Although we’ve done extensive reporting on the social media trend that has seen thousands of them using just a flash drive, one newly revealed statistic stands out as quite troubling. According to a recent report from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, these stolen vehicles have resulted in 14 accidents and 8 deaths over the past two years.
Four youths were killed while riding a stolen Kia in Buffalo
On October 24, 2022, four teens in Buffalo, New York account for half of the reported deaths resulting from a stolen Kia. A Kia car has been stolen by teens and reported by other motorists for dangerous overnight driving. In the end, the teens lost control of the stolen car and crashed into a wall.
Five of the six occupants were ejected from the vehicle upon impact. Three were declared dead at the scene, while the fourth died in hospital later that morning.
The survivors are a 14-year-old woman and a 16-year-old driver.
The family of one of the teens who were killed has filed lawsuits against Kia. The class action lawsuit alleges that Kia did not do enough to make it more difficult for their cars to be stolen.
A 71-year-old man was killed when he was run over by teens in a stolen Kia
A second story from Robbins, Illinois saw a 71-year-old man killed by two teens in a stolen Kia. The teens crashed his car while he was at a red light, and the man later died in hospital from his injuries. In this case, the three car thieves were only 13 years old – and they all survived the accident.
A Philadelphia man is killed riding a stolen Kia after a rollover
The third story, which took place in mid-December 2022, involved two men in a stolen Kia in Philadelphia. In this incident, the stolen car was speeding down Roosevelt Avenue before colliding with two vehicles at a red light. The stolen Kia then rolled over three times, removing the passenger. This passenger was declared dead at the scene, while the driver fled the accident on foot. Fortunately, no one in the parked vehicles was killed as a result of the accident.
The response from Hyundai and Kia is too little, too late
Recently, in September 2022, both of them for their stolen cars. Citing a lack of a federal mandate to include immobilizer devices that would prevent such thefts, the automakers insisted they were under no obligation to adapt the devices to the affected vehicles.
Instead, Hyundai and Kia have chosen to charge customers to install glass break sensors to help reduce thefts. Their other solution? Donate a few thousand steering wheel locks to local police stations. This is despite more than 8.3 million cars sold that can be stolen with a USB drive and screwdriver.
However, mounting public pressure and an outbreak of lawsuits against consumers and municipalities now appears to have already occurred. A new software update is coming over the next few months. It will be freely distributed starting in March, and it is expected to be fully rolled out by June this year. For those who have had their cars stolen, been covered up, and worse yet, lost loved ones, the fix may be too little, too late.
