Pasco Police have issued a warning to the owners of certain car models, and it has been echoed by other law enforcement agencies.
Kia, and Hyundai owners are filing a lot more auto theft reports in Tri-Cities
The issue has always been there but was made a lot worse a little over a year ago by a dangerous TikTok challenge. Kia models made after 2011, and Hyundai cars built after 2015 and later, can apparently be hotwired using only a USB cable.
This is according to reports from the Washington State Patrol and The Puget Sound Auto Theft Task Force reported in August of 2022 they were seeing a spike in theft of these cars.
The TikTok challenge was a video posted on the controversial Chinese-based social media platform, showing how to hotwire these cars, and presumably steal them.
Now, Pasco Police issue a warning
Despite recalls and safety changes being processed by the automakers, it takes months to catch up with all the cars, and make the necessary changes to get rid of this flaw. In the meantime, Pasco PD says locally, Kia and Hyundai cars are among the most reported stolen.
Investigators urge owners of these cars to immediately contact the appropriate dealers and get the ‘fixes’ installed, or at least look into other security measures that would greatly lower the chance of their car being taken.