Hyundai and Kia owners all over the United States are finding themselves in a terrible situation. Thieves–sometimes teenagers following TikTok trends–are exploiting their vehicles’ ignition systems to steal the cars. Thefts appear to be on a meteoric rise as these cars are reportedly easy to steal, requiring only a USB cable and about a minute of time. And worse, you can watch the phenomenon unfold right on social media.
Last year, news stations and police in Milwaukee, Wisconsin reported on an alarming problem. In 2021, some 10,479 vehicles were stolen in the city. That number is up from 2020’s statistic of 4,500 thefts.
What happened to make car thefts more than double in a single year? People–reportedly sometimes as young as 12–have found out that Hyundais and Kias are apparently easy to steal. Two-thirds of the vehicles stolen in the city in 2021 were Kias and Hyundais. Sadly, this year is looking no different. These stolen vehicles reportedly get used for joyrides, stunts, and in the commission of other crimes.
As Milwaukee deals with a second year of elevated car theft numbers, other cities are beginning to find themselves facing the same problem. As Carscoops reported earlier this month, authorities in St. Paul, Minnesota are reporting a 1,300 percent rise in thefts of Kias and a 584 percent increase in Hyundai thefts. What that translates to is 256 Kia and 212 Hyundai thefts this year thus far compared to just 18 and 31 last year, respectively. The statistics are looking very similar in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where 45 percent of the stolen cars this year are Kia or Hyundai. St. Louis, Missouri, Columbus, Ohio, Chicago, Illinois, and Memphis, Tennessee are among a long list of cities where Kia and Hyundai thefts are rising this year.
If you look up these thefts on social media you’ll quickly find that this may not be just a random rash of crime. Some of the people who allegedly steal these cars call themselves the Kia Boyz, and videos of them can be found on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.
I’ve spent the past couple of days going through scores of these videos and at times I couldn’t believe what my eyes were seeing. In one video tagged as #kiaboyz, a Kia with Illinois plates drives through a school’s sidewalk as students board buses.
@tweakertales
In another, someone hangs out of a window and fires a gun. Other videos show Kia and Hyundai vehicles randomly swerving down city streets. Some show vehicles crashing and some appear to be filmed by bystanders watching as people pull up in one Kia to take another. The videos even show people in Kia and Hyundai vehicles taunting police. We cannot confirm if any of the featured vehicles are stolen, but at the very least, they’re being used recklessly.
And sadly, this also goes beyond just stolen property. The Columbus Dispatch reports that earlier this month, two 14-year-olds allegedly connected to Kia Boyz died after crashing a reportedly stolen Hyundai. Also this month, a suspected stolen Kia Sportage in Minneapolis killed a 70-year-old woman in a crash. There are a number of other similar stories like those.
Back when I wrote a few stories about this at the old lighting site, a question that I had is “how?” The news reports that I sourced said thieves are starting Kia and Hyundai vehicles by exploiting the cars’ ignition systems. From a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report:
Officials have determined that the models of Kia and Hyundai vehicles being targeted lack engine immobilizers, an electronic security device that makes it more difficult to start a vehicle without a key.
And another, from a WISN 12 interview with Milwaukee Police Sgt. and spokesperson Efrain Cornejo and Ryan Martin, a manager of a Milwaukee area body shop:
“They take like pliers and they’re able to get the car started with just pliers,” Martin said. “That seems to be pretty simple.”
“There’s a mechanism that they manipulate and it could be as easily manipulated with a USB cord,” Cornejo said.
When asked specifically how, he said, “I don’t want to get into the particulars of it just because, you know, it is a concern that we have for other individuals to find out,” although the exponential increase in numbers indicates the word and method is out there in the public domain.
“It’s not connected or plugged into anything else. They use it kind of like you would use the tip of a screwdriver, for example,” he said.
The targeted vehicles–typically newer model years without push-button start–are said to lack immobilizers. Thieves get in by breaking a window then manipulating the vehicle’s ignition system with a USB cable.
But how? How do you start a Kia or a Hyundai with just a USB cable? Unexpectedly, I found a number of how-to videos on TikTok and YouTube, most of which have now been taken down. Assuming these videos weren’t staged, it appears that the process really is as easy as reports suggest. I watched a video of a self-proclaimed group of Kia Boyz breaking into a Kia. They tore apart the steering column, then shoved a USB cable into a broken ignition switch. It took less than a minute and the Kia fired up as if the USB cable were the car’s key.
And that was just one method. Another method that I saw a how-to for involved shorting out pins in a connector attached to the steering column. I won’t get into the specifics or share the videos that are still up, but it really does appear to be as simple as reported.
In 2021, a class action lawsuit was filed against the two automakers on behalf vehicle owners. Around the same time, news outlets as well as the city of Milwaukee requested comments from the automakers. Kia and Hyundai responded, saying at the time that 2022 vehicles will come equipped with immobilizers. From WTMJ-TV:
Kia says starting in model year 2022, its vehicles will feature an ‘immobilizer’ as a standard, so the cars will not be able to start in a nontraditional manner.
Unfortunately, as ABC 6 reports, 2022s are getting stolen as well. So immobilizers may not be enough to completely prevent thefts of these machines.
If you own one of these vehicles, there are a few ways to protect yourself. One sounds obvious, but if you have a garage, definitely park the car in it. And when the vehicle is parked outside, use a steering wheel lock. If you’re in Milwaukee, you can get a free steering wheel lock from the police. You will just need to show proof of ownership. A steering wheel lock won’t prevent a theft, but it adds an extra layer to stealing your car. That might be just enough to deter someone from taking your car. You can also pick up an aftermarket immobilizer. Again, a determined-enough thief can defeat one, but it’ll slow them down.
I reached out to Kia and Hyundai for comment on this story and received this statement back:
Kia America is aware of the rise in vehicle thefts of a subset of trim level vehicles. As of the current 2022 Model Year, all Kia vehicles have an engine immobilizer fitted as standard. All Kia vehicles for sale in the U.S. meet or exceed Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. Kia customers with questions regarding their Kia vehicle should contact the Consumer Assistance Center directly at 1-800-333-4542 (4Kia).
Editor’s note: To be fair, we haven’t done an analysis on how different Hyundais and Kias are compared to the competition when it comes to ease-of-theft. The point here is that these particular vehicles are being targeted, in part, due to a trend on social media. -DT
We all know that a determined thief can steal your car no matter what you do to protect it, but c’mon Hyundai and Kia. You don’t need to make it that easy for them. You’ve fucked up big time if kids on Tik Tok can show other kids how to steal your cars in less than a minute.
Older cars are even easier to steal. Old Nissans can be stolen without even damaging the column in a matter of minutes (I did this because it was cheaper than a new ignition switch when mine failed) and hot wiring classic vehicles is almost as easy as they make it seem on TV. The social media trend is really the only thing notable about this, but since it is viral, people who know nothing about vehicles will probably try it, so taking extra precautions if you have a Kia is a good idea (we own 2).
Betcha David Tracy’s cars never get stolen!
So that quote is in regards to models *older* than 2022. Kia/Hyundai has already admitted that a number of vehicles older than 2022 do not always have immobilizers. That is why the company’s current PR statement about this is that all 2022 models do.
The companies won’t give out a list of trim levels without immobilizers (for good reason) but enthusiasts believe that they’re the cars without push-button start. That seems to agree with the findings of Milwaukee repair shops.
For example, in that service manual that you’ve provided, the ignition system of the 2017-2020 Rio is noted to work standard with a key or with an optional push-button start. Guess which version is doesn’t have the immobilizer?
Of course, you’re very correct that immobilizers are incredibly easy to overcome. As I noted, clearly the addition of an immobilizer isn’t enough to stop someone from taking your Elantra.
And here is where I wish for comment editing.
That service manual confirms that at least some keyed models have immobilizers.
But Kia/Hyundai admitted that not all pre-2022 models have immobilizers, so I wonder which ones really don’t.
Or maybe, disconnecting the ignition is all you need to do to bypass the immobilizer, which would be hilariously sad if true.
That is definitely the annoyance right now. The Soul owners manual section on it is titled “Immobilizer System (If equipped).” Plus there really isn’t any reason for it to be listed on the sticker so it’s a bit of mystery.
Earlier this year I was in Milwaukee for a business trip and picked out a Kia rental car. The lady at the rental car place told me to wait while she checked if I could rent it, because all of their Kias kept getting stolen. Since it was a push-button start she ended up letting me take it, but that was the first I had heard of it.
SE Wisconsin native here – it’s been a TV new story for 3 years (especially during sweeps weeks) and neither the police nor Kia/Hyundai seem to really want to do anything about it. (Thus the class action suit.)
Had friends in town last year who had a Kia rental busted into, in broad daylight, on a Saturday in a yuppie neighborhood. There was gunfire and broken glass and run for your life action and all the cops did was take a report and tow away a damaged rental car.
My lucky friends have been able to get out of their Kia/Hyundai ownership and into nice Toyotas for now.
I don’t completely blame the manufacturers. I think a lot of the blame is on the cops who won’t even investigate a car theft report, and the courts that don’t sentence car thieves to any significant punishment (because the insurance companies pay out). This allowing of car theft by default is costing each and every person money in terms of vehicle loss (if your car is stolen) or via insurance premiums (because we pay – no insurance company eats the losses). What manufacturers have done so far while completely useless in terms of actual theft prevention, has made getting replacement keys, etc. for legal owners onerous and expensive. And as rootwyrm so clearly stated, the systems put in place are ineffective at stopping criminals.
Whoa, take it easy friend. Let’s not let the comment section here end up like the other site.
There aren’t many auto sites left that have a comment section that isn’t a complete cesspool.
Always starts off ok, before the cesspool
A couple of genZ work buddies showed me a Kia Boyz video over the weekend. They said the Milwaukee police had a standard for breaking off a chase that was very easy to meet. Apparently swerving violently meets that standard (not criticizing the police here, just noting it. They don’t want bystanders hurt.). The clip of one barreling down a school walkway absolutely made me cringe. If I owned a Kia, I’d be buying a Club today.
Thieves figured out pretty quickly they couldn’t cut through the club, but they could rapidly cut through the steering wheel and get the club off without much additional time/effort.
For a while there, KIA/Hyundai were really going places. Now they are just going places contrary to the wishes of the true owners of their cars. And also, now that they have gone “Full-CVT” they aren’t going any places for very long.
If the black market hasn’t changed much since I was younger, professional thieves generally steal cars for their body panels. Hyundai / Kia have sold a lot of cars lately. Wouldn’t it make sense if there are more of these cars on the road, there’d be more of them getting damaged and therefore more of a market for stolen fenders?
I’d be curious to see if those increased numbers just kept pace with increased registrations of those brands.
Just in passing, I once had to replace the ignition on another car. Maybe a Ford. To get that lock out, I think you had to drill the heads off the tamper-proof retaining screws, or drill them and use an extractor. A serious PITA. On the Kia, doesn’t look like there was much holding the lock in place, mostly plastic. Wheel club or hidden disconnect a necessity.
Likely not a Ford. Any I’ve done from about the early 90’s on you just turn the cylinder to on, push up on a detent ball, and it comes right out.
For lame security there’s early 2000’s Chevies. They ditched the resistor in the key to querying the ignition switch ID when turned on. Except it only cares that the ignition switch was turned, not what turned it. So if you rake/bump the cylinder or bypass the cylinder entirely to just turn the switch directly it doesn’t care.
That tone is why people make jokes about IT/tech people with low EQ. For someone who purports to be advanced in his career, I would expect more tact. Maybe you’ve had a bad day, but don’t take it out on Mercedes. She’s one of the last people who would post “copaganda” or whatever politically triggered buzzblather you’re going on about.
I’ve found that rootwyrm is typically overly abrasive at the best of times. From what I can tell he knows his material, but that doesn’t really excuse the behavior.
In another article David had to tell him to take a second and breathe.
I’m staggered to learn that engine immobilizers in the US market weren’t standard equipment by now. But what this also highlights is that margins are so thin for carmakers that they’ll go to surprising lengths to save a few extra cents per car.
Almost all Kias and Hyundai (it’s the plural as well as the singular, right?) available in North America are also available in Australia and New Zealand, albeit in a mirror-world configuration. Engine immobilizers down under have been required factory fitment on all new cars sold for 23 years now under AS/NZS 4601:1999, and while they haven’t *eliminated* car theft, they’ve reduced theft rates to the point where the rates of joyriding and opportunistic theft of late model cars were almost negligible until the advent of keyless entry and keyless ignition systems.
As a consequence, most late model car theft in Australia is targeted and professional, and during the 12 years I spent working for a general insurer, I didn’t see a car theft claim file that hadn’t been automatically flagged as having a potential fraud indicator worthy of at least cursory investigation.
Of course this cuts the other way, too. My wife’s Australian-market 2013 Sorento lacks amenities like a power tailgate that are standard equipment for the same trim level in the US. But I’d rather reach up to close the tailgate a couple of times every day rather than worry that the car won’t be there when I get back to the parking spot…
Unfortunately for us in New Zealand, all the lovely new cars have immobilisers but there’s a huge number of Japanese secondhand imports which don’t and are trivially easy to steal. The JDM Mazda2/Demio and Toyota Prius C/Aqua are at the top of the most stolen charts and super popular with ramraiders as they can fit through many shop window apertures and some bollard installations. Or even in between the bollards and the storefront.
Yeah that’s an interesting problem. I’m surprised neither NZ or other Australian states have passed something like the WA legislation that requires an immobiliser be retrofitted to any car without one before a registration can be transferred into a new name:
https://www.transport.wa.gov.au/licensing/immobilisers.asp
USB A B or C?
See this is why Miata is always the answer. My Miata specifically.
If you want to steal it? Getting into the cabin is the easy part, since the doors are unlocked. (New doors are cheap. Replacing a ripped soft top after someone tries cutting their way in isn’t.)
OK, so you’ve done some cute wire splicing and jammed a screw driver into the ignition and even remembered to push in the clutch pedal (most non-manual-drivers don’t know about that step)…and fuck-all happens.
Maybe you realize that the battery ground has been disconnected by yours truly, so enjoy breaking into the trunk! Hopefully you have pianist hands to get into the trunk corner and attach the cable back to the battery.
Alright so now you have battery power. Time to start ‘er up! You once again do your wire splicing and pedal pushing and key turning and the engine starts!
And then it dies.
That’s OK, you can start it again!
And it dies again.
See, my electronic idle speed control valve has been stuck closed since the Clinton administration and I screw the idle control screw shut during long storage periods, so you have the pleasure of either figuring out what I did (unlikely) or keeping your foot pressing on the gas pedal throughout the entirety of the drive, especially while stopped or between gears.
Oh and have fun turning while fighting with the disabled power steering; I took the belt off because the AC compressor pulley bearing was making Satan sounds.
So if you only make it to the corner before giving up on stealing my Miata, no hard feelings.
I also leave my Miata unlocked. What’s the point? You can break in with a pocket knife and do $1000+ of damage to steal the nothing of value from the interior.
Good think I’ve got a stick shift in my Kia! Today’s best anti theft device!
You’re not wrong about any of this. The other day I found all the software that runs every bit of the interior of my car on the Bosch website. And it’s all basic unprotected Red Hat Linux. It even has the Java Game Environment Runtime. What for I don’t know. But now my car infotainment center can play videos, I can replace the 3D model of the car in the gauge cluster’s compass display with Krusty The Clown, and I can make it run unauthorized Python scripts for total blackout mode. If you know how to use even the simplest forms of Linux like Mint or POP! and know how to install packages from the terminal, you know how to make your car do weird shit. This stuff is secured by obscurity, which isn’t really secure at all.
In the early 00 it was Honda Civics you needed to fear owning. A flathead screwdriver, a piece of string and the ability to tie a decent slip knot is all you needed to take one for the weekend.
As technology advances the criminals will always keep up.
The only person responsible for protecting your stuff is you.
Kia doesn’t care they already sold it to you. Cops don’t care it’s just a property crime.
Take steps to protect your own shit.
That’s why I lock a few rattlesnakes in my car when I park it.
Wrangling them out from under the seats with a Nifty Nabber every morning is a bit of a chore (easier in the winter months for obvious reptile reasons) but I’ll be damned if some thug is gonna take my 2000 Chevy Prizm for a “joy ride”.
Jokes on them even if the snakes don’t get em. “Joy Ride” not in that car.
Protected By Vipers!
Kia does care. Stories like this can make it more difficult for them to sell new cars. From people worried that their car will disappear from the parking lot to insurance companies who will use any rumor to raise the rates, this could hurt.
Remember when old people were layering multiple floor mats in their Camrys and then when the throttle pedal got hung up on them and couldn’t return we got a year of stories about ‘unintended acceleration’?
“If somebody really wants that car, there is absolutely nothing you can do. Nothing.”
It’s the same issue with bicycles and bicycle theft. The only things that work are to make the theft less convenient and make the vehicle look less desirable.
In cars, many thieves don’t know how to drive a manual transmission. So arguably a manual transmission is a security upgrade. And owning a less desirable/basic vehicle probably also helps prevent thefts.
And when it comes to bicycles, what some do is scratch the bike in a unique way so it is uniquely identifiable.
And that also got me thinking about pickup trucks and how tailgate thefts are a big problem. And I was thinking the only effective solutions is to ether remove and hide the tailgate somewhere OR deliberately dent it so it’s still functional but looks less nice/desirable.
I’ve only ever owned manual cars and never had one stolen. Did have a bicycle stolen once, but at least it wasn’t a bike that was expensive or new.
The only other possibility is sticking tracking devices on stuff you want to protect. But then if it actually gets stolen, you have to be prepared to go on the offensive and steal back your property… and I’ve read a few stories of people doing that with their bicycles.
And of course the police self-servingly tell people not to do that. But that’s what they get for being useless for stuff like this.
“The only things that work are to make the theft less convenient and make the vehicle look less desirable.”
I figured a 7-year Soul with serious hail damage that was full of trash would do it. Nope. Convenience apparently won. I’ve got a steering wheel club now, though I’m driving it with USB key since there’s a 2-month wait for a body shop appointment.
“if it actually gets stolen, you have to be prepared to go on the offensive and steal back your property…”
Actually, the cop told me that if I found it, I just needed to call them before I drove it, so they wouldn’t treat it as a stolen vehicle if they noticed me.
You seem very knowledgeable on mainstream vehicle anti theft systems/devices.
Question: Are the security/anti theft systems used in Volvo’s produced in the past 5 years any better than the mainstream brands?
Hyundai: If kids can build ‘em, kids can start ‘em.
How much does a new key for a modern Kia cost? C’mon guys you can do better.
My DD can be unlocked and started with anything key shaped. The owner only had one key when I bought it. It was so worn down that I couldn’t get a decent copy without an hours work with a file. I decided to just delete the need for one by removing the pins and tumblers. You can’t tell by looking at it but pretty much anything will unlock the doors and start the ignition. The tiny file on nail clippers works.
This is one of the reasons I love old cars. The simplicity of the fix.
Bonus: Now I never have to worry about lost keys.
I do have a security system of sorts though.. a manual transmission with a touchy clutch.
I used to leave my ’94 MT ‘scort wagon unlocked and empty in Providence RI because honestly if the thieves wanted the car or anything in it they were going to get it. Towards the end of it’s glorious life you didn’t even really need a key to start it. Just jam something like a small screw drive in and it would crank just fine. I assume it never got stolen because the parts weren’t that valuable and maybe not joy riders because of the MT.
A friend in that same era had a new Honda Civic. Got stolen right out of the driveway, all the parts stripped off of it and found running on the side of the road by the police. Seriously, panels, electronics, air bag, seats. If it wasn’t part of the frame or engine, it was just gone.
Preach on brother.
I don’t lock my car doors either. I’d rather recoup what was stolen from the cabin than deal with and pay for broken glass.
There’s a certain freedom from worry that comes with shitbox ownership.
Will it get you there? Yup
Does anyone want to steal it. Nope.
When I was a kid my dad bought the first new car my family ever owned. He pulled it into the driveway and while we all stood around admiring it he pulled a penknife from his pocket and scratched the paint from front fender to door handle.
We were all so confused.
He said, “Now I don’t have to worry about it”
Cars are fun, cars can be an obsession but they will always be just cars.
I can’t imagine the daily torment of owning something extremely expensive or rare.
Give me the hassle of an old Ford Ranger with a leaking clutch slave cylinder over the all encompassing dread of finding a safe parking spot for my expensive G Wagon any day of the week.
+1
Honda Fit, the locks are biodegradable or something, tumblers in the lock cylinder wear out long before anything else on the car.
New ignition lock is $1000 from dealer and not available aftermarket.
Like you, took out the cylinder and removed the worn tumblers. So it’s about half of an ignition lock now..
The door lock had worn out five years ago, $500. Turns out the Fit base model has the remote unlock system installed but not activated. Get a Fit Sport key with the remote unlock button and program it, now I have a remote unlock and a very secure door which can’t be unlocked with any key 😉
On my first car, 1974 Hillman Vogue, the ignition lock broke. I hotwired the car and drove it that way for several months until the flying sparks from startup began to melt the carpet. Installed an aftermarket lock with a hose clamp and drove that for another five years..
My friend!
I had a 98 Ranger where the driver side door lock simply gave up serving its purpose. A few feet of braided steel cable and a couple of aluminum crimps fixed the problem. Hidden under the front of the door handle was a pinky sized loop that was connected directly to the door lock mechanism, pull it down door unlocks. Simplify!
My wife’s DD is a 2020 Kia Soul turbo. The day we bought it, we got a “Club” for it. Her idea. She even puts it on in our garage. Just in case. We know it won’t prevent a determined thief, but it’ll make it a less attractive target.
And we don’t have registration or insurance info in the car. We carry that in our wallets.
Early Ford Sierras had virtually no security at all, a slightly worn key from one would open and start any other one. I rented a red Sierra, parked it on the second, or third, level of a multi-story car park and went to get some supplies for my 250 mile trip home. Returned to the car park,third or second level, unlocked a red Sierra and went on my way. About 100 miles further north I stopped to fill up with petrol. That was when I realised, this was not the car I had rented.
The police were surprised, but quite helpful (eventually) when I turned up at the police ststion to report a stolen car. As the thief!
I still swear by steering wheel locks.
To no one’s surprise, I’m sure, I can confirm this to also be true for many Yugos, which is why most of the ones that are still around do in fact rock steering wheel locks.
Back in the 90’s had a supervisor go to the State motor pool & request a loaner. Was given keys with a number on the fob. Walked out into the muli-level parking garage to a stall marjed with that number. The car was a later model (small) Mustang, which he thought was odd for a motor pool vehicle, but what the hell? Gets in, fires her up, and he’s on his way to a conference in a different city. While driving, he notices litter in the interior and butts in the ashtray, and thinks that’s odd for a motor pool vehicle, but what the hell?
Meanwhile, the Motor Pool folks are puzzling over the unused Escort (or whatever) in their outbound lot, and a state employee has reported her car stolen. Wasn’t ’til my boss returned late in the day that the coincidental placement of a car with a matching key explained all the weirdness.
FMVSS at that time had a low requirement for unique mechanical keys, like 1024….so the odds of this occurring are high. Especially if a single key was used for Door Locks and Ignition.
Not sure the number of unique keys Ford specified, but it would be at least 1024 to be in compliance.
also 1990s Hondas – they had very minimal variation between different key shapes, you could take a random Honda key, file it down slightly in the right places, and have a master that would work in any of them
Heck, I once owned a 1997 Ranger that didn’t need a key at all. The ignition was so worn out that you just needed to turn to start.
When my future wife bought a ’90s Bronco and lost her key, she found a shop that collected the roughly 12 or so keys that a Bronco had. They made copies of all of them and sent them.
The thought that we could have taken any Bronco made me laugh, but we destroyed the other keys when we found the correct one.
Sounds like the old 92 Cherokee we used to have, where you could just remove the worn key while it was running. We gave it to some friends with a lot of family in town, and they quickly realized that they could just not lock the ignition switch, leave the car unlocked, and any of the various family members from around town could drive it without a key. Over a decade of abuse later, it’s somehow still going, with another generation taking it offroading and beating the crap out of it.
I have the American version, the xr4ti. I performed a conversion from automatic to a manual transmission. I had wiring left from the neutral safety switch that I used to turn into a kill switch that was hidden in the transmission tunnel next to the driver’s seat.
Guess I’m calling Kia to find out if mine has an immobilizer or not.
There’s a reason immobiliers were made mandatory in Canada years ago.
Put a big dent in non-pro thefts.
The pros just use tow trucks.
Yup. Mine got stolen Sunday (not in Milwaukee). Broke a window, pulled the ignition switch out, behind that there’s a nub that a USB plug is a perfect wrench for. That’s how I’m driving it until the shop can fix it. Terrible design. Car was recovered Monday. The perp must have wanted to impress his GF, because they cleared all the trash out of the car (ok, I’m a slob, you mean that passenger side footwell isn’t a trash bin?). Abandoned it a few blocks from where they stole it. Feh.
Hit-and-run valet service 😉
This reminds me of how easy it was to steal 80s GM A nad G bodies. The steering column collar was plastic, so a good whack with a hammer would shatter it exposing the ignition cylinder. My 86 Grand Prix was stolen this way from a crowded parking lot at a music festival.
Yep, almost lost my ’85 Jeep Cherokee XJ that way, was lucky that a fellow employee pulled into the lot and scared the thief off.
They took my ’87 XJ that way, just smacked the column and it was gone. Too bad, too, it was a clean 2-door 4.0 XJ.
Holy Grail!!!
I’m pretty sure it was all GM’s of that time. Possibly all American cars. It was not my thing, but I had friends in the 90’s that could be driving just about any vehicle in a short amount of time with very crude tools. If I saw them with a slide hammer, I knew what they were up to.
Yep, my 85 Cutlass Supreme was stolen the same way. My friends thought I forgot where I parked but when I got closer to where my car should be, I saw the chunk of plastic from my steering collar on the street.
Ah yes, Milwaukee. Land of innovation.
Hey at least we’re finally trend setters in something. (Other than alcoholism and segregation)