The City of Buffalo has filed a lawsuit against Kia and Hyundai.
Buffalo joins other cities, including Seattle, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, St. Louis, Madison and Milwaukee, in multidistrict litigation against the vehicle manufacturers.
Officials say this is to hold Kia and Hyundai accountable for a lack of safety features in their vehicles which make them easy to steal and that these vehicles make up a majority of thefts in the city.
Just last year, Buffalo police say a stolen Kia was involved in a crash on the Kensington Expressway that left four teens dead.
In January, a spokesperson for Kia did not comment on why the affected vehicles have not been recalled and instead issued the following statement:
"Kia remains concerned that criminal actors are targeting certain Kia cars with a steel key and “turn-tostart” ignition systems. While no car can be made completely theft-proof, Kia continues to make steering wheel locks available to customers through interested local law enforcement agencies, subject to available supply, at no cost to concerned owners of these vehicles. Kia also continues its efforts to develop additional solutions for vehicles not originally equipped with an immobilizer, including the development and testing of enhanced security software designed to restrict operation of the vehicle’s ignition system. Kia has started notifying owners of certain models of the availability of this software upgrade at no cost, and Kia anticipates that it will make software upgrades available for most affected vehicles over the next few months. All 2022 models and trims have an immobilizer applied either at the beginning of the year or as a running change, and all Kia vehicles meet or exceed Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. Kia customers with questions regarding their Kia vehicle should contact the Kia Consumer Assistance Center directly at 1-800-333-4542 (Kia).”
