It is not new. Here’s a snippet for you: “On Japan’s list of the most commonly stolen vehicles, as of November 2008, the HiAce resides in the first place. Because of a lack of a theft immobilizer, it is fairly easy to steal a HiAce, as opposed to much more valuable SUVs and sports cars, which have more sophisticated theft deterrent systems.” Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_HiAce#Fifth_generation_(H200;_2004) & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_HiAce#cite_note-54

It seems like Toyota does not believe in the value of their own products nor do they give any value to the fact that their customers have given them the preference of choice. There are lots of ways a relationship can be abusive and this client&product-provider relationship definitely is.

In other words, Toyota cars do not get stolen because they are so awesome. They get stolen because they are the easiest to steal.

It is a good time to draw a parallel with the Kia Challenge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kia_Challenge. hyundai and Kia want themselves to be taken seriously in the world yet it took them so many years after becoming a laughing stock in TikTok memes to improve the security of their vehicles (only USDM models affected though).