AG James Announces Car Theft Settlement with Hyundai & Kia

The work of car thieves is going to get at least a bit more difficult following a recent announcement by New York State Attorney General Letitia James that Kia and Hyundai had settled claims brought against them concerning their vehicles’ lack of adequate theft protections.

Those who steal cars for profit and fun might be smirking now, insofar as it appears that James—along with the 35 other state attorneys general enjoined in the settlement— is blaming two respected Korean car manufacturers for the actions of criminals.

There’s more to it than that, however; it’s not just passing a buck, though it should be emphasized that the $9 million Hyundai and Kia have agreed to pay is the total monetary settlement. Half of those monies will go to consumers affected by vehicle theft, with the other half going to the states.

Split 36 ways that total $9 million honeypot comes to $250,000 per state though it appears not all states will compensate equally, as some states have more Hyundai and Kias than others. However the monies are distributed, the settlement—which was announced by press release, not an in person event— marks the end of an odd, sometimes deadly decade of events which put the Korean car giants in the crosshairs of lawyers.

There are no Hyundai or Kia dealers in Manhattan though former New York Knicks star John Starks has a Kia dealership in Jamaica, Queens.

Hyundai USA is based out of Fountain Valley, California, and operates the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America factory in Ellabell, in Bryant County, Georgia, about 26 miles east of Savannah.

Kia, an independent company partly owned by Hyundai Motor Group, has its U.S headquarters in Irvine, California. Kia’s U.S. plant is in West Point, Georgia, on that state’s border with Alabama, about 36 miles north of Columbus, Georgia, and about 25 miles from Auburn University in Alabama.

The current Attorney General of Georgia, which is among the states involved in the settlement, is 53-year-old Republican Chris Carr, so claims that the coalition of AGs which challenged Hyundai and Kia is bi-partisan are accurate.

According to the statement by Attorney General James, because of the failure of Kia and Hyundai “to install proper anti-theft technology, car thefts surged in communities throughout New York.”

Driven by social media trends, the number of Hyundai and Kia thefts in New York City doubled from 2021 to 2022. In the first four months of 2023, the city saw 977 car thefts, up from 148 in the same period the year prior. In the first half of 2023, Monroe County, which includes Rochester, saw more than 1,400 stolen Kias and Hyundais. In Syracuse, more than half of the cars stolen in the first seven months of 2023 were Kias or Hyundais.

On July 3, 2023, a 16-year-old driving a stolen Hyundai collided with a Jeep in Washington Heights, killing a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old in the Hyundai.

According to the New York Post, “a black Hyundai Elantra that had been reported stolen late last month was speeding north along Audubon Avenue when the driver lost control and slammed it into a black Jeep heading west on West 179th Street shortly before 7 a.m., police said.”

“The driver was a kid,” said a neighbor at the scene. “Most of the kids in there looked like they were anywhere from 12 to 17 years old.”

“A few minutes before this accident, I saw these kids driving around erratically, running lights at full speed without even looking,” the witness continued. “And about five minutes later, they hit this vehicle that was coming up.”

The lay reader who might assume that responsibility for stealing a car lies largely in the hands of the car thief themselves most likely isn’t an attorney general, for AG James’ announcement continues:

“Hyundai and Kia were slow to respond to the crisis, waiting until 2023 to launch a service campaign to update the software on many affected vehicles. Hyundai and Kia also offered to install zinc sleeves that can be fitted over the ignition cylinder of vulnerable cars to protect them from theft, but only for the roughly twenty percent of their vehicles that were ineligible for the software update. While the companies claimed that the software update blocked the viral theft method, Attorney General James and the coalition allege that the software update could be, and was, easily bypassed by thieves.”

Regardless of whose to blame, the settlement secured requires Hyundai and Kia to equip all future vehicles with engine immobilizers to prevent theft. The car companies must also provide free zinc ignition cylinder sleeves to consumers through their local dealerships and to publicize the availability of all anti-theft measures available to consumers for the next five years.

Joining Attorney General James in securing this settlement are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.

For their part, according to the settlement agreement, “while Hyundai and Kia expressly deny the State Attorneys General’s allegations and any wrongdoing, they state that they have taken significant steps to support their customers in response to criminals using methods of theft promoted and popularized on social media to steal or attempt to steal certain vehicle models.”

A website has been been estatblished where Hyundia and Kia owners can check if their vehicles are covered by the settlement.