No. of Recommendations: 11
Of course, there are two sides of the crime story that must be analyzed to make sense of any trend. There's the statutory and enforcement side... What acts are actually unlawful and how are local and federal governments funded to enforce those statutes? Then there's the opportunity side of the coin. How easy is a particular crime to commit and what's the risk/reward payoff?
During this period, as prices of "normal cars" skyrocketed due to a combination of legitimate shortages and greed / laziness on the part of manufacturers and dealers, a significant portion of the market became dominated by very inexpensive, poorly designed cars, several of which shared a major design flaw in their ignition system which made them child's play to steal, using only a USB thumb drive as a wedge to short out the ignition circuit and allow the car to be stolen without a key.
Kia and Hyundai are the most stolen vehicles in America, not necessarily because people want them, but because they are widely available and have this gaping design flaw. According to the statistics popped up by Google's AI, the theft rate on Kia and Hyundai models is 11.2 in 1000 as of 2023. That's up by a factor of 10 from 2020 before the flaw was shared on social media. In 2023, thefts of these top three vehicles totaled (48k + 43k + 30k) or 121,000 vehicles.
And remember, the insurance claims from this design flaw aren't limited to the Kia or Hyundai owner who had a window smashed as the thieves broke into the car or the damage to the car if the thieves wrecked it. Many of these cars were taken on dangerous joyrides through cities and neighborhoods at high speeds, colliding with other vehicles and property as well. The 121,000 indidents of theft actually reported likely triggered two or three times as many insurance claims for damages to other vehicles and property.
You cannot blame local law enforcement for THAT spike in crime. You can only blame parents and these two car makers.
WTH
