Social media trend encouraging people to steal Kia, Hyundai vehicles

PHOENIX (3Television/CBS 5) — Leslie Sison loves driving her Kia. She enjoys how it feels and how it rides. What she doesn’t appreciate is that her vehicle may be easy to steal. “Scary to imagine how quick it is that persons are really placing it out there on social media, and declaring how to steal it is even even worse,” reported Sison.

The Queen Creek mother is just one of several Arizona car or truck homeowners on high warn soon after hearing that Kia and Hyundai vehicles are currently being stolen in record quantities across the place.

A quantity of TikTok videos have sparked a new social media pattern that’s instructing men and women how simple it is to steal these automobiles and SUVs by just using a USB cord. Kia products from 2011 to 2021 and Hyundai models from 2015 to 2021 reportedly lack an anti-theft process that would reduce intruders from using USB cords, like a essential, to get started the motor.

Many law enforcement businesses across the Phoenix location have indicated they have not witnessed an uptick in car thefts involving Kia and Hyundai automobiles. However, they feel it’s just a issue of time. “We assume this to strike Arizona, probably in the up coming handful of months,” mentioned Sgt. Jason McClimans, with the Chandler Police Division. “We want to make confident the public is educated so you are not a sufferer of this.”

Law enforcement counsel that entrepreneurs of a Kia or Hyundai auto get an anti-theft destroy change unit, steering wheel lock, or a GPS monitoring device. “I will definitely consider excess steps and safety measures to safeguard my car,” claimed Sison.

A course motion lawsuit has been submitted in at the very least two states proclaiming Kia and Hyundai deliberately did not install the anti-theft units to preserve dollars. There have been no announcements of any remembers addressing the issue.

Both of those Kia and Hyundai have issued statements to other media stores.

“Kia The usa is knowledgeable of the rise in motor vehicle thefts of a subset of trim concentrations in your place. All 2022 types and trims have an immobilizer utilized possibly at the starting of the year or as a managing transform. All Kia autos for sale in the U.S. fulfill or exceed Federal Motor Motor vehicle Safety Expectations,” the Kia statement claimed.

“Hyundai Motor America is anxious with the rise in community auto thefts. The protection and effectively-currently being of our clients and the group is and will stay our top rated precedence. These automobiles satisfy or exceed Federal Motor Car Protection Expectations and motor immobilizers are conventional gear on all new Hyundai motor vehicles,” the Hyundai assertion stated.

Copyright 2022 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.