City Will Sue Kia, Hyundai Over Repeated Thefts

2018 Hyundai Accent. Photo by Kevauto, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

It’s go time.

The Milwaukee Common Council unanimously authorized a lawsuit Tuesday against vehicle makers Kia and Hyundai. The lawsuit would attempt to recoup the city’s costs associated with the frequently stolen vehicles.

“It’s been a two-year journey,” said Alderwoman Milele A. Coggs, who has long publicly pressed the issue with her colleague Khalif Rainey. She said she hopes for some “relief for the community and for some payback.”

The theft surge first began appearing in local crime stats in the fall of 2020, and by 2021 there were a record 10,487 thefts reported. In 2022, it became a national issue. Thieves, often children in Milwaukee, exploit a series of vulnerabilities in the vehicles to easily steal them. The vehicles are often driven recklessly, causing “destruction” said Coggs, and harming more than just those that have their car stolen. The National Insurance Crime Bureau found that Milwaukee had the greatest vehicle theft rate increase from 2020 to 2021 and that its 2021 rate was eighth in the nation.

Common Council President José G. Pérez called the company’s response, or lack thereof, “criminal negligence” during a press conference Monday.

Many Kia and Hyundai vehicles manufactured in the past decade lack an immobilizer (key fob) that prevents the starting of the vehicle. The vulnerability is compounded by the fact that the vehicles have an ignition that can be started by breaking the steering column and using a USB cable to gain the torque to turn a metal piece. More than two-thirds of all vehicles stolen in Milwaukee in 2021 were made by Kia or Hyundai.

“This is not an accident. It isn’t just bad luck that Kias and Hyundais have been stolen,” said Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul on Monday. He’s leading a coalition of 23 attorneys general that submitted a letter demanding the companies act.

But the City of Milwaukee is now poised to move ahead by fighting the issue in court. Tuesday’s authorization grants City Attorney Tearman Spencer the ability to hire an outside counsel. The city could pursue joining a lawsuit that both Seattle and Madison are party to, or it could seek its own settlement.

Spencer, on Tuesday afternoon, said a press conference would be held Wednesday morning to discuss the issue.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson, during Kaul’s press conference Monday, said Kia and Hyundai’s response has been a “slap in the face” to the city and to those who have had their vehicles stolen or damaged. The companies initially agreed to provide the city with free steering wheel locks, which have been broken off. The companies, in 2022, unveiled a several-hundred dollar hardware fix. In February, Hyundai announced a free software fix with a phased rollout, but Kia did not commit to a date it would be available for its vehicles. Many individuals who do not have vehicles that are vulnerable to theft still have their windows broken during attempted thefts. The scale of the issue has caused delays in getting vehicles repaired.

“That vulnerability has been costly and disruptive to victims,” said the mayor. Johnson said the resulting thefts have also been a burden to the Milwaukee Police Department, Milwaukee Fire Department and Department of Public Works.

The vulnerability is present in many Kias made between 2011 and 2021 and Hyundais between 2015 and 2021.

“Every aldermanic district and every neighborhood in the City of Milwaukee has been touched by the rash of vehicle thefts, and we have seen the terror and hardship that having a vehicle stolen can bring. We are hopeful that this action can lead to some compensation and justice for our city, and we thank our colleagues for their strong support of this legislation,” said Coggs and Rainey in a joint statement after the vote. In addition to Coggs, Rainey and Pérez, the measure was sponsored by Mark Chambers, Jr. and Russell W. Stamper, II.

The council had discussed potential litigation several times in closed sessions. Pérez, in a discussion with media members before the vote, said it was a matter of council members getting comfortable with the city’s legal strategy and possible outcomes. The outside legal representative, which has yet to be named, would be paid conditionally based on the results of the case. The city recently secured $2.5 million as part of a $1.2 billion settlement with electronic cigarette company JUUL Labs centered on its marketing techniques.

A series of legal loopholes, including limitations on penalties and difficulties in catching perpetrators, have made it difficult for the criminal justice system to shut down the vehicle theft problem. Assistant police chief Paul Formolo said at a press conference Monday that arresting the way out of the problem wasn’t a viable strategy.

The number of vehicles being stolen in Milwaukee has fallen from its 2021 peak, first by 23% in 2022 and now by 31% in 2023. But the theft rate is still  higher than it was pre-crisis.

Formolo attributed some of the slowdown to a change in police tactics, including a traffic safety unit and a bait car. “8,000 victims last year is still way too many,” said Formolo.