Kia and Hyundai settled a $200 million consumer class-action lawsuit brought against the automakers due to a crime wave targeting their models.
The corporate cousins sold approximately 9 million vehicles in the U.S. since 2011 that were not equipped with ignition immobilizers, making them easy to steal through a method that has spread on TikTok and other social media platforms over the past year.
Tens of thousands of the vehicles have been stolen and theft rates have been rising in some cities this year, even as the automakers and law enforcement have taken new measures to counter them.