A woman says that her car was stolen from her home in Humboldt Park, with thieves potentially using a tactic that has gained notoriety on social media in recent months as thefts have skyrocketed in Chicago.
The victim in the case says that her car was stolen from her home, near the intersection of North Avenue and Central Park, then driven four miles away before it crashed into two parked cars near the intersection of Spaulding and Grace in Irving Park.
“I can’t even touch it. They have to run fingerprints,” Maritza says. “There’s stolen property in there…I don’t even know if it’s drivable.”
Neighbors say that police apparently caught one of the thieves.
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“We heard them shout ‘keep your hands up! Don’t move!,’” one neighbor told NBC 5.
Maritza says that what makes the case especially frightening is that her Hyundai was stolen without the keys.
“We didn’t see or hear anything,” she said.
Local
The theft is similar to a crime that’s become a trend nationwide, with thieves targeting older-model Hyundai and Kia cars.
According to a report by NBC 5 Responds, the “Kia Hyundai Challenge” originated with TikTok users sharing “how-to” videos exposing a security flaw in Hyundai models made between 2013 and 2021, and Kia models made between 2011 and 2021.
The flaw is the lack of a device called a “standard immobilizer,” which prevents a car from starting with the key present.
NBC 5 Responds found that nearly 96% of vehicles manufactured after 2015 had the devices, but just 26% of Hyundai and Kia vehicles had them.
The devices are now standard on the vehicles, according to the companies, but a potential software patch to fix the glitch is not yet widely available.
Chicago police records show 46 thefts involving Kia and Hyundai vehicles in the month of May, but that number jumped to 676 in August alone, accounting for one-third of all car thefts reported in the city.
Authorities recently released a community alert on a series of thefts involving Kia and Hyundai vehicles in the Grand Crossing area, with at least six reported at a variety of locations between Oct. 17 and Oct. 21.
It is unclear whether the thefts are related to the Humboldt Park incident.
Police recommend that motorists not leave vehicles unattended, or with keys inside, and to activate anti-theft devices when possible.
