Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison filed a lawsuit Monday in federal court against car manufacturers Kia and Hyundai, alleging their failures to install anti-theft technology in some vehicles contributed to an exponential rise in thefts. A city release states that from 2021 to 2022, thefts of Kia and Hyundai cars increased by 363% and 503%, respectively. The lawsuit alleges that Kia and Hyundai knew of the public safety concerns from the spike in thefts of their vehicles and that neither company took meaningful steps to address the problem. “Kia and Hyundai chose to cut corners and cut costs at the expense of their customers and the public. As a result, our police force has had to tackle a huge rise in vehicle theft and related problems with already stretched resources. Now Seattle taxpayers must shoulder the burden of the increase in theft,” said Davison. “Kia and Hyundai need to take responsibility for the public safety hazard that they created.” An insurance industry group said in September that these cars are stolen at nearly twice the rate of the rest of the auto industry because their keys lack computer chips for theft “immobilizer” systems. Instructional videos from social media are believed to have helped spread knowledge of this information. The Highway Loss Data Institute, a unit of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, found that Hyundais and Kias without immobilizers had a vehicle theft claim rate of 2.18 per 1,000 insured vehicle years. The rest of the industry combined had a rate of 1.21. An insured vehicle year is equal to one vehicle insured for one year. READ THE FULL STORY: https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle/seattle-lawsuit-kia-hyundai/281-293d9e1b-bada-49bd-bebf-ad7f31ede361