I've been reading stories that some Lexus/Toyota are almost as bad as Hyundai on how easy they are to steal due to Canbus/headlight hack. Is the IS500 just as vulnerable? I live in California and it's a major car theft capital.

 

Probably, but who would want a IS500?

 

Mac makes a good point - what typically matters more than how prevalent car theft is in your area is how much of a target your car is. There aren't enough of these in circulation to sustain a black market for the parts, and they aren't exotic enough for anyone to 'order' one on the black market, so the IS 500 is kind of in a safe zone of sorts.

That doesn't mean one (or more) won't get stolen over time, but it's unlikely in a sea of far more common cars that carry far more desirable parts for chop shops.

 

Probably only next to Ontario & Quebec, where it has become a well-oiled and highly organized business enterprise. Mostly SUV's of all kinds taken from all over (home driveways, parking malls, you name it) with almost all of them being shipped out from the port of Montreal and onto Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Russia, you name it. Just brutal. Don't get me started on this one. Yeah, trying to find hundreds of 4000 lb vehicles in shipping containers is like trying to find a needle in a hay stack, or so the Port Authorities claim

 

Someone's getting their palms greased at the port. You don't export hundreds of vehicles like this without some help from authorities.

 

Yes but the general public doesn't understand the hacks. We don't have the headlight hack, but it is easy to hack once you get to the OBD. The newer RX is actually more secure now.
I don't think these cars are stolen to ship out though, they are stolen to do other crimes.

 

Unsure whether this was due to a Canbus attack but the IS still vulnerable to being stolen.

Here are two instances where it has happened in Canada based on these sources, although they aren't 500s but I don't suppose the security system is any different:

Owner claimed it was stolen from their driveway: Stolen car- Ontario Canada

One of the recovered vehicles in the press release picture is 3.5 gen IS: 48 stolen vehicles recovered as part of undercover bust