It’s no secret that a wave of Kia and Hyundai thefts have overtaken many parts of the nation following a reckless challenge on TikTok and other social media platforms that exploits a design flaw certain vehicles from the Korean carmakers. Under the hashtag “Kia Boyz”, users have shared videos teaching people how to steal certain 2010-2021 Kia and Hyundai models lacking an immobilizer system with only a screwdriver and a USB cord and then challenged them to do the same. Now, after a number of civil lawsuits against the two Korean automakers, it appears that the city of St. Louis is close to filing one of its own. Throughout the year, auto thefts in St. Louis have doubled, with the city reporting an average of 21 Kia and Hyundai thefts a day in June, with the number rising to 23 a day in August, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Read Article