A Grand Rapids woman believes the manual transmission in her car may have played an unexpected role in preventing it from being stolen, after an apparent theft attempt ended with the vehicle left behind despite visible damage.
The incident occurred Monday morning on the east side of Grand Rapids, where Lila Burns-Weerstra had parked her black Kia Soul on the street outside her home. According to Burns-Weerstra, the vehicle was broken into and hot-wired, but it was never driven away. Security camera footage from a neighboring home showed the attempted theft, though the suspects ultimately abandoned the car without taking anything from inside.
Burns-Weerstra suspects the presence of a clutch pedal may have discouraged the would-be thieves. Manual transmissions are increasingly uncommon, and operating one requires a skill set many drivers no longer have. After the vehicle’s interior lights came on, she believes the intruders may have realized the car was not easily drivable and chose to leave it behind.
The car sustained damage during the incident, including a broken window, steering column damage and ignition issues. It is currently in a repair shop, and Burns-Weerstra expects a significant repair bill. Notably, this was not the first time her vehicle had been targeted. She experienced a similar attempted theft roughly three years earlier in a different Grand Rapids neighborhood. In that case as well, the car was damaged but never moved.
Burns-Weerstra has a long history with manual transmissions, having learned to drive a stick shift before she was old enough to obtain a license. She learned on a small farm truck while growing up on rural property in Colorado, and has continued driving manual-transmission vehicles into adulthood.
The incident comes amid a broader decline in auto thefts across Grand Rapids. According to data from the Grand Rapids Police Department, vehicle thefts in Michigan’s second-largest city have dropped sharply over the past four years. Even so, attempted thefts and vehicle break-ins continue to affect residents across multiple neighborhoods.
Following her experience, Burns-Weerstra encourages others to take basic precautions such as locking doors and installing security cameras. While she had previously considered switching to an automatic transmission due to daily highway driving, the most recent incident has reinforced her preference for manual vehicles.
For her, the outdated drivetrain may have provided an unintentional layer of protection, turning an attempted theft into little more than a costly inconvenience rather than a total loss.
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