the hackernews Final month, Hyundai agreed to pay $200 million to resolve a class motion lawsuit in the wake of a car theft anxiousness that went viral on TikTok, YouTube and diverse platforms. The deal promised to pay out about $145 million to US Hyundai and Kia owners who had their vehicles stolen or damaged by a theft are trying — but the settlement didn’t effect aside the topic to rest. New York City has launched that it’s now suing the automaker for negligence and being a public nuisance.
Particularly, the city accuses the automaker of choosing to “sacrifice public safety for earnings” by eschewing overall anti-theft expertise from sure US mannequin Kia and Hyundai vehicles. New York City alleges this used to be a market specific selection, noting that Hyundai and Kia vehicles offered in European and Canadian markets enact, truly, comprise automobile immobilizers installed “because rules there expressly require them.”
This ended in a upward push in thefts after the “Kia Trouble” regarded on social media earlier this year — with videos demonstrating how sure Hyundai vehicles may per chance just also be mercurial sizzling-wired utilizing a easy USB wire.
The end result, the city says, used to be unprecedented, with a 660% elevate in Hyundai and Kia automobile thefts in the most main four months of 2023 when in contrast to the earlier year. New York City says this has resulted in now not perfect more reports of theft, but diverse safety factors, at the side of reckless utilizing, and violent altercations between thieves and automobile owners, all of which it claims has made New York City less righteous and caused undue burden on police property. New York City is requesting a trial by jury and is inquiring for punitive and compensatory damages.