SEATTLE — A member of the Seattle City Council is asking the federal government to recall Hyundai and Kia vehicles.
Councilmember Tammy Morales joined council members from other major cities to demand a recall of the vehicles. Morales said the automakers need to be held accountable for the thefts and the problems caused by them.
She took part in a virtual press conference with elected leaders from other big cities like Baltimore and Philadelphia to call for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to issue a recall of Kia and Hyundai vehicles due to theft vulnerabilities.
"These are vehicles that are used by everyday working folks to get to work, to get the things done that they need to do,” said Morales, who represents District 2. “We are holding the corporations accountable for investing in the kind of fix that is needed for all of these cars and all of these families.”
The Seattle Police Department said Kia and Hyundai vehicles were the top two types of cars stolen in Seattle last year. The department said more than 8,300 cars were stolen in the city in 2023. More than 1,200 of those stolen were Hyundai vehicles and more than 1,000 were Kia vehicles.
These cars have been targeted due to the “Kia Boyz” TikTok challenge, where young people discovered how to easily steal the vehicles.
“There's young people who may or may not even know how to drive or have a license, who are on the roads in these cars,” said Morales. “That's also causing disruption in our neighborhoods.”
The Seattle Police Department said they have seen an increase in stolen Kia and Hyundai cars being used in crimes. There have been multiple instances this past year when they have been used to ram into stores to steal from businesses.
“For us as a city, as a municipality, the expense that we've gone through for our police department to have to deal with these thousands of thefts is problematic,” said Morales.
She said it is not fair to working families to have to live with cars that are a target to criminals and said the companies need to take accountability and fix them.
“This coalition of council members from across the country has come together to really try to demand from the manufacturers that they address it,” said Morales.
The City of Seattle said from 2021 to 2022 they saw a more than 300% increase in the number of Kia vehicles stolen and a more than 500% increase in the number of Hyundai vehicles stolen in the city.
In addition to the coalition of council members making that demand, the City of Seattle is also a part of an active lawsuit against these automakers. The Seattle City Council also passed a resolution last month calling for the cars to be recalled.
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