Kia and Hyundai’s ‘Kia Boyz’ Problem

The Journal.

The Wall Street Journal

Daily News, Business News, News

4.2 • 5.3K Ratings

🗓️ 23 May 2023

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After car theft videos went viral on social media, Hyundai and Kia have been reckoning with a surge in stolen vehicles. WSJ’s Sean McLain unpacks how the thefts started and how the companies are trying to address them. Further Reading: - Cities Sue Hyundai, Kia After Wave of Car Thefts - States Urge Recall of Millions of Kia, Hyundai Cars After Sharp Rise in Thefts - Police, Car Owners Wrestle With Growing Thefts of Kias, Hyundais Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Shania Diaz lives in LA, so she drives a lot.
0:10.4	And in 2021, she leased a new car and Navy Blue Kia Sportage.
0:16.2	It's been a wild ride.
0:20.4	Can you tell me about the first time that your Kia was stolen?
0:23.8	Yeah, the first time I actually went to a friend's wedding.
0:28.4	It was like the following day I came back and I was like, I know I parked here.
0:34.7	She'd left it on the street near her house.
0:37.8	And I even asked a friend because they saw me park there too and I was like, did I park
0:41.3	here?
0:42.3	Because I thought I was going crazy and I started calling the tow companies and nobody
0:46.3	had my car.
0:47.3	And little did I know that it was actually stolen and it would be this whole adventure
0:51.7	after that.
0:53.2	The police eventually recovered the Kia about three cities away.
0:57.6	And the car was totally totaled so all the wheels were taken off.
1:01.6	The car was trashed.
1:03.8	It took four months to get it fixed.
1:06.5	And a week after she finally got it back.
1:08.8	It was stolen again.
1:10.5	This time I felt very furious because I was like, I just got the car back.
1:16.3	After it was stolen the first time, Shania hit an Apple air tag in the car, which meant
1:20.7	that now she could actually see where her car was as it moved around LA.
	...

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