Attorney General Bonta Blasts Kia And Hyundai For Car Theft Risks

By Ria Roebuck Joseph | Center Square contributor, The Center Square California

March 25, 2023

(The Center Square) - “Cars are often one of the largest purchases a family will ever make — and families shouldn’t have to worry that manufacturers are cutting corners that could put their purchase at risk,” said Attorney General Bonta.

The California Attorney General and 22 other attorneys general from across the state sent a letter to Kia America and Hyundai Motor Company following a spate of car thefts on models produced by the car manufacturers which did not include engine immobilizers.

“While your companies are reported to have taken some steps to address this crisis, it hasn’t been enough, and it hasn’t been done fast enough,” the letter stated.

Models of Kia and Hyundai vehicles became targets for car thieves following “The Kia Boyz Challenge.” In 2022, a group of teenagers posted Tik Tok videos showing themselves hotwiring Hyundai and Kia cars using only a screwdriver and a USB connector. The posts went viral. Two weeks later the posts were removed, but the damage was already done.

The surge of thefts following the challenge post was memorialized in the issued letter, “In 2020 there were 895 thefts of Hyundai and Kia vehicles in Milwaukee. In 2021, there were 6,970. While thefts slightly declined in Milwaukee in 2022, there were still six Hyundai and Kia vehicles being stolen every day as of the end of September of last year. Thefts of Hyundais and Kias in Minneapolis increased by 836% in 2022 over the previous year. Year over year from 2021 to 2022, St. Louis County, Missouri saw a 1,090% increase in thefts of Kias and Hyundais. In Chicago, there were over 7,000 thefts of Hyundai and Kia vehicles in 2022, alone. The thefts account for 10% of all registered Kias and 7% of all registered Hyundais in Chicago. From 2019 to 2022, Philadelphia witnessed a nearly 800% and 400% increase in thefts of Kias and Hyundais, respectively.”

“The thefts show no signs of abating anytime soon. In the first three weeks of January 2023, Kias and Hyundais made up 44% of all car thefts in Washington, D.C. (176 thefts out of a total of 393), which was a sharp rise compared to July 2022, when Kias and Hyundais only accounted for 9% of thefts (31 out of a total of 332). In Buffalo, New York, the numbers of stolen Kia and Hyundai vehicles have skyrocketed, from 400 during all of 2022 to 350 in just the first two months of 2023.”

In Los Angeles, Hyundai and Kia vehicles accounted for 20% of all stolen cars in 2022, up from 13% in 2021. In Berkeley it was 38% since the end of 2022.

Kia offered this response to Fox13 at the beginning of the year: "Kia remains concerned that criminal actors are targeting certain Kia cars with a steel key and "turn-to-start" ignition systems. While no car can be made completely theft-proof, Kia continues to make steering wheel locks available to customers through interested local law enforcement agencies, subject to available supply, at no cost to concerned owners of these vehicles. Kia also continues its efforts to develop additional solutions for vehicles not originally equipped with an immobilizer, including the development and testing of enhanced security software designed to restrict operation of the vehicle’s ignition system. Kia has started notifying owners of certain models of the availability of this software upgrade at no cost, and Kia anticipates that it will make software upgrades available for most affected vehicles over the next few months. All 2022 models and trims have an immobilizer applied either at the beginning of the year or as a running change, and all Kia vehicles meet or exceed Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. It is Kia America’s policy to not comment on pending litigation."

The focus of the work of The Center Square California is state and local-level government and economic reporting that approaches stories with a taxpayer sensibility.