These Are The Most Stolen Keyless Cars In America: Is Yours On The List?

Driving technology continues to evolve with each passing year; There's always some exciting new component that changes the dynamics of operating a car. Keyless entry is one of such game changers, with multiple manufacturers incorporating it in their models since its adoption in the luxury market in the 1990s.

However, as vehicular technology evolves, car crime finds a way to keep up with the times. Thus, although keyless entry exists to eliminate the mundane actions of manually turning a key, it remains susceptible to cunning techniques applied to bypass the installed security measures. These risks can come in various forms, whether it's a $20 relay attack device that can break into a Tesla, or an aesthetically-deceptive Tamagotchi-styled Flipper Zero (which is actually a hacking Swiss Army Knife).

As more of such techniques gained traction through internet virality, car theft rates rose. According to the Council on Criminal Justice, car theft grew by 29% between 2019 and 2022. While still much lower than the peak reached in 1991, these figures prompted manufacturers to make changes to their keyless entry structures, and the latest numbers from the National Insurance Crime Bureau show an improvement: Theft has decreased 23% in the first half of this year compared to 2024. Despite these encouraging signs of safety, you'll certainly want to know if your car is still a prime target for theft. Here's a list of the most stolen keyless cars in America, according to the NICB.

The Hyundai Elantra is no stranger to topping the list of car thefts — it's been a consistent feature since the pandemic rolled around. That status hasn't changed in the first half of 2025 — the NICB reports 11,329 thefts, over 2,000 higher than the vehicle in second place.

This popularity largely stems from a social media trend, if you'll believe it. If you were active on TikTok between 2021 and last year, chances are you came across what was dubbed the 'Kia Challenge' — it was apparently trendy to cart away car models from Hyundai and Kia. This frenzy is the most pertinent example highlighting the vulnerability of keyless entry cars to theft.

Considering that all any ill-meaning person needed to cart away a parked Elantra was a USB cable — the Elantra lacked an electronic immobilizer designed to prevent this — it's little wonder the trend went viral. Hyundai responded to the threat in early 2023 by offering free software updates built to serve as an ignition kill switch in affected models like the Elantra.

As a result, despite the Elantra's place at the top of the pile of the most stolen keyless cars, fewer units are being stolen year-on-year. The NICB's 2023 report showed nearly 50,000 car theft victims were Elantra owners — a number that fell to just over 30,000 last year. With figures for the first half of 2025 slightly north of 11,000, it might not be much longer before another model takes the Elantra's place.

The aforementioned Kia Challenge TikTok trend may have come to be associated with the Kia brand from its moniker, but as the data shows, Hyundai has borne the brunt of the theft blow. In terms of theft data from the NICB for the first half of this year, the Sonata trails only the Elantra, with 9,154 units reported missing.

The lower numbers for the Sonata could be attributed to sheer sales volume; The Elantra has consistently outsold the mid-size sedan since 2013, so there are more Elantras on the road to tinker with their keyless systems than there are Sonatas. Whatever the reason may be, Sonatas appear to be just as at risk of car theft as Elantras in the current climate. However, like its cousin model, theft claims are on a steady decline since the manufacturer took steps to curtail the widespread hooliganism plaguing the model at the height of the Kia Challenge trend.

Although the fixes may not have featured the most revolutionary tech — steering locks and immobilizer installs were at the forefront of Hyundai's efforts — the numbers show a working strategy. Stolen Sonatas accounted for 42,800 car thefts in 2023 and 26,720 in 2024. While the Sonata maintains its position from last year's most stolen car list, at the current pace, 2025 should present yet another significant drop and inspire some owner confidence in the Sonata's security.

Car theft totals in the US reached their peak in the 1990s. Coincidentally, that's when the Honda Accord model became really popular with street crime. Keyless entry technology made its debut in the Japanese automaker's vehicles in 1997 through that year's Special Edition trim, and not entirely coincidentally, those models proved to be prime stealing targets. In fact, extending into the mid-2010s, thousands of '90s-manufactured Honda Accords were still being carted off the streets. The Honda Accord was the most stolen vehicle of the 2010s — although that's primarily because it's the best-selling car in America over the last five decades.

Newer models have proven to be much less porous than their predecessors, but that's not to say they're invincible, either. In 2022, a hack that could open virtually any Honda emerged; a "Rolling PWN" attack that stole command codes from keyless entry fobs. The widespread availability of these cars, coupled with the lack of beefy anti-theft technology in the earlier models, creates a perfect storm. Thus, while it may be more difficult to steal newer models, the theft risk that comes with owning a Honda Accord is still very real.

However, the good news is that it might be slightly less risky to own one in 2025 than ever before. Thefts dropped by almost 2,000 units last year, and the 8,531 figure in the first half of this year suggests another decline is on the horizon.

Like the Honda Accord, Chevrolet pickup trucks have long been in the sights of car thieves; They ranked fourth on the most stolen list in the last decade, clocking in just behind full-sized Ford trucks. However, the Chevy Silverado 1500 has flipped its direct competitor, the Ford F-150, in the car theft department in recent years.

Last year, the Chevy Silverado 1500 recorded 21,666 thefts — quite some distance from the F-150's mark of just under 13,000. That trend is repeating itself this year. According to the NICB's numbers; 8,006 Silverado 1500 units have gone missing compared to 4,996 from Ford. While car popularity plays a role in the sheer numbers, one reason for this surge is the vulnerability of the Silverado 1500's key fobs. Apparently, it's not just the Silverado suffering from this; There's a whole class-action lawsuit alleging that GM ignored weaknesses in its key fobs and ignition systems from 2010 all the way to 2025.

This negligence has manifested itself most accusingly in the IIHS theft report covering car models produced between 2022 and 2024. The Chevrolet Silverado 2500 and 3500 trims appear on the most stolen list, with several GMC Sierra trims also featuring near the pinnacle of the theft tree. The Silverado 1500 may not be explicitly named on the list, but it stands to reason that the trim is just as vulnerable as its sister models.

The Honda Civic mirrors the Accord in its ubiquity — more than 27 million units have been sold worldwide. About 15 million of these sales have come from North America since 1973. That market success means that a significant number of car thefts are bound to be Honda Civics. To quantify this, the Honda Civic finished second, behind only the Accord, as the most-stolen vehicle in the US in the last decade.

However, according to the IIHS, the model doesn't feature at all on the most stolen cars developed between 2022 and 2024. From this data, it's logical to stipulate that the Honda Civic's keyless entry isn't more vulnerable than any other car model on the market. So, why are so many Civics still going missing? There might be several factors driving these thefts. For starters, there's a demand for spare parts of popular car models like the Civic (whether from legit or underground repair shops). Another could be that the Honda Civic is one of the most popular street racing cars. Additionally, Honda airbags were quite sought after in the late 2010s, and this may have contributed to the theft totals.

Luckily, there's an observable downtrend; Nearly 20,000 Civics went missing in 2023 — a number that fell to 15,727 last year. So far this year, for the first and second quarters, only 6,396 have been stolen. That's still 6,396 too many, but the improvement over time should give Honda Civic owners some peace.