Everybody hates a thief. And if you’ve walked this planet for more than a few days, odds are good that you too have been a victim. It’s not just purse snatchers and pickpockets these days, either. Porsche owners have seen an alarming rise in headlamp theft, and it’s likely that every truck owner has feared for the safety of his or her tailgate. Then there’s the catalytic converter theft that has been all over the nightly news the past few years. A new fear has been unlocked, however. Ford F-Series Super Duty pickup taillights are now being stolen at an alarming rate. Great, just great.

It takes less than two minutes for a thief to steal a pair of late-model Ford taillights using little more than common hand tools. Why steal taillights, you ask? Modern pickup taillights often come packed with high-tech electronics (sensors for the blind-spot-monitoring system, for example), along with LED lights. These taillights can cost thousands of dollars to replace, which makes selling ill-gotten sets a lucrative proposition on the secondary market.

Elaborate Crime Ring Busted

Houston-based news outlet Fox 26 recently reported on the arrest of three suspects who are believed to be part of an elaborate crime ring that focused on stealing taillights in the Galveston and Houston areas. Over the course of five months, from September 2024 until January 2025, the group allegedly nabbed the taillights of 34 different pickups that combined for a street value of more than $92,000. Most of the trucks targeted by the thieves were high-end late-model Ford F-350 Super Duty trucks, as these are the most valuable, costing owners between $4,500 and $6,000 for OEM replacement sets.

If you’re shaking your head thinking, there’s no possible way a set of taillights is that expensive, let us be the first to tell you that they are. Looking at Ford’s online part site, you’ll find that a single taillamp for a 2023-2024 F-Series Super Duty costs $1,980.37. If you’re lucky enough to have the non-LED taillamps, which aren’t as desirable to thieves, those will only set you back $494.95. By contrast, taillights for a 2013 Super Duty cost just $63.21 to replace, which might also help explain skyrocketing insurance costs as well.

Police In Texas Help Secure Taillights

Because these lights are so valuable and easily stolen, there must be a solution to help keep the honest people honest, right? The answer is so shockingly simple, you’ll wonder why Ford didn’t think of it. When the police in the small Texas town of University Park got fed up with dealing with this theft in its neighborhood, the department launched a program that offered to replace the taillight mounting screws of Ford F-Series pickups for free. A local newspaper has reported that since beginning the program in 2022, the department has replaced the screws on 120 trucks. Unsurprisingly, none of these pickups have had their lights stolen.

Of course, ensuring that the truck is locked, thereby locking the tailgate as well, will also cause would-be robbers to seek easier marks. But hey, there’s no such thing as too safe, right?