New York City intends to join ongoing national legal action against car manufacturers Kia and Hyundai over near quadruple-digit percentage point increases in thefts of those vehicles it claims are tied to a missing anti-theft measure in certain models, Mayor Eric Adams announced Friday.
Thieves have been breaking ignition covers off Kia and Hyundai vehicles made between 2011 and 2021 and can use any external device shaped like a USB to bypass the ignition sequence and drive off, Adams said.
Millions of vehicles -- 3.8 million Hyundais and 4.5 million Kias, as of the last federal update — are impacted. It's a known issue, which is why the two manufacturers rolled out free security upgrades -- but everyone else knows it, too.
People publicized it on social media, leading to a TikTok challenge that emerged in mid-2022. The five boroughs saw an 890% increase in Kia thefts at the end of last year and a 766% increase in Hyundai thefts in the preceding months, according to Adams. The trend has swept the nation. It has also turned deadly.
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By this past Valentine's Day, had been blamed for at least 14 crashes and eight deaths linked to the thefts, according to the National Highway Safety Administration. The same challenge was eyed in an October car crash in New York that left four teenagers dead.
Kia didn't immediately respond to an email request for comment on the city's planned legal action Friday. In a statement, Hyundai said that the company is "committed to ensuring the quality and integrity of our products."
The statement went on to address the issue of thefts of their cars, saying that engine immobilizers have been standard on all vehicles since Nov 2021, and a free software upgrade has been made available to prevent this kind of theft, with the upgrade being made available to three million more impacted customers in coming weeks.
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Hyundai will also reimburse any customer who has already purchased a steering wheel lock, according to the statement, and "continues to provide free steering wheel locks to law enforcement agencies across the country for distribution to local residents who own or lease affected models."
Adams also said certain models that use mechanical keys instead of a fob lack theft "immobilizer" systems that are present in other vehicles, making them especially vulnerable to theft.
“We are not going to sit idly by while automakers turn a blind eye to safety and make it easy for criminals to prey on New Yorkers," he said in a statement Friday. "New Yorkers count on their Kia and Hyundai automobiles to earn a living, get to and from work, transport their children and elderly family members, and live their daily lives."
"We have the right to expect that those cars have standard anti-theft measures — measures which certain Kia and Hyundai cars lack," the Democrat added. "We’re going to hold Kia and Hyundai accountable for the public nuisance they’ve created and protect New Yorkers’ cars."
In a press briefing alongside the mayor late last month, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said the department first caught on to the alarming spike in New York City thefts in September. Prior to that, she says the city was seeing about 10 to 12 of those cars stolen a month. She says that the average rose to about 100 in December.
Most of the thefts have occurred in the Bronx, but northern Manhattan is seeing an increase as well, Sewell added. It's not clear how many impacted vehicles are registered in New York, but the police commissioner said that number itself doesn't really matter: She's concerned about any and all of them that are in New York City.
"We believe teenagers are stealing them based on the video for joyriding, but we cannot ignore the fact there's a possibility they are being used in the commission of a crime," Sewell said, noting that most of the cars believed stolen in connection with the trend were found abandoned. "Obviously, the stealing of them themselves is the crime, but there's a more dangerous crime that can happen down the road that we want to prevent."
Here's what the NYPD suggests you do if you have one of the earlier models, apart from getting the upgrade:
- Use a steering wheel locking device
- Always turn off the ignition and remove the keys when leaving your vehicle
- Lock all windows and doors
- Activate your vehicle's alarm system
- Park in high-traffic, well-lit areas whenever possible
For its part, TikTok has said it "does not condone this behavior, which violates our policies and will be removed if found on our platform."
