After a dangerous TikTok trend led to indiscriminate stealing of cars in the US, particularly of the Hyundai and Kia car models, the city of New York is suing the South Korean carmakers.
The city accused the automakers of negligence and creating a public nuisance by selling vehicles that are too easy to steal. New York argued that the carmaker did not install anti-theft devices called immobilizers on most of their cars between 20111 and 2022, making it easy to steal.
“In electing profits over safety and deviating from industry norms by not including engine immobilizers as a standard safety feature, Defendants created and maintained a public nuisance,” read the filing submitted to the US District Court in the Southern District of New York.
“This case is a clear example of what happens to public safety when car manufacturers choose not to include standard anti-theft technology in their cars,” the filing added.
“Making sure cars are not easy to steal protects both property and the public by keeping dangerous drivers in stolen vehicles off the roads,” it said
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‘Explosion’ of car thefts
Through the lawsuit, the City aims “to hold the two companies accountable”. It added that number of stolen Hyundai’s and Kia’s doubled last year, followed by an “explosion of thefts” in the first four months of 2023 with 977 reported thefts, compared to 148 in the same period last year.
“This represents a roughly 660% increase in thefts of Kia and Hyundai vehicles as compared to those same months in 2022, when there were only 148 such thefts,” it said.
Notably, Hyundai is the parent company of Kia but the two companies operate separately. The uptick in thefts was reported after a TikTok challenge surfaced last year wherein Kia and Hyundai cars which still use mechanical keys and not electronic systems were targetted by clout-chasing influencers.
The lack of anti-theft measures made the cars more vulnerable to larceny. The challenge egged the users on the app to take advantage and steal the cars using minimal tools. The thieves took videos of them stealing the cars and posted them on the ByteDance-owned platform with the hashtag “Kia Boys”.
New York City has joined the likes of Baltimore, Cleveland, Milwaukee, San Diego and Seattle to have sued the South Korean automaker.
(With inputs from agencies)
