Ford Mustang Thefts: NICB Releases Complete History Of Stolen Mustangs

To most Mustang owners their Mustang is more than just a car, it’s a symbol of who they are and their cars are often as unique as they are. However, because the Mustang is such a cool car it is often stolen leaving Mustang owners devastated.

This past August the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) released its annual report titled Hot Wheels, in which it lists the top 10 most stolen cars in America.  However, the Mustang did not make an appearance on that list. We contacted NICB a few months ago to find out just how many Mustangs are stolen in a given year and thanks to them we now have that data.

However, before the data, we would like to show this video in which the NICB interviewed a former Marine who had his 1965 Shelby GT-350 Mustang stolen from him in 1982. Shortly after the car was taken, the young solider was deployed and never saw his Mustang again. That is until 2007 when an NICB agent contacted him with the news, they had found his car.

The Data
Although data for all years is available, confidence in pre-1981 records is low due to the inconsistency in reporting protocols and vehicle identification number (VIN) systems in use prior to 1981.

Since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration required VIN standardization beginning with the 1981 model year, that year is the oldest reliable data used in this report. Data prior to 1981 is provided for information only.

Overall, from 1981 through 2011, a total of 411,155 Mustangs were reported stolen. The most thefts occurred in 1981 (20,708) and the fewest in 2011 (4,347). You can download the complete data spreadsheet here.

Thefts vs. Sales
During the 30-year period from 1981-2011, a total of 4,110,110 Mustangs were sold in the United States. However, over the Mustang’s entire lifespan through the end of 2011, a total of 8,450,741 units have been sold in the United States. The single year with the most U.S. sales was 1966 with 549,436. Conversely, 2009 logged the fewest Mustang sales reaching only 66,623 units.

The table below shows us where the Ford Mustang ended up on the annual Hot Wheels report for the years 2001-2010. The trend shows that the Mustang is becoming less and less of a target every year. Good news for us Mustang owners.