Numlock Sunday: Aaron Gordon on the great Kia-Hyundai theft bonanza

Photo by Alphacolor on Unsplash

By Walt Hickey

Welcome to the Numlock Sunday edition.

This week, I spoke to Aaron Gordon, who wrote “U.S. Cities Have a Staggering Problem of Kia and Hyundai Thefts. This Data Shows It” for Motherboard. Here's what I wrote about it:

Seventeen cities are suing Hyundai and Kia over a wave of auto thefts for their vehicles, which from 2011 to 2021 did not contain the $100 engine immobilizers that prevent vehicles from being hot-wired. Overall, there are 9 million vulnerable vehicles in the U.S., and it’s been a nightmare for cities, with stolen car rates up hundreds of percent in some cities because a screwdriver and a USB cord is all it takes to boost a Kia. In Chicago, 6 percent to 8 percent of all stolen cars were Kias and Hyundais. As of November 2022, that jumped to 48 percent, and as of this past August they still were 35 percent of stolen cars. In Milwaukee, Kia-Hyundais are 52 percent of all car thefts.

I loved the story because it has been absolutely …