2:02

Are you like secretly hoping that the thieves will like drive

2:04

it off a cliff? Yeah, the third

2:07

time I told the detective I said don't look

2:09

for it. I was like just

2:12

let it go and it got found a day after. I was

2:14

like why do I keep getting it back? Like

2:16

if you're gonna steal it do your job.

2:19

Shania's experience might sound extreme

2:22

but all across the country Kia's

2:25

and Hyundai's two are getting stolen

2:28

in record numbers.

2:32

Welcome to The Journal, our show about

2:34

money, business and power. I'm

2:36

Ryan Knudsen. It's Tuesday,

2:38

May 23rd. Coming

2:45

up on the show, how Kia's and Hyundai's

2:48

became some of the most stolen cars in

2:50

America.

3:02

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3:35

Kia and Hyundai started selling cars in

3:37

the US in the 80s and 90s. They're

3:39

both South Korean companies. Hyundai

3:42

owns about 30% of Kia and they share

3:44

some of the same parts. And for decades

3:47

these cars were not stolen that often. Our

3:50

colleague Sean McLean says there was probably

3:52

a good reason for that. used

4:00

to run ads saying,

4:05

For less than the average price of a

4:07

new car, you

4:10

can get two new Hyundai

4:12

ExCels. You

4:15

can get a new car for the cost

4:17

of a used car. And

4:20

certainly they still have that

4:22

customer base to a certain extent.

4:25

But certainly Kia, their strategy

4:27

is to focus their spending on design,

4:31

the interior,

4:33

things that customers see and touch. And they

4:35

don't spend as much relative

4:37

to maybe some other manufacturers on

4:40

things that you don't necessarily

4:42

see or you might not necessarily care

4:44

about. One of the features many Kias and

4:47

Hundays didn't have was an anti-theft immobilizer. A

4:52

lot of their entry-level vehicles built between 2011 and 2021

4:54

didn't have them. Though

4:57

customers could sometimes pay more to include it. So

5:01

the immobilizer is two

5:03

sets of computer chips essentially. You've

5:06

got one inside the key fob and one

5:08

inside the steering column. And what it

5:10

uses is radio signals that are sent out

5:12

by the key fob and detected by the steering column.

5:15

Unless the car detects the signal from your key,

5:17

it won't start. That's why they

5:19

call it an engine immobilizer. Kia

5:22

and Hyundai are not the only manufacturers

5:24

that have sold base

5:27

model vehicles without an engine immobilizer. And I

5:29

don't think anybody really made anything of the fact that

5:31

they continued to do so, perhaps longer than

5:33

most other manufacturers. It

5:36

wasn't a standard feature.

5:38

For a long time, not having an

5:40

anti-theft immobilizer wasn't really a

5:42

big deal. Until suddenly

5:45

it was. It started last

5:47

year.

5:59

Social media videos on TikTok

6:02

and Instagram and other platforms started

6:04

coming out by a group calling themselves the

6:07

Kia Boys, showing themselves

6:09

breaking into hyundais

6:11

and kias of certain model years and driving

6:13

wildly down the streets. The

6:16

Kia Boys and the copycats

6:18

they inspired were young. In

6:20

many videos, they look like teenagers. But

6:23

when it came to stealing kias, these kids

6:25

were experts. So the videos

6:28

depict often

6:29

young men climbing into

6:32

this car and they will

6:34

break a window normally or drill

6:37

out the side lock in a door, get

6:39

in without car alarms going off, and

6:41

then with their hands or with a screwdriver,

6:44

tearing off a piece of plastic that

6:47

goes around what they call the steering column,

6:49

which is the area behind your

6:51

steering wheel. After ripping

6:53

off a few other parts, thieves can use

6:55

one end of a USB charging cable to

6:58

twist a little knob and start

6:59

the car.

7:03

And what they're filming themselves doing is not only stealing

7:06

this car, but driving erratically down

7:08

the roads, weaving

7:12

back and forth very quickly, driving

7:15

well above the speed limit, multiple

7:17

people hanging outside the car, driving

7:21

wrong way down traffic, you know, down the

7:23

sidewalks on the grass. Basically

7:28

hooliganism, but

7:31

in a stolen car. As

7:33

videos like these went viral, Kia

7:35

and Hyundai thefts began to climb, first

7:37

in the Midwest and then around the country.

7:40

For Hyundai and Kia owners in St. Louis

7:42

City, police say thieves are targeting

7:44

your cars. Berkeley police reported

7:47

a rise in stolen kias and

7:49

Hondays in March. This is an issue

7:51

that law enforcement is aware of, that

7:53

the automaker is aware of,

7:55

and sadly something that more and more Kia

7:58

owners are

7:58

coming to terms with. In some cities,

8:00

the spike in thefts has been extreme. In

8:03

Minneapolis, for example, during the first

8:05

four months of last year, only about 100 hundays

8:08

and kias were stolen. So far

8:10

this year, it's

8:11

been nearly 2,000. For

8:14

people who have had their cars stolen, like

8:16

Shania, it isn't just the stress of

8:18

trying to get your car back. There's

8:21

also the financial burden. Shania

8:23

estimates that between insurance deductibles,

8:25

Ubers, and rental car fees, she's

8:27

spent at least $5,000 as a result.

8:31

And then there's the hassle of just trying to get

8:33

to work in LA without a car. Honestly,

8:36

I ran to work a few times. I

8:38

walked to work. I took Ubers.

8:42

And then I also fixed up my old

8:44

car. But my old car

8:47

was, it's a really old car. And it's like,

8:49

there's no AC, there's no heater.

8:51

It was kind of tough in

8:52

that car as well. Yikes. But at

8:55

least it doesn't get stolen every 15 minutes. Exactly,

8:57

yeah. But even when her

8:59

car isn't in the shop or stolen,

9:02

Shania's kia has caused her problems. Like

9:05

a few months ago, after her car had already

9:07

been stolen and recovered twice, she

9:09

was in her kia running an errand.

9:12

And there was a police car following me. And

9:14

I was like, that's really weird. And I turn

9:17

and all of a sudden their lights go on and I

9:19

get surrounded by like eight cop cars. They're

9:22

like, put your hands up. And

9:25

I get out of the car and they had like

9:28

four guns drawn to me. Oh my

9:30

gosh. And giant guns. And

9:33

I guess they had thought that I stole the car.

9:34

Wait, they thought that you had stolen your own car?

9:37

Yeah, yeah. Why? I

9:40

believe they forgot to take it out of

9:42

their system or something. And

9:44

it was like a Sunday night again. And

9:47

yeah, it took them a lot of convincing actually

9:50

to tell them like it wasn't me. Wow.

9:53

You mostly just felt like you couldn't catch a break. I

9:55

definitely felt that way, yeah. I was just

9:57

like, it was one thing after another. Redondo

10:01

Beach Police confirmed this happened, and

10:03

said another jurisdiction had not yet cleared the prior

10:05

theft from its system.

10:07

It's not just Kia

10:09

owners who are fed up. It's also government

10:11

officials. Several cities,

10:14

including Seattle, Baltimore, and Cleveland,

10:17

are suing Kia and Hyundai, blaming

10:19

the companies for property damage and

10:21

the burden that all this has put on local police departments.

10:24

And attorneys general from 17 states urged

10:27

the federal government to issue a recall

10:29

of the affected cars. Here's

10:31

California attorney general, Rob Bonta. When

10:33

these cars are stolen, they have led to injuries,

10:36

they've led to death, they've led to other

10:38

crimes being committed using those

10:40

vehicles. Hyundai and Kia have

10:42

left us no choice but

10:45

to call on the federal government

10:47

to either order a mandatory recall or

10:49

work with the companies to institute

10:52

a voluntary recall of the affected

10:54

vehicles. Kia says the

10:56

lawsuits are without merit. Hyundai

10:59

called litigation against it improper and

11:01

unnecessary. And both companies

11:03

say a recall isn't needed because

11:05

their vehicles meet federal requirements. Kia

11:08

today and Hyundai as well say

11:11

that they had sufficient anti-theft

11:13

protections on the vehicle as governed

11:16

under the federal motor vehicle regulations. And

11:18

therefore the vehicles aren't defective and that these

11:21

thieves, as they call them, have

11:23

simply found a way around these anti-theft

11:26

protections. So far,

11:28

regulators haven't issued a recall.

11:33

Kia and Hyundai also say that the reason

11:35

other cars without immobilizers aren't stolen

11:37

like this is because they're not being targeted

11:40

on social media.

11:41

Until these videos came out, you know,

11:44

you were unlikely to have your car stolen if you had a

11:46

hand area Kia. Now, depending

11:48

on where you live, it might be the most stolen

11:50

vehicle. So sort of like Ford

11:52

boys just hasn't really taken off yet. Well,

11:56

yeah, and I'm sure Ford is hoping they don't.

11:59

Still, pressure has been building on Hyundai

12:02

and Kia to fix the theft problem. Fast.

12:05

The question is, how?

12:11

That's after the break.

12:21

I'm Danny Lewis. And I'm Alex Osella.

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On The Wall Street Journal's Future of Everything podcast,

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we explore the projects reimagining the

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Like using sound to rejuvenate

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is no longer energy efficient. And

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how animals are helping treat human diseases.

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The future of everything

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is happening right now. Subscribe

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wherever you get your podcasts.

12:57

Ever since the Kia boys showed the world just

12:59

how easy it is to steal a Kia or Hyundai,

13:02

the companies have been scrambling to contain the problem.

13:07

In the short term, the companies have been handing

13:09

out steering wheel locks to car owners. You

13:11

might have seen these things called the

13:13

club or other similar devices

13:16

that prevent the steering wheel from moving, even if

13:18

they're broken into.

13:19

They've also come up with a more permanent

13:21

solution, an upgrade that can make older

13:24

keys mimic what an engine immobilizer does.

13:26

Kia and Hyundai owners can bring their cars into a

13:29

dealership and have it installed. Hyundai

13:31

and Kia have contacted owners by mail,

13:34

advertised on social media and

13:36

set up a website where people can check to see if

13:38

their cars at risk. But getting

13:40

this fixed rolled out to eight million potential

13:43

customers hasn't been easy. With

13:46

anything like this,

13:48

where you've got millions of vehicles on the road, these

13:51

things

13:51

take time. And historically speaking,

13:53

the completion rate,

13:56

they call it of like a recall or any of these repairs,

13:59

is fairly low.

13:59

percentage-wise. And part

14:02

of it is because, you know, if you've got a 2011 Hyundai or

14:05

Kia, you might be the second, third,

14:07

maybe even fourth owner. And those folks

14:10

tend not to take it to a Hyundai or

14:12

Kia dealership for repairs or for an oil chain.

14:14

So they may not hear about this unless they're conscientious

14:17

about it themselves.

14:19

Since the program started in February, about 600,000

14:21

Kias and Hyundai's have

14:23

received the fix. That's about one

14:26

in every 13 cars that need it.

14:30

The companies are also trying to stop those videos

14:32

from spreading on social media. Hyundai

14:35

and Kia currently are

14:38

employing a media agency to watch social

14:41

media 24-7 to try

14:43

to flag these videos to prevent them from

14:45

proliferating on the social media platforms.

14:48

They say that there is a direct

14:51

connection between where these videos go viral

14:53

and a spike in thefts, and therefore

14:55

they are trying to

14:58

get these social media companies

15:00

to take down these videos as quickly as possible.

15:02

A spokeswoman for TikTok said the videos

15:05

of Kia and Hyundai thefts are quote, not

15:07

a TikTok trend. Instagram

15:10

says it's removed flagged content that

15:12

breaks its rules or promotes crime. For

15:15

Kia and Hyundai, the challenge isn't just

15:18

cutting down on future thefts though. They're

15:20

also struggling to fix the cars that have already

15:22

been stolen.

15:24

Cars have been in the shop

15:26

waiting for parts. One

15:28

dealer referred to it as intergalactic backorder.

15:31

You know the challenge for these manufacturers

15:33

is you know if you've got a car that

15:35

was made in 2011, which is about as far back

15:38

as this problem goes, you know you've

15:40

stopped manufacturing these cars and you have to estimate

15:42

how many of these parts you're going to need. And

15:44

Hyundai and Kia did not anticipate needing

15:47

hundreds of thousands of plastic

15:49

steering column covers. And that's one

15:52

of the things that's really on backorder right

15:54

now.

15:54

The specific part underneath

15:56

the steering wheel. And they've been

15:58

working to build up a supply. but talking

16:01

to dealers at minimum, you're

16:05

looking at a 10-day wait. All

16:10

of this, the sourcing of new parts,

16:13

the software

16:15

fixes, the free steering wheel locks, it's

16:20

all costing Hyundai and Kia money. And

16:25

on top of that, Kia and Hyundai settled a class

16:27

action lawsuit last week. And they're not getting the companies overall.

16:33

Look, I think it's difficult to quantify the impact on

16:35

a company from something like this. I

16:38

mean, there is...the hard impact is obviously, you know, your $200

16:43

million and the costs associated with rolling out repairs for all of these vehicles

16:45

that are affected.

16:46

But if you look

16:48

at the raw numbers, Hyundai and Kia sales are going

16:50

up in the U.S.

16:53

So there seems to be no immediate

16:56

concrete impact on the

16:58

business as a whole. There might not

17:00

be an impact now, but it's hard to

17:03

predict what it might do to the brand long term.

17:07

I definitely feel like their name's been

17:10

a little tarnished for me. When

17:12

Shania first got her Kia Sportage,

17:14

she said she really liked it. It was a big

17:16

upgrade from an old SUV she'd been driving.

17:20

How do you feel about the car now?

17:23

I just feel...I think a good example is

17:26

when my dog was in the car, when the

17:28

police came. This was after the

17:30

second time where Kia was stolen. He

17:33

didn't want to get back in the car. He literally sat on

17:35

the floor in the middle of the street and was like, I'm

17:37

not getting in there. And I totally

17:39

feel like that. I'm like, do I really have

17:41

to get in this car?

17:43

When does your lease expire? Next

17:45

year. Are you looking forward to that

17:47

day? Yeah, I mean, I'm hoping

17:49

to have it sooner. I'll say that much.

17:52

Uh-huh. And what kind of car do you think you'll

17:54

get next? Anything

17:56

but a Kia.

18:03

That's all for today, Tuesday, May 23rd. The

18:16

journal is a co-production of Gimlet and The Wall

18:18

Street Journal. If you like our show,

18:20

follow us on Spotify or wherever

18:22

you get your podcasts. We're out every weekday

18:24

afternoon. Thanks for listening.

18:27

See you tomorrow.

18:30

Bye.