Say NO to Kia

[John T Smith]

Copied from my wife's FB page (with permission)

This is for the people who have NO idea what is happening once your Kia or Hyundai is stolen.

As I wrote, my daughters 2017 Kia was stolen from her home last Saturday evening. In May of 2023, she had the car in for service and the update installed for the anti theft "thingy"!

Fast forward to today: I have been all over the internet and saw there is a class action lawsuit going on through one of the "ambulance chaser" attorneys.

I spoke with a guy at Weston Kia just now and learned more than I can process. Here is what he told me and I was blown away. People of my age have never lived through this insanity and this one takes the cake for sure.

Apparently the story goes like this: If your car is stolen he was telling me that usually within days it is recovered, most often at a homeless camp. The car has to then be towed to a dealer because it must be checked for FENTANYL. If it has any residue of the drug than the car is sent to the crusher. Right now Kia has over 175 cars on the lot that have to be checked for drugs. He said it is very rare to get a stolen car back that checks out clean and can be fixed and given back to the owner.

We talked about the "TikTok" video showing how to steal these cars and it seems the anti theft devices are not working, no matter what Koi does to improve them.

If you have a newer Kia or Hyundai my suggestion would be never taking one anywhere and parking it, especially in Portland.

Here is the phone number to get registered with Kia as it seems from what I heard there is some help. Listen to the prompts!

KIA - (800) 333-4542

[John T Smith]

Car has been recovered, thief (or at least the person driving when caught) is 16 so no idea what will happen to him

Car towed to a facility to be tested... positive for meth inside, negative for fentanyl

A positive fentanaly would mean a quick trip to the crusher, since it is not possible to 'completely' clean fentanyl residue out of the inside of a car (at least that is what wife was told by Kia dealer)

Don't know if meth will also mean going to the crusher to then be melted and the metal used again

Right now it 'seems' that a replacement car will be needed... NOT a Kia !!!

[John T Smith]

Update 2

Meth inside the car DOES mean it goes to the crusher... so now the search for a replacement begins with what the insurance company will give (I don't know the amount)

Hopefully a brand that is not so easy to steal

[John T Smith]

Latest status is she is waiting for insurance to be able to buy another car... currently looking at a Chevy

She has also joined the class action suit against Kia, so once the lawyers finish she 'should' get some money to go toward buying another car