By Steven Symes 
If you’ve had the misfortune of damaging your newer Ford truck’s taillight, you already know just how expensive they can be. It seems thieves have realized this as well, because a new trend involves people just stealing the taillights right off F-Series trucks while they’re parked.
Classic car damaged by rodents and storage unit management ducks responsibility.
That’s right, they’re not even bothering to take the whole truck and part it out. We’ve seen this kind of behavior before, but it appears the trend is growing in some areas, meaning it could spread nationwide soon.
As reported by Fox26 Houston, Webster Police Department in the Harris County area has been dealing with 34 trucks pilfered of their taillights from September 2024 to January 2025. The total value of those taillights is reportedly over $92,000.
Depending on the model F-Series truck you own and its features, replacement taillights can run into the thousands of dollars. That’s because you’re not just replacing a light that indicates to other drivers when you’re stopping or turning.
In this brave new world of ours, Ford has decided to embed all kinds of expensive sensors in taillights. Why? That’s an excellent question because other automakers have spread radar sensors, cameras, etc. around the back end of vehicles so if one gets damaged in a crash, the others might be spared.
But not Ford and thieves have realized they can score big money quickly by just popping the taillights out of trucks. What makes it hard is most vehicle security measures won’t stop thieves from taking the pricey taillights.
Maybe the aftermarket will come up with a solution to this problem? We’re not quite sure what that would look like, maybe a Club lock for taillights? In all seriousness, all truck owners can do now is try to park where thieves can’t just pull up and yank parts off. It also doesn’t hurt to have really good insurance coverage, considering two taillights can run upwards of $6,000.
Image via Ford