American cities are suing car manufacturers over auto theft
American cities are suing car manufacturers over auto theft. They have a case
When cars are easy to steal, it makes other crimes easier tooTiktok, a Chinese-owned social-media platform where users post short videos, is a fount of useful information. Type “Kia” into its search bar and the helpful autosuggest adds “boys tutorial”. Click through and the most-liked result is a video explaining how to steal a Hyundai car. A gloved hand pulls the plastic off the steering-wheel housing and then jams a screwdriver into the ignition switch and wrenches it aside. Over rap music a computerised voice says: “this is why you should not buy Kia or Hyundai.” The hand attaches a USB cable onto an exposed socket, and twists, and the car starts up. The video has over 415,000 likes. It is one example of a viral internet trend led by “Kia Boys”, adolescents who steal cars to joyride them and post the videos on social media.This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “The Kia issue”From the September 2nd 2023 editionDiscover stories from this section and more in the list of contentsExplore the edition