VISALIA, Calif. (KFSN) — Two big car companies will pay out millions to owners after they were accused of selling cars that were easy to steal.
Kia and Hyundai have agreed to a $9 million settlement. Attorneys general from 35 states, including California, claimed the companies sold cars that lacked industry-standard Anti-Theft Protections.
The settlement will provide up to $4,500 to people who had their cars totaled, half that for those who had their cars severely damaged, and $375 to those who had a thief break in, but not steal their car.
The company has also agreed to a free retrofit to add a metal sleeve around the ignition.
“And you know, it does come back to locking it, but at the end of the day, you got to understand, and they need to understand, that it’s more than just a car,” says AJ Rivie who is a Visalia mechanic and owns a KIA.
Thankfully, his car has been safe, but he’s seen it go through multiple recalls and remembers the years social media made groups like Kia Boys viral.
In Visalia alone, 22 teens were arrested in 2023 for stealing Hyundais and Kias.
Last year, Kias and Hyundais topped the list of most stolen cars. That’s because thieves discovered all that was needed to drive off was a screwdriver and a USB charging cable, and that went viral on TikTok.
We found one Tulare County man who almost had his car taken outside of his home.
He wishes to remain anonymous but shared, “It was probably right between midnight and one. I heard the neighbor’s dog making more of a ruckus than he normally does, so it just kind of maybe got my attention and got up, went out to the window and looked out and saw somebody by my car messing with the door handle, went to the front door, opened it…”
Thankfully.. He scared off the would-be thief, but it’s a moment he will never forget.
To this day, he considers himself lucky, “Many people didn’t have that kind of luck… A lot of them got their car stolen and it was wrecked or totaled… When something like that happens to you, it’s just not the same to you anymore.”
People are always encouraged to lock your car doors and not leave anything in your vehicle.
Local mechanics did mention you can reach out to them if you have any questions on a possible recall.
We also reached out to KIA. They shared this statement:
“Today’s agreement is the latest in a series of steps that Kia has taken to support our customers who have been impacted by criminals using methods of theft popularized on social media to steal or attempt to steal certain vehicle models. Kia has worked tirelessly to find new, creative, and – most importantly – effective ways to make these vehicles more difficult for criminals to steal beyond their already existing theft protections. These include the development and introduction of a free software security upgrade that has been found to significantly reduce theft rates, the distribution of hundreds of thousands of steering wheel locks to our customers at no cost, and the rollout of a zinc-sleeve hardware modification that combats this social media-inspired theft method by reinforcing the ignition cylinder body and preventing its removal through the technique that was made popular online. The company has also established settlement funds providing direct support and compensation to eligible owners of impacted vehicles. Kia is eager to continue working with law enforcement officers and officials at federal, state, and local levels to combat criminal car theft, and the role social media has played in encouraging it, and we remain fully committed to upholding vehicle security.”
For more information, visit here or Hyundai and Kia’s Official webpages. We will update this story when a settlement webpage link is available.
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