This morning at City Hall, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones announced a lawsuit against Hyundai and Kia manufacturers, saying that the cars' lack of an engine immobilizer has made them so easy to steal "a child could do it," creating a public safety hazard in the city.
In filing the lawsuit this morning in federal court, St. Louis joins other cities such as Cleveland, Milwaukee and Seattle in attempting to use the courts to hold the car manufacturers accountable for the rash of auto thefts.
While Kia and Hyundai thefts have skyrocketed in the wider metro region as well as nationwide, the spike of thefts in the city has been exceptionally acute. From 2021 to 2022, reports of stolen Kias and Hyundais rose by 1,300 percent in the city, according to St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.
According to Jones, since May 2022, SLMPD has received more than 4,500 reports of Hyundai and Kia thefts. Last summer and fall, the city was seeing an average of 23 Kias or Hyundais stolen every day, she said.
Jones said that stolen Kias and Hyundais are used in violent crimes like shootings, hit and runs and burglaries.
The lawsuit cites specific instances in the summer and fall of 2022 when stolen Kias and Hyundais were used in additional crimes.
In September, a speeding stolen Kia struck and killed a cyclist on South Grand. In August, a stolen Kia Optima and Hyundai Sonata were involved in a "mid-day shoot out near a busy intersection south of downtown, in which a 17-year-old was shot." In June 2022, a stolen Hyundai Elantra and Kia Optima were involved in a shooting in which six other vehicles sustained damage.
That same month, a car thief behind the wheel of a stolen Kia Optima struck a parked car, flipping the Optima, which landed in someone's front yard and damaged a car parked in the driveway.
Jones blasted the manufacturers for "putting profits over people," saying that they "put a target on the backs of their customers." She compared selling cars without anti-theft devices as akin to a real estate agent selling someone a home with no doors or windows.
"St. Louisans should not and will not bear the burden of these companies' negligence," Jones stated.
The company has issued free anti-theft upgrades, but they have not been made available on every car impacted by a lack of engine immobilizer.
The RFT previously reported that in two weeks’ time last summer, 462 cars were reported stolen or attempted stolen in the city, but over that same period only one charge was brought by the Circuit Attorney’s Office for a charge related to auto theft.
In addition to the City Counselor Sheena Hamilton's office, attorneys from the private law firm Dowd Bennet are also representing the city in the suit against Hyundai and Kia.
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