A little more than a month 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 St Louis in Missouri is planning to sue the carmakers for it.
Reportedly, the city has seen a huge uptick in car thefts in the past few months and the city leadership is now threatening lawsuits against the two companies for making cars that have certain defects which make it easier to steal them than other cars.
“With this letter, the city demands that Kia and Hyundai mitigate the defective conditions providing thieves, including teenagers as young as 13 – the instrumentalities by which they are destroying property, endangering city drivers and themselves, and, in some cases, committing violent felonies,” read a letter written by City Counselor Sheena Hamilton.
“Kia and Hyundai’s defective vehicles have caused a public safety crisis in the city, endangering the health, safety, and peace of all those who live, work or visit the city. Your companies bear the responsibility to mitigate the public nuisance your negligence has created for the city and its residents,” read the letter further.
Up until last month, 2,409 Hyundais and Kias had been reported stolen compared to just 205 at the same time last year which is an increase of 1,075 per cent.
Notably, Hyundai is the parent company of Kia but the two companies operate separately.
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As reported by WION, the main target of the TikTok challenge are 2010-2021 Kia and Hyundai cars which still use mechanical keys and not electronic systems.
It makes the cars more vulnerable to theft and the challenge asks the users on the app to take advantage of that and steal it using minimal tools.
Read more: TikTok challenge sparks huge spurt in number of car thefts in the United States
The thieves are taking videos of their acts and posting them on TikTok using the hashtag “Kia Boys”. It has become a major trend over time and the videos are generating inexplicable interest amongst the netizens.
(With inputs from agencies)
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