City of Syracuse joins multi-city suit against Hyundai and Kia following rash of car thefts

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The City of Syracuse announced it has joined a lawsuit against the manufacturers of Hyundai and Kia cars, saying those cars are stolen in Syracuse at an alarming rate because they lack the “basic” anti-theft technology and it’s “creating a public safety nuisance.”

The city’s action says the cars lack the anti-theft technology, also known as an engine immobilizer, which has been used by other carmakers for decades to “effectively prevent rampant” vehicle theft, the office of Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh said in a Wednesday news release.

Syracuse filed its lawsuit in the Central District of California, where the litigation against Hyundai and Kia for thefts has been centralized. A federal magistrate in California on Monday accepted consolidating Syracuse’s action with the claims of 24 other governmental entities, including Buffalo, Rochester, New York City, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Seattle, and St. Louis, among others.

“As we continue to do everything in our power to hold car thieves accountable, we are asking the Court to hold the makers of Hyundai and Kia accountable too,” Walsh said. “The people of Syracuse and communities across the nation should not be subjected to the devastating consequences of Hyundai and Kia’s preventable failures.”

Walsh’s office cites language in the lawsuit that reads, “The skyrocketing rate of Kia and Hyundai vehicle thefts has drastically impacted city and police resources for Plaintiff. Plaintiff’s residents are subjected to increasingly dangerous conditions on their streets, as car thieves (many of them teenagers) are taking advantage of Hyundai’s and Kia’s failures and engaging in reckless driving, endangering Plaintiff’s employees, residents, and property.”

The “multi-district litigation” involves owners and lessors of Kia and Hyundai vehicles; insurers who have paid out claims as a result of the Hyundai and Kia thefts; and governmental entities like Syracuse that have been forced to expend law enforcement and other resources to address the significant public safety threat posed by these vehicles, per Walsh’s office.

The office also noted that Syracuse’s lawsuit asks the court to require the manufacturer to abate the public nuisance; create a relief fund for automobile theft prevention; and to pay compensatory and punitive damages.

Hyundai, Kia court filing response

A Sept. 12 article on the website of Reuters reported that the automakers, controlled by the same conglomerate, said in a court filing they should not held liable for thefts “resulting from an unprecedented criminal social-media phenomenon.”

The automakers added that cities’ “lax policing and prosecution policies” and “budgetary decision-making that diverted public safety resources away from the prevention and disruption of auto theft and reckless joyriding” was more relevant than Hyundai or Kia failing to equip vehicles with anti-theft immobilizers.

The article’s headline read, “Hyundai, Kia urge US court to reject cities TikTok-inspired theft lawsuits.”

The Reuters article went on to say that in February, the automakers said they would offer software upgrades to 8.3 million U.S. vehicles to help curb thefts.

TikTok and other social-media videos that show how to steal Kia and Hyundai cars without push-button ignitions and immobilizing anti-theft devices have spread nationwide.