Kia and Hyundai car thefts have spiked, and owners have noticed.


Following a Tik Tok trend showing how to steal Kia and Hyundai cars with a USB, thefts of these cars have increased over 700% since last year. Car owners have noticed.

“It was just gone,” said former Hyundai owner Ben Jacobs.

“I was planning on doing Uber Eats driving which is you know what I do now but when you lose a car it doesn’t really work,” said Jacobs.

Jacobs car was parked on a street behind his apartment, one morning he came outside and it was gone.

“Like my brother has a Kia and he got his stolen as well like a couple weeks after I got mine stolen,” said Jacobs.

Minneapolis police found Jacob’s car after it had been towed. It was badly damaged and Jacobs has since bought a new car, which is not a Kia or Hyundai.

My sister, Megan Maronde, has had her 2023 Hyundai broken into twice.

“Very frustrating, very frustrating,” said Maronde.

She purchased it just last October. Since then, she has gotten a wheel lock for her car and has switched cars with her boyfriend since he has a garage.

“So I have a 2023 and i know the newer ones they’ve they’ve changed a lot so you can’t steal it the way that people are trying to do with a USB. But the problem is that these people who are trying to steal it, they don’t know it’s a newer one so they still try to steal it and at least break a window and just cause a lot of issues,” said Maronde.

“I think there should be certain lawsuits for this certain type of thing. Lawsuits for newer cars as well as older ones because currently there are none that I’ve found that apply because I have a newer car,” said Maronde.

Jacobs is also considering joining lawsuits.

In February, Kia and Hyundai announced a free software update for vehicle owners that increases the amount of time the alarm goes off, and preventing their cars from being started with a USB.

“I wish I would have known about this when I purchased my car. I definitely didn’t and I didn’t know it was such a big issue in the cities,” said Maronde.

University police recommend installing a tracking device in your car, or purchasing a wheel lock.

In March, Attorney General Keith Ellison launched an investigation into Kia and Hyundai, which could lead to a lawsuit.