St. Louis, Missouri sues Kia, Hyundai over increasing thefts

American city St. Louis, Missouri, has joined a number of major US cities to sue Korean automakers Hyundai Motor and Kia Corp for failing to install anti-theft technology in millions of their vehicles. The lawsuit was filed in US District Court in Missouri and follows similar actions taken by several US cities. Hyundai and Kia thefts have been alarmingly increasing since a method was popularised on TikTok and other social media channels. Other cities suing Kia and Hyundai include Cleveland, Ohio; San Diego, California; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Columbus, Ohio; and Seattle.

"Big corporations like Kia and Hyundai must be held accountable for endangering our residents and putting profit over people,” said St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones.

Immobilisers were a standard requirement on 96 per cent of US vehicles by 2015. But when it came to Hyundai and Kia vehicles, they were standard on only 26 per cent of their vehicles in the 2015 model year, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) Highway Loss Data Institute. The absence of electronic immobilisers helped thieves break in and bypass the ignition.

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Data shows that Kia and Hyundai vehiclesmake up a large share of stolen cars in the country. The Korean automakers, who are controlled by the same conglomerate, had last month said they would offer software upgrades to 8.3 million US vehicles to address the issue.

TikTok videos showing how to steal Kia and Hyundai cars without push-button ignitions and immobilising anti-theft devices have gone viral in the country. The resultant car thefts led to at least 14 reported crashes and eight fatalities, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said in February.

Responding to the matter, Kia said on Monday that the lawsuits "are without merit." It said it was "willing to work cooperatively with law enforcement agencies in St. Louis to combat car theft and the role social media has played in encouraging it".

Hyundai informed that it took a number of actions "in response to increasing and persistent thefts targeting our vehicles without push-button ignitions and immobilizing anti-theft devices in the United States".

(With inputs from agencies)

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