Hyundai and Kia have agreed to settle a consumer class-action lawsuit worth $200m over rampant thefts of the vehicles because of a TikTok trend.
In February, the Korean automakers said they would offer software upgrades to 8.3m US vehicles to help curb a stark increase in thefts using a method popularized on TikTok and other social media channels.
The TikTok trend started spreading in 2021, challenging users to steal 2010 to 2021 model year Kia and Hyundai cars using a USB cable. Cities across the US saw thefts of the vehicles spike. By fall 2022, Los Angeles officials said there was an 85% increase in thefts of Kia and Hyundai vehicles compared to the previous year.
