If you’ve had your Hyundai or Kia vehicle stolen in the city of Chicago, there's a slim chance that the suspect will be arrested or face charges.
NBC 5 Responds has reviewed data from the Chicago Police Department, and the findings are startling, with statistics showing a very small chance anyone will be held accountable for the theft.
In May 2022, videos on social media exposed the fact that many Hyundai and Kia vehicles could be started without a key. Since then, thefts of these vehicles skyrocketed, but Chicago police data NBC 5 Responds analyzed shows a very small percentage of people have been arrested.
NBC 5 Responds filed a public records request with the Chicago Police Department to see just how often someone stole a Kia or Hyundai in the city after the videos went viral – and how often someone is caught.
Data shows 12,240 Kia/Hyundai thefts reported in Chicago over a 14-month period- from June 2022 to July 24, 2023. That’s a rate of 29 Kia’s and Hyundai’s stolen in the city per day.
According to the city of Chicago, Kia and Hyundai thefts specifically account for more than half of all vehicles stolen in the city in 2023.
Sean Kane, the president of Safety Research and Stats Inc, a research firm that specializes in motor vehicle safety research, shows the battle those in the police department and in the State's Attorney's office are facing.
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“What we're seeing is the police and first responders are overstretched by this problem. You know, this is a problem that was created by Hyundai and Kia providing inadequate theft protection in their cars,” said Kane.
NBC 5 Responds also wanted to know how many arrests were made for those thefts during that same time period. Our analysis showed a total of 249. That’s an arrest rate of just 2.034%.
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“When cars are stolen by casual thieves, meaning not the professionals who are looking to resell those or ship them overseas and so forth for money, that they tend to be involved in crashes. And those crashes tend to cause deaths and injuries at a much higher rate than typical,” said Kane. “What we found so far, and the last year and a half is there have been at least 40 fatalities, 106 injuries, and more than 125 crashes associated with Hyundai’s and Kia’s that have been stolen.”
Kane says those are just the deaths and injuries that we know about on a national level. The actual total is likely much higher.
In response to this data, the Chicago police department sent NBC 5 Responds a statement:
“(We are) actively working to address the increase in motor vehicle thefts. Many of these vehicles are stolen and used in violent crimes that include shootings and armed robberies. To strengthen these investigations, we are leveraging technology to help identify and apprehend the individuals and crews committing the thefts.”
CPD tell us they’ve also received grant funding from the Illinois Secretary of State's Office to “invest in additional technology, data analysis and equipment” to strengthen their motor vehicle theft investigations.
Currently, Kia and Hyundai are offering software updates for vehicle owners who have models vulnerable this type of theft. Kia tells us more than 600,000 vehicles nationwide have already received the update.
Hyundai, meantime, is also making steering wheel locks available to affected customers through a reimbursement program.
