Margie and Alexander Klaus try to pick up a steering wheel lock from Metro Police officers after a Metro Police First Tuesday event at the Windmill Library Tuesday, April 4, 2023. The couple were not on the proper list but officers promised to get them a lock with the next shipment.
Sunday, April 9, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Adam Soboleski had just finished dinner at a buffet in North Las Vegas when he noticed his Kia Optima was missing.
The elementary school teacher isn’t alone — something he learned as he waited in line for a replacement rental car.
“All four of us waiting in line were there because of a car stolen or a piece of the engine stolen,” Soboleski said.
Soboleski is one of many nationally who’ve had their Kia or Hyundai vehicle stolen in recent months. It is such a large group that some car insurance companies are refusing to cover such brands of vehicles for theft.
Law enforcement officials say the rise in thefts follows a series of TikTok videos, including a TikTok challenge, that detail how to steal the vehicles. The video gives simple steps on how to insert a USB wire into a port after removing some pieces of the steering wheel column.
Metro Police held a community meeting Tuesday at Windmill Library to discuss the rise in thefts in Las Vegas and hand out steering wheel locks to Kia and Hyundai owners.
In 2021, Kia and Hyundai vehicles didn’t make the city’s list of top 10 vehicles stolen in 2021, said Martin Greenblatt, an auto theft investigator with Metro’s auto theft task force. The top car stolen last year was a 2004 Chevy pickup truck.
A few months into 2023 and it’s apparent that Hyundai and Kia models will be on the list this year, Greenblatt said. He said those at risk of being stolen include 2011 to 2021 Kias and Hyundais that need a key to start the vehicle. Push-start vehicles are not included.
The models were manufactured without an ignition immobilizer — security devices that require the correct key to start an engine, he said.
“This is an international problem,” Greenblatt said.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford joined 22 other attorneys general in signing a letter March 20 that asked Kia and Hyundai to accelerate software upgrades and provide free alternative protection to vehicle owners.
“Your companies made the choice not to include anti-theft immobilizers as standard equipment in many of your vehicle models sold in the United States during a period when every other manufacturer was doing so — and even though these vehicles come equipped with immobilizers when sold in Canada and Europe,” the letter says. “These highly effective immobilizers were standard equipment on 62% of other manufacturers’ car models in 2000, and by 2015 they were standard on 96% of other manufacturers’ vehicles. And yet, in that same year, only 26% of Hyundai and Kia models came equipped with an immobilizer as standard equipment.”
In the first three weeks of January, Kias and Hyundais made up 44% of all car thefts in Washington, D.C. In Buffalo, N.Y., there were 400 Kias and Hyundais stolen in 2022 and 350 stolen in the first two months of 2023.
Metro Police couldn’t provide the Sun with data on how many Kias and Hyundais have been stolen this year in Clark County. It’s unknown how Metro tracks stolen vehicles; a spokesperson said they assumed overall uptick in stolen vehicles was due to the national trend in Kia and Hyundai models being stolen.
Mike Seifer, who owns an Allstate Insurance office in Henderson, said he was confused when he saw Allstate put a national moratorium on 2011 to 2021 models of Kias and Hyundais.
“I’ve been doing this for 30 years and never heard of this,” Seifer said.
Then one of his clients had their Kia stolen from a shopping center, he said. “Obviously, this is a huge issue,” Seifer said.
Existing clients will still be covered by Allstate but any new clients with the vehicles won’t be covered for theft, he said.
“They have to go back and offer something,” he said about the manufacturing companies.
In February, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that Kia and Hyundai had developed “theft deterrent software” for the vehicles that lack an immobilizer.
It will include an updated alarm system and require a key be in the ignition, the release says. The updates will be offered for free.
Vehicle owners will also be provided with a window sticker alerting that the vehicle has been updated with the anti-theft protection.
The March 20 letter from attorneys general urged the manufacturers to release the software soon.
Soboleski was on vacation in Florida about a week after his car was stolen when he received a call from Metro Police that his vehicle had been recovered. He eventually learned that the suspects removed about five parts from his engine. His car currently sits in a repair shop waiting for the parts to arrive.
A beloved Atlanta Hawks jacket also was stolen from the vehicle, he said.
“When people steal cars, they don’t realize the inconvenience they place on the owner,” Soboleski said. “You have to get rides. Phone calls all the time. Paperwork and hassles. I’ve had to go to the dealership twice.”
The repair shop plans to place an alarm on his car to help prevent a future theft, Soboleski said. Attia Mansour, general manager at Jim Marsh Kia, said alarms have been effective at keeping vehicles from being stolen from the lot.
“Every vehicle that we sell has an alarm system,” Mansour said. “It protects us from theft. We give the customer the option to activate it in their name. That is on new and used vehicles.”
Mansour said alarms were added to the cars three years ago and there hasn’t been a theft since. He said the lot had thefts prior to adding the alarms.
While Kia and Hyundai have yet to release their software updates, they have sent steering locks to police departments, including Metro Police, which passed them out Tuesday night.
Alexander Klaus waited in line for a lock at the event. He plans to use the lock “religiously,” specifically while visiting the German-American Social Club that he frequents in North Las Vegas.
“There are a few Hyundais and Kias in the parking lot there,” Klaus said. “They will have to go to the next car.”
