In response to the crime wave, Kia added immobilizers to their 2022 models, and Hyundai has added them to cars built since November 2021. Both the Seattle and Los Angeles police departments put out notices tying the trend to the TikTok challenge. And in Portland, Oregon, the number of stolen Kias increased by 916% from January 2022 to January 2023, while Hyundai thefts jumped by 768%. In Chicago, 1,000 Kias were stolen in October alone. In Seattle, thefts of Kias and Hyundais increased by 363% and 503%, respectively, between 20. While there's no federal database of thefts by specific model, the numbers in large cities are staggering. The simplicity of this "hack" led to a huge surge in thefts of the cars. Without that system, anyone could unscrew the steering column in the older Kias and Hyundais and insert a USB into the ignition before driving away. Cars with this tech won't start unless they recognize the correct key, making them far more difficult to hot-wire. The cars from that time don't have electronic immobilizers, a safety device that uses a unique chip in the key fob. The TikTok video that sparked the challenge - a how-to reportedly created by user - exposed a security flaw in Kia models from 2011 to 2021 and Hyundai models from 2015 to 2021. The trend has become not just a financial burden for consumers and a legal nightmare for Kia and Hyundai, but has spotlighted what happens when a business cuts corners: It's often the people least responsible who bear the burden. And dozens of class-action lawsuits filed around the country are attempting to force the manufacturers to either issue a recall or fix the cars' vulnerability. The situation has become so critical that two major auto-insurance companies, State Farm and Progressive, have stopped insuring vulnerable Kia and Hyundai models. While the video was quickly taken down by TikTok each time it resurfaced, the damage was done: 70% of the cars stolen in Milwaukee last year and 50% of the cars stolen in Chicago this year were from the two South Korean manufacturers. The "Kia Challenge" video, which first appeared in 2021 and regained popularity in July 2022, showed how to easily hijack certain models of Kia and Hyundai vehicles using only a USB cord. The cause of this wild car-theft spree? A viral TikTok. Other major metro areas across the country - New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles - have seen similar increases. Louis, they spiked 157% from the second half of 2021 to the second half of 2022. In Milwaukee, car thefts have doubled since 2020. Lebeau-Chorn and Jenkins are just two victims of an unprecedented surge in car thefts that has swept across US cities in the past two years.
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