Rise in stolen Kias, Hyundais across Las Vegas

Cassidy Faulkner’s 2017 Hyundai Elantra was stolen twice in 5½ months. Kris Zeppetella’s 2018 Hyundai Elantra was stolen twice in nine months.

Their ordeals are part of the dramatic rise in vehicle thefts across the Las Vegas valley in 2023, a spike fueled by a social media trend that targets Kias and Hyundais across the country.

“It’s just insanity, and it’s these young kids who don’t have to work hard for anything, or don’t respect anyone else’s stuff,” said Faulkner, 25, of North Las Vegas. “And they think it’s funny and cool.”

It’s a phenomenon that has become known as the Kia Boyz, or Kia Boys, after a YouTube documentary about a group of teen car thieves in Milwaukee was released in March 2022.

That, and the fact it’s become widely known that certain models of Kias and Hyundais are vulnerable to theft, with viral videos on TikTok and Instagram showing people how to steal the cars.

Assessing local impact

Numbers from police in Clark County underscore the problem locally.

In the Metropolitan Police Department’s jurisdiction, which includes Las Vegas, motor vehicle thefts are up 37 percent over the same time last year, which show numbers from Jan. 1 through Dec. 8.

The rise is dramatically higher in certain parts of the valley. In Metro’s Northwest Area Command, which serves the most northwest corner of Las Vegas, vehicle thefts are up 76.7 percent.

Victims’ stories highlight the human toll of what it’s like to lose your way of getting around and its effect on every aspect of life.

“When you steal somebody’s car, that disrupts their entire life,” Metro Deputy Chief Branden Clarkson said.

“It’s so stressful,” said Zeppetella, 49, whose Elantra was first stolen from her Silverado Ranch home on March 10 and then on Dec. 11. Both times, the car was located and she got it back.

Before the car was stolen a second time, she got Hyundai’s free anti-theft update, which the carmaker had launched in February 2023 as a service for almost 4 million vehicles, according to Hyundai’s anti-theft website, which lists all the affected vehicles. The upgrade didn’t stop the thieves, Zeppetella noted.

“There’s no way I’d buy another Hyundai,” Zeppetella said.

Hyundai North America spokesperson Ira Gabriel said in a statement that some of the company’s vehicles “are not equipped with push-button ignitions and immobilizing anti-theft devices.

“It is important to clarify that an engine immobilizer is an anti-theft device and these vehicles are fully compliant with federal anti-theft requirements. Thieves discovered a specific method by which to bypass the vehicles’ security features and then documented and promoted their exploits on TikTok and other social media channels.”

According to Metro statistics, there have been 13,724 vehicle thefts in 2023 so far. That’s compared to 10,018 over the same time period in 2022.

In Metro’s Bolden Area Command, which is bordered by West Lake Mead Boulevard, West Sahara Avenue, Interstate 15 and U.S. Highway 95, vehicle thefts were up 57.4 percent over the same time last year.

Clarkson, who oversaw Bolden Area Command before his recent promotion, said the rash of vehicle thefts has been “very frustrating.

“So, Las Vegas Valley, they’re seeing an issue with mainly Hyundais and Kias,” Clarkson said. “They’ve had that YouTube/TikTok spree where they’re learning how and where to easily steal vehicles. If it wasn’t for these Hyundais and Kias, we’d actually be down 14 percent in Bolden Area Command.”

North Las Vegas, Henderson

The spike in vehicle thefts is also true in North Las Vegas and Henderson.

According to the North Las Vegas Police Department, vehicle thefts are up 54 percent over the same time in 2022. An email from a North Las Vegas spokesperson said there were 2,553 vehicle thefts through November 2023, compared to 1,657 through November 2022.

In November, the top four stolen vehicles in North Las Vegas were the Hyundai Sonata, with 18 stolen; Kia Optima, with 16; Chevrolet Silverado, with 16; and Ford F-Series, with seven, police said.

Numbers from the Henderson Police Department illustrate how the skyrocketing thefts of Kias and Hyundais are contributing to the rise of thefts overall.

In 2021, according to police, there were 797 vehicle thefts, with 18 Hyundais and 12 Kias taken. By 2022, each of those numbers were rising. Of 868 vehicle thefts in Henderson that year, 90 were Hyundais and 12 were Kias.

By 2023, the jump was significant. Of 1,245 vehicle thefts as of Oct. 12, 353 were Hyundais and 216 were Kias.

Affecting insurance industry

The insurance industry is also taking note of the problem, said Michael Geeser, a spokesperson for the Nevada Insurance Council, a trade group whose mission is to educate the public on insurance-related issues.

“It’s very much on the radar of insurance companies,” Geeser said, adding that vehicle theft is one of a host of issues, including overall inflation, that contributes to rising vehicle insurance rates.

Geeser also noted that some insurance carriers had stopped writing policies for certain Hyundai and Kia vehicles.

State Farm is one of those companies.

“State Farm has stopped accepting new customer applications in some states for certain model years and trim levels of Hyundai and Kia vehicles because theft losses for these vehicles have increased dramatically,” said Sevag A. Sarkissian, a spokesperson for State Farm Insurance Companies, in an emailed statement.

The statement didn’t say which states this applies to.

Life disruptions aggravating

Victims of auto theft speak of the total disruption to their lives, of having to figure out every trip they make out of the house, whether it be to work, the grocery store or the doctor.

Lori David-Jones, 61, said she and her husband’s 2016 Ford Explorer was stolen in August, right out of the driveway of their home near the 215 Beltway and Hualapai Way. The SUV was later recovered in North Las Vegas.

“It was an inconvenience, I think that was the worst part,” said David-Jones, who works in the insurance industry and fears the impact the sheer amount of auto thefts will have on insurance rates.

“They’ve gotta do something,” David-Jones said. “People are not going to be able to afford to drive.”

Sara Inghram, 25, of Las Vegas, had her 2015 Hyundai Sonata stolen on Thanksgiving morning. Inghram later found the car, but “they destroyed it,” she said. Inghram had also had the anti-theft update installed in July.

“It caused a lot of problems,” Inghram said, adding that she has a 16-month-old daughter who can’t easily be taken to doctor’s appointments and a boyfriend who needs to get rides from co-workers to work.

Faulkner bought her Hyundai Elantra in September 2022. It was first stolen in March when she was living at an apartment complex near Las Vegas and Nellis boulevards.

“I went six years without a car in Vegas and that means 120-degree heat riding the bus, asking friends for rides, paying copious amounts of money for an Uber, so really just disappointed. I felt violated, I felt disrespected,” Faulkner said, describing how that first theft left her feeling.

The car was found in North Las Vegas, “trashed” and reeking of marijuana smoke, she said. Insurance covered the repairs, she said.

But it was stolen again in July after she had moved to the area of Decatur Boulevard and the 215 in North Las Vegas. Faulkner said she hasn’t had the anti-theft upgrade installed, explaining in a text message that previous experience at Hyundai dealerships has deterred her from being proactive. But the second time, she had been using a steering wheel lock. The thieves somehow dismantled it, but the car was otherwise fine.

“I don’t know what happened, but when they located the vehicle, the steering wheel lock was nowhere to be found,” Faulkner said. “No bits, no pieces, nothing. It was completely gone from the vehicle.

“At that point, truthfully, I didn’t cry once,” she said of her reaction to the second theft. Again, she got the car back, which she continues to drive.

“I kind of laughed because I was like, you know what? What more can you expect at this point, with how bad everything is with these thefts?”

Contact Brett Clarkson at bclarkson@reviewjournal.com.