Wheels: Ford F-250 Replaces Cadillac Escalade as Thieves’ Favorite Target, Study Says

Sam Varnhagen/Ford Motor, via Associated Press Ford F-250 pickups, like this 2011 model, have supplanted the Cadillac Escalade as the vehicle most likely to be stolen.

Being toppled from the number one spot on a list isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Case in point: The Ford F-250 has replaced the Cadillac Escalade as the vehicle most likely to be stolen, according to the Highway Loss Data Institute.

“This list gives consumers an indication of the relative risk of their vehicle being stolen,” said Matt Moore, vice president of the organization.

The Highway Loss Data Institute is an affiliate of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and both are financd by the insurance industry. This is the first year since 2003 that an Escalade variant has not been the vehicle with the highest theft claim rates. The Escalade is now sixth on the list. Possible reasons for the drop include new and improved antitheft technology as well as declining Escalade sales, according to a statement from the Highway Loss Data Institute.

According to National Highway Safety Administration statistics, a motor vehicle is stolen every 44 seconds. The agency also reported that only 52 percent of those vehicles are recovered and nearly half of those thefts resulted from driver error, like leaving keys in the ignition.

The report lists vehicles from the 2010-12 model years, and the top 10 vehicles on the list are all large pickups and S.U.V.’s. The Ford F-250 4-wheel-drive crew cab has a claim frequency of seven per 1,000 insured vehicle years. That means that for every 1,000 insured F-250 crew cabs on the road, seven – nearly six times the average for all passenger vehicles – are stolen each year. The average for all passenger vehicles is 1.2. The high number for trucks and S.U.V.’s could be partly explained by the fact that many pickup truck theft claims are filed because equipment has been stolen from the bed of the truck and the data does not differentiate between that and the theft of the entire vehicle.

Following the F-250 as vehicles most likely to be stolen are the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 crew cab (6.7 per 1,000), the Chevrolet Avalanche 1500 (6.1), the GMC Sierra 1500 crew cab (6.0), the Ford F-350 crew 4WD (5.6), the Cadillac Escalade 4WD (5.5), the Chevrolet Suburban 1500 (5.4), the GMC Sierra 1500 extended cab (4.7), the GMC Yukon (4.5) and the Chevrolet Tahoe (4.4).

Conversely, the vehicles least likely to be stolen are small and midsize vehicles. The vehicles on the bottom of the list, which is good in this case, are all tied with a claim frequency of 0.4 per 1,000, which means that fewer than 1 per 1,000 are being stolen annually. They are the Dodge Journey 4WD, the Volkswagen Tiguan 4WD, the Audi A4 sedan, the Acura RDX, the Toyota Matrix, the Lexus HS 250 hybrid 4-door, the Honda CR-V and the Hyundai Tucson 4WD.

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: July 10, 2013

An earlier version of this post misstated the role of driver error in causing theft. Thefts resulted from driver error, not in driver error.

Wheels Blog: Cadillac to Recall SRX Models for Wheel Problem; Triumph and Nissan Issue Recalls

Cadillac Cadillac said it will recall 19,000 SRX models for a problem with wheel lug nuts that could increase crash risk.

General Motors will recall almost 19,000 2013 Cadillac SRX models because the lug nuts on its 18-inch wheels may loosen, the automaker told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

In a report posted Friday on the safety agency’s Web site, the automaker said it traced the problem to “wheel nuts with a blue tint Teflon content topcoat, a nut torque at the lower end of the acceptable range and a rarely occurring rotor dimensional characteristic.”

The combination means “one or more of the wheel lug nuts could detach” possibly causing a crash. However, the automaker said it found the problem on vehicles in its fleet and was not aware of any wheels coming off or crashes related to the defect.

In other actions:

• Triumph says it will recall about 279 of its 2012-13 models because an indicator light might show that the transmission is in neutral when a gear has been selected, according to a report posted on the N.H.T.S.A. Web site. The action covers Triumph’s Speed Triple, Speed Triple ABS, Speed Triple R, Speed Triple R ABS, Sprint GT, Sprint ST, Tiger 1050 ABS and Tiger Sport models.

• Nissan’s worldwide recall of 841,000 vehicles does not include any in the United States or Canada, Steve Yeager, a spokesman for the company wrote in an e-mail. Mr. Yeager said the recall affected Cube, March and Micra models sold in Japan, Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, Latin America and Middle East, where the automaker will tighten the steering wheel fixing bolt to the correct torque.

Wheels: A 1960 Cadillac Takes Center Stage at the Metropolitan Opera

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times Diana Damrau as Gilda, dying in the trunk of a 1960 Cadillac Coupe de Ville, and Zeljko Lucic as Rigoletto in the opera “Rigoletto” at the Metropolitan Opera.

In classical opera, characters tend to get around in swan boats or chariots, but a production of “Rigoletto” at New York’s Metropolitan Opera puts a 1960 Cadillac Coupe de Ville in the spotlight. A soprano who has been fatally stabbed is briefly stuffed in its trunk, and the final duet, with the soprano dying in her father’s arms, takes place at the car’s rear, framed by fins and tail lights.

Traditionally, that scene is set on a riverbank in Renaissance Italy, bu the Met’s new production of the Verdi opera, directed by Michael Mayer, transports the action to 1960 Las Vegas. The Cadillac is the real thing, bought on eBay, then painted indigo blue with metallic flecks by the Met staff and illuminated by the lighting designer, Kevin Adams, to reach the high C of automotive fantasy.

Christine Jones, the set designer, explained in an e-mail that she wanted a car with a “look and feel that suited the period” of the Rat Pack, as well as the “overall sexiness” of the production’s last act, which opens with a pole dance at a sleazy club on the Vegas outskirts.

In traditional stagings of “Rigoletto,” as well as in the new one, the title character discovers that Gilda, his innocent daughter, has been seduced and raped by a powerful man. The father hires an assassin, Sparafucile, to kill the villain.

The Met’s current version gives the Cadillac to the hit man, who plans to drive his victim’s corpse to a river and dump it. But Gilda sacrifices herself for her seducer and ends up bagged in the trunk. Popping the lid open, Rigoletto, finds his daughter dying of her wounds, with just enough breath for the finale.

As happens in opera, the Met had to settle for second choice instead of the vehicular diva it really wanted. “We originally specified a 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham,” wrote Ms. Jones, only to find that “without knowing it, we had picked one of the most rare American cars that were essentially handmade in Italy.” Realizing the difficulty of snagging a Brougham, Ms. Jones turned to the Coupe de Ville, which she described as having a “very similar look without being almost impossible to find.”

The engine and most working parts were removed so that stagehands could easily move the car on casters. No other modifications were needed to soprano-size the vehicle. “Luckily, the cars of this era are long and wide,” Ms. Jones said. “There was never an issue about space for the singer. We were more concerned that Diana Damrau would not be willing to get into the trunk during her performance as Gilda,” said Ms. Jones, referring to the German soprano who has been singing the role. But as it happened, “she was excited about the idea and suggested it to Michael Mayer before he gathered the nerve to suggest it to her.”

The car’s mock Nevada license plate reads, “SPARAFUC,” a detail not necessarily visible in the opera house, Ms. Jones said, but shown in close-up in the Feb. 16 live transmission of the opera in HD, which played in movie theaters around the world. Actually, Nevada did not issue vanity plates until 1969, said John Walters, a member of that state’s branch of the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association. Still, it seemed like a realistic possibility, said Ms. Jones, who said her research had shown that other states had issued personalized plates even earlier.

And the plates seemed appropriate for Sparafucile, the killer, traditionally played as cocky and now the sharply dressed owner of a Cadillac. “They call them ‘vanity plates’ for a reason,” Ms. Jones noted.

The new “Rigoletto” will be presented at the Metropolitan Opera for six more performances from April 13 to May 1. A repeat of the HD transmission will be shown in movie theaters on March 6.