The teenager in Milwaukee calmly explains to his nervous interviewer how he’s stolen possibly hundreds of cars with nothing more than a screwdriver and a USB cord.
All it took was a little ingenuity of kids with too much time on their hands.
The interview, posted to Youtube in May 2022, shows two teenaged members of the “Kia Boys,” a loose confederation of young car thieves in Milwaukee who police say have stolen hundreds of Kia and Hyundai vehicles over the last two years.
The boys tell their interviewer they don’t fence most of the cars they steal. Rather, they abandon them wherever they can, usually within a day. He says the thefts are simply for social media glory.
Innumerable videos posted to TikTok show the Kia Boys participating in wild stunts around Milwaukee: Teens packed into cars ripping through neighborhoods and screeching their tires. Or teens on top of cars, laying on their hoods or standing up through sunroofs, driving by at top speed.
Inevitably, those stunts have led to crashes and even deaths. Now local police think the trend has made its way to Los Angeles, too.
The Los Angeles Police Department’s Commercial Crimes Division is aware of a recent social media trend regarding vehicle thefts. Please read the attached Community Alert for more information. pic.twitter.com/E5NfRcXVer
— LAPD HQ (@LAPDHQ) August 26, 2022
Chief Michel Moore of the Los Angeles Police Department told police commissioners on Tuesday that thefts of Kia and Hyundai vehicles in the city have made up a significant chunk of the increase in stolen cars over the last two years.
In just 2022, at least 1,634 more Kia and Hyundai vehicles have been stolen so far this year, an 85% increase over the year before of thefts of just those types of cars. That’s almost three quarters of the entire increase in stolen cars of any make and model in L.A. this year: Car thefts in the city are up about 15%, or 2,279 more cars.
Car thefts in L.A . are up more than 23% since 2020, according to LAPD’s most recent numbers.
Kia and Hyundai vehicles between the years of 2010 and 2021 are being targeted because a defect is allowing them to be easily hotwired. Models of those years were built without engine immobilizers — that is, electronic security devices that only allow the car to start when they detect the transponder inside the driver’s key fob.
Many older vehicles are ripe for being stolen because they lack these immobilizers. But in Kia and Hyundai vehicles, thieves have also found they can easily pop off the case around the steering wheel column and key ignition. USB cords, now ubiquitous and often left inside cars by drivers who want to charge their phones, give thieves an easy hotwiring device.
“The TikTok thing kind of pushed it to the next level,” said Sgt. Juvey Mejia of LAPD, who works with a countywide taskforce on vehicle thefts. “Even prior to TikTok, the scam — the method was already out there.”
Mejia said Kia and Hyundai thefts were already making up an increasing share of vehicles stolen in 2019 and 2020. In those years, Kia, Hyundai, GM and Honda vehicles accounted for 42% of all vehicles stolen in L.A.
With the Kia and Hyundai cars, however, much of the time detectives were finding them abandoned in the same neighborhoods they were stolen from and without any parts stripped out.
“With a lot of these Kias and Hyundais, that’s the one thing that stood out to us,” he said. “They’re not being stripped. Usually, thieves are stealing components from the vehicles and selling them to chop shops. These seem to be more for joy riding, where they later drop it in the same neighborhood and stealing a different car.
“I think it’s the younger crowd that’s doing that.”
Hyundai Motor Group, which manufactures both vehicles, said in a statement that the company is aware “our vehicles have been targeted in a coordinated effort on social media.”
The company said it made immobilizers standard on all of its vehicles produced after Nov. 1, 2021.
Immobilizers have been around for at least a decade or more. By 2006, most U.S. cars had them.
The defect in Kia and Hyundai vehicles have led to class action lawsuits filed around the country.
“Almost every car made since 2010 has (an engine immobilizer),” said Kenneth McClain, a Missouri attorney representing numerous Kia and Hyundai owners in several states, including California.
His firm, Humphrey, Farrington & McClain, filed a class action against Hyundai Motor Group in California this month.
“(The company) knew for a decade that leaving (the immobilizers) off was saving them $200 a car,” McClain said. “But they were exposing their customers to an unreasonable risk.”
In the meantime, Mejia suggested owners of older model Kia and Hyundai cars invest in steering wheel locks and other safety measures.
“You can buy a battery disconnect item, very inexpensive, with a kill switch that links up to these cars. You can get that for 15 bucks,” he said. “And we’re encouraging people to lock their doors. Park in well lit areas. After-market alarm systems work wonders.”
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