are still plenty of other organs they can recycle.
I can tell you from experience, though, that a manual transmission car is much less likely to be *borrowed *by your friends. Especially your girlfriend…TRM
Unless it is parked on a hill. The thief can coast the vehicle down the hill out of earshot, and start it there, or even bump start it, since most alarm systems disable the starter, but not the ignition system.
Pulling a parked manual on to a flat bed is unlikely to damage it, but with an automatic you need to get the transmission out of park, or you are likely to damage the driveline lock mechanism.
Anecdote =/= Data:
I had a manual transmission vehicle stolen. It was recovered near Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chi. Mexico, along with 7 other stolen trucks. I checked out these trucks when I went to get mine. All Ford trucks, all with a class-3 receiver hitch, and all manual transmissions.
Another anecdote instead of data here, but I do know of one case where the thief tried to steal the car but couldn’t drive a stick. He kept stalling the car out and only managed to get it about half a block from where he started before he abandoned the vehicle. So in at least one case a manual transmission actually prevented the car from being stolen.
Around here in the DC area a lot of the cars being stolen are by young kids, usually between 12-16 who just want to go joyriding. In many cases they would not have the slightest idea how to drive a manual transmission and would just as soon focus on a car that doesn’t have one. My 1995 Mazda with manual transmission is safe!
My disagreement was that car security systems disable the starter motor which isn’t true anymore. Factory installed systems disable the ECU directly. You can crank with the starter motor (by hotwiring) or try push starting as long as you like but the car won’t start. Aftermarket alarms usually cut power to the fuel pump and the results are similar.