Peoria Standard

In an Aug. 25 Facebook post, Illinois State Sen. Win Stoller (R-Peoria) expressed disbelief at the news that Chicago sued Kia and other manufacturers over car thefts. The lawsuit was filed on Aug. 24 in Cook County Circuit Court.

"Just when you think Chicago couldn’t get any more crazy, they come up with this," Stoller posted.

“For years, automakers Kia and Hyundai chose to forego (often simple) industry-standard, anti-theft technologies in many of their cars," the lawsuit says. "As soon as people discovered their shortcomings, videos showing how to 'hot-wire' these cars went viral on the internet. Not surprisingly, thefts of Kia and Hyundai vehicles skyrocketed at record-setting rates in cities throughout the United States, including in Chicago. This rise in thefts led to a rise in reckless driving, motor vehicle accidents, violent crimes, injuries, and property damage.” The fix for this was installing immobilizers, which other manufacturers began installing more than a decade ago, the lawsuit says. However, Kia and Hyundai failed to install the electronic engine immobilizer in most of the vehicles sold between 2011 and 2022.

In his Facebook post, Stoller shared a link to the Cook County Record, which reported, “The lawsuit centers on the surge in car thefts in the past three years, driven largely by the so-called 'Kia Boyz' phenomenon. So-called 'Kia Boyz' car thieves have used viral online TikTok video tutorials to exploit a flaw in a range of Kia and Hyundai vehicle models manufactured from 2011-2022, which ordinarily rely on physical keys to start the vehicle.” The city is asking for restitution to customers, payment to the city for unspecified costs, and fines for each alleged offense under the city ordinances, up to $10,000 per violation.

“The city also says that because the cars are "entry-level models," the defects disproportionately impact low-income Chicagoans, ABC7 reported on Aug. 24. The lawsuit says the manufacturers refused to provide sufficient steering wheel locks that the city requested and also took advantage of consumers by charging them for security kits, ABC7 said. Kia released a statement saying in part, "Kia continues to take action to help our customers by making it more difficult for criminals to use methods of theft recently popularized on social media to steal certain vehicle models," ABC7 reported. "In addition to recently announcing an agreement that will allow customers who have been impacted by vehicle thefts to receive additional benefits, Kia has already notified all eligible owners and lessees of these vehicle models—over 3 million total—that they are able to receive the free security software upgrade that we have developed."