The Kia and Hyundai theft craze triggers a legal migraine

If anyone doubts the power of social media, consider the windstorm of legal headaches Hyundai and Kia are now facing over the design of their steering columns.

The two Korean brands are named in 15 class-action lawsuits filed by vehicle owners in 14 states who claim cars and crossovers spanning several model years, totaling millions of vehicles, are unsafe because they can be hot-wired too easily.

The suits allege the vehicles are defective because they lack an immobilizer, an anti-theft device that prevents the car from being started without a key fob.

But the legal claim is not simply a theoretical: Hyundai and Kia owners have been specifically targeted by car thieves for months. The crime craze is at least partly related to videos posted on TikTok and YouTube showing the world how easy it is to hot-wire their vehicles, essentially providing a how-to for aspiring thieves.

A surge of stolen Hyundai and Kia vehicles began in Milwaukee and has since escalated to other states, quickly becoming a nationwide problem, plaintiff attorneys say. A crime ring, calling themselves the "Kia Boyz," spread among cities with hot-wiring a Kia as its chosen sport.

The list of affected Hyundai vehicles is long. It includes certain trim levels of Accent, Elantra, Elantra GT, Sonata, Veloster, Venue, Kona, Tucson, Santa Fe, Santa Fe Sport, Santa Fe XL and Palisade vehicles in the 2016-2021 model years, according to Hyundai spokesperson Ira Gabriel.

Vehicles with a push-button start are not impacted. "This issue primarily affects models with turn-key ignitions," Gabriel said.

Kia's list is even longer. At risk is any Kia vehicle "built between 2011 and 2021 that uses a steel key," a component found on lower trim levels of each model, according to James Bell, a Kia spokesperson.

A key-based ignition system without an immobilizer makes the vehicles vulnerable to thieves that pop off the steering wheel column and use a USB to hot-wire the car in seconds.

While the issue has impacted mostly individual car owners, dealerships are not immune.

George Glassman, president of Glassman Automotive Group, which owns Glassman Kia in Southfield, Mich., reported to local news media in August that a pre-owned Kia Forte was stolen from his lot.

Glassman also said thieves attempted to steal a used Kia Soul from his showroom — leaving the rear window shattered and the steering column damaged — but were unsuccessful thanks to a dead battery.

The legal blowback from the crime wave is escalating.

More class-action lawsuits are forthcoming, said Kevin Stanley, an attorney with Humphrey, Farrington & McClain in Independence, Mo., the law firm that filed 13 of the 15 — in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio and Texas, just since June.

Kenneth McClain, a partner at HFM and lead attorney on the class actions, told Automotive News the issue has grown so fast that it deserves national treatment.

"The rapidity at which this issue has both spread as a phenomenon in terms of the cars being stolen, and the number of cases which have come to our attention, and that we filed in a relatively short order demonstrates the nationwide problem of a large scale that needs a solution," McClain said.

That's because class actions relegated to specific states do not give every affected Hyundai and Kia customer the opportunity to join the class, said Jonathan Michaels, principal attorney for MLG Automotive Law of Orange County, Calif., which also has filed a suit in the matter.

It is unclear how much, if anything, the legal challenges might cost Hyundai and Kia, two automakers that operate independently despite being owned by a common parent and sharing vehicle platforms and parts.

"The three items common across the lawsuits are the decline in the retail price of the vehicle today, the cost of adding an immobilizer and the increased cost of any insurance," McClain said.

But both automakers are taking steps to head off the consumer complaints.

Kia is working with local law enforcement to distribute steering wheel locks at no charge to consumers with affected vehicles.

And starting Oct. 1, owners of affected Hyundai vehicles will be able to buy a Firstech security kit at an authorized dealer. Hyundai declined to estimate the cost to purchase and install the kit.

Michaels said that based on quotes from "a number of dealers who are expected to be doing the installs," Hyundai's kit will likely cost $200 for the part and about $500 for installation.

That's too much to ask to consumers to pay, the attorney said.

"We are dealing with people who are buying Kias and Hyundais, and used ones at that," he said. "To them, $700 is all the money in the world."

The suits also seek to initiate a nationwide recall.

A voluntary recall of so many vehicles, some over a decade old, could be complex and expensive.

Michaels estimates that in the U.S. the total number of affected vehicles is about 10 million. If the cost to install an immobilizer is $500, that's a $5 billion recall.

Also unclear is whether a car found to be vulnerable to theft would prompt a NHTSA recall. A spokesman at NHTSA said: "We don't comment on pending litigation."