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New York is accusing Kia and Hyundai of ‘enabling a spiralling pandemic’ of car thefts after a viral TikTok challenge prompted young teens to steal vehicles off the street by hot wiring them using a USB cable.

Authorities in the city believe that the car manufacturers have not done enough to address the ease with which these cars can be hot wired, and have gone further by declaring the vehicles and their thefts as a ‘public nuisance’.

The social media challenge gave rise to the so-called Kia-Boyz and saw an increase of nearly 800% in thefts of these imported cars in Chicago alone.

“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.”

Hyundai has however claimed that it made immobilizers standard on all vehicles from November 2021 and had taken measures to reduce the threat of thefts. Kia also responded that it was working with authorities to address the issues, which include discouraging similar social media trends.

New York is also accusing the companies of “opening the floodgates to vehicle theft, crime sprees, reckless driving, and public harm.”

The suit has however already affected their bottom line as shares of Hyundai Motors slid by more than 2% while Kia Corp dropped by more than 5%.

Both manufacturers have however agreed to pay a $200 Million consumer class action suit, which covers approximately 9 million car owners and includes up to $145 million for out-of-pocket losses for customers. Damn TikTok.

New York now wants a piece of the foreign piggy bank as they claim that the thefts are continuing, and the ‘public nuisance’ requires ‘compensation for the economic losses.’

New York City joins a number of cities that took similar measures against the two automakers, including Baltimore, St. Louis, Milwaukee, San Diego and Seattle.

The Kia Boys however don’t seem to fuss over lawsuits. Take a look at the below video that shows how easy it is to jack a Kia.

Please don’t try this with your neighbour’s Kia Picanto. This is South Africa, you’ll get shot, or crash into a taxi, and then be shot.

[source:cnbc]