Seattle councilmember urges recall of Kia, Hyundai models amid skyrocketing thefts

SEATTLE — Seattle City Councilmember Lisa Herbold is calling on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (HTSA) to recall a handful of Kia and Hyundai models over ongoing concerns related to thefts.

Kia and Hyundai thefts have skyrocketed since a viral TikTok video in the summer of 2022 showed people how to steal the cars with just a USB cable. And while the manufacturers made a software update available to owners, there has not been a mandatory recall of any make and model related to this issue.

Seattle has seen a 363% increase in reports of stolen Kias between 2021 and 2022. That number was even higher for Hyundais at 503%, and that larger trend has been consistent across 68 other cities in the U.S.

That had the City of Seattle filing a lawsuit against the two automakers in January. That legal action is still pending.

In the meantime, Herbold has proposed a resolution that would urge Kia and Hyundai to recall “specific models” while requiring that they install “industry standard anti-theft technology.”

Similar resolutions have previously been passed in both Baltimore and Philadelphia.

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