Ford is one of America’s best-selling truck makers, selling hundreds of thousands of new and used F-150s every year. And if you’re in the market for a used Ford F-150, you may be considering a wide variety of important factors like tow capacity, fuel economy, model year, and reliability. But there’s one surprising fact about the 2006 Ford F-150 in particular that might make you choose another.

The biggest (and most surprising) problem with 2006 Ford F-150

The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) analyzes vehicle-theft data every year to discover some interesting figures and identify the vehicles which are most-stolen in the U.S. Using information from the National Crime Information Center, NICB found that nearly 750,000 vehicles were stolen in 2018. According to NICB, that’s a 3% decline in stolen vehicles from previous years but some vehicles seem to be targeted more than others.

While Honda took the first and second position as the most-stolen car-maker, it was Ford’s pickup that landed in the third spot as most-stolen in 2018. More than 36,000 Ford truck owners were victims of vehicle thefts that year.

And it seems thieves have a preference for a model year because more 2006 Ford F-150s were stolen than any other model year. Exactly 3,173 2006 Fords were stolen. Though the reason is unclear, it seems the 2006 F-150’s biggest problem is its likelihood to get stolen.

How America’s best-selling truck is also the most stolen

The data compiled by NICB doesn’t give any indication as to the reason behind thieves may have a previous to some vehicles or model years over others. It is easy to understand however, how sheer vehicle-volume could impact these numbers.

Honda, after all, has sold a lot of vehicles. And automaker Ford has been America’s top-selling truck maker for years. According to GoodCarBadCar, Fold sold 901,463 F-Series trucks in 2005 and 769,039 in 2006.

For both years, Ford came out on top as the segment’s best-seller. It could be easy to correlate these high sales numbers with a high theft volume. But is there anything else that makes the 2006 Ford-F150 a stronger candidate for being stolen?

Why 2006 Ford F-150 is stolen so much

There are many reasons why a thief may target certain trucks. Trucks tend to be easy targets because no one expects them to be stolen. After all, thieves just want new, fancy things right?

Not necessarily. A vehicle thief will want what is available and unsurprisingly, trucks are expensive vehicles whether used or new. Used vehicles are easier and better for thieves, who can take them off to “chop-shops” to be dismantled and sold off, according to Forbes.

Trucks may be left at job sites or easily unattended and may lack modern security features of today, also making used trucks more likely to be stolen than new ones. In fact, according to Safety.com, 2006 Ford F-150 trucks were made with keys that “lacked a security chip, so the vehicle would start without much hassle.” These chips are recognized by modern engines in order to start and are embedded in most of today’s keys or fobs. 

But many 2006 F-150 owners also report having their own problems with the truck’s alarm/anti-theft system. Though the alarm system is designed to sound in the event of an attempted break-in, many owners report faults in the design.

According to F-150 Online, owners report that the 2006 F-150’s alarm system has the tendency to go off at random times. This has forced many owners to disable the alarm system themselves, increasing the chances of theft.