Acura Integra tops list of most stolen vehicles

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Acura Integra tops a new study listing the most stolen passenger vehicles for the model years 1999-2001, according to the Highway Loss Data Institute.

The list correlates numbers of each 1999-2001 model passenger vehicle thought to be on the road with the frequency that it is stolen to determine which cars thieves want most often.

The institute, based in Arlington, Virginia, is funded by auto insurers that gathers data on the ways in which insurance losses vary among different kinds of vehicles. It is an affiliate of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Theft investigators suspect that Integras are so popular with thieves because of their parts, according to Kim Hazelbaker, the institute's senior vice president.

"Many of those parts, like the more powerful engine, end up on modified Honda Civics," Hazelbaker said. The Civic and Integra share the same platform.

The Integra was stolen with a frequency of 21.7 times per 1,000 insured vehicles on the road in a year, according to the institute's study.

The Integra was stolen more than eight times as often as the average car and 2.5 times more frequently than the Jeep Wrangler -- the vehicle second on the list -- according to the institute. The Wrangler is stolen, the institute said, 8.5 times per 1,000 insured vehicles.

The average U.S. car is stolen 2.6 times per 1,000 insured vehicles, according to the study.