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Theft Prevention Publications and Information  

Vehicle Theft Database

The agency is required by 49 U.S.C. 33104(b)(4) to periodically obtain and publish accurate and reliable theft data. The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation provides this data to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The NCIC is a governmental system that receives vehicle theft data from approximately 23,000 criminal justice agencies and other law enforcement authorities throughout the United States. This national data includes the reported thefts of self-insured and uninsured vehicles, not all of which are reported to other data sources.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is also the agency responsible for establishing the median theft rate for passenger motor vehicles (cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles and light trucks - 6,000 pounds or less gross vehicle weight rating). For MYs 1983 through 1989, the established median was 3.2712 thefts per 1,000 vehicles produced. For MY's 1990 through the present year, the established median has been 3.5826 thefts per 1,000 vehicles produced. The theft data show that those model year vehicles whose theft rates exceeded the established median during a given calendar year had a higher theft rate experience for the number of model year vehicles produced in the same calendar year.