  We evolve stellar models with zero-age main sequence (ZAMS) mass of $M_{\rm
ZAMS} \gtrsim 18 M_\odot$ under the assumption that they experience an enhanced
mass-loss rate when crossing the instability strip at high luminosities and
conclude that most of them end as type Ibc supernovae (SNe Ibc) or
dust-obscured SNe II. We explore what level of enhanced mass-loss rate during
the instability strip would be necessary to explain the `red supergiant (RSG)
problem'. This problem refers to the dearth of observed core-collapse
supernovae progenitors with $M_{\rm ZAMS} \gtrsim 18 M_\odot$. Namely, we
examine what enhanced mass loss rate could make it possible for all these stars
actually to explode as CCSNe. We find that the mass-loss rate should increase
by a factor of at least about ten. We reach this conclusion by analyzing the
hydrogen mass in the stellar envelope and the optical depth of the dusty wind
at the explosion, and crudely estimate that under our assumptions only about a
fifth of these stars explode as unobscured SNe II and SNe IIb. About 10-15 per
cent end as obscured SNe II that are infrared-bright but visibly very faint,
and the rest, about 65-70 per cent, end as SNe Ibc. However, the statistical
uncertainties are still too significant to decide whether many stars with
$M_{\rm ZAMS} \gtrsim 18M_\odot$ do not explode as expected in the neutrino
driven explosion mechanism, or whether all of them explode as CCSNe, as
expected by the jittering jets explosion mechanism.
