Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The City of Buffalo announced Thursday they filed a federal lawsuit against Kia America, Inc. and Hyundai Motor America, citing that the car manufacturers have created a public nuisance in the community by manufacturing cars that are easy to steal.
Buffalo will join other cities like Seattle, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, St. Louis, Madison, and Milwaukee in multidistrict litigation that seeks to hold Kia and Hyundai accountable for placing profits over safety and manufacturing and distributing cars that you could steal just by using a phone charger.
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"It's one of several (lawsuits) that have been filed across the country, some of which by the same law firm. Buffalo is a little bit different," said Attorney Paul Cambria.
"They claim that there was negligence on the part of the companies. What it boils down to is, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration promulgated some rules, one of which was that there has to be theft protection devices, in cars. And here, the claim is that Kia and Hyundai haven't done that on a number of their models. As a result of that, they have threatened public safety, peaceful enjoyment of the roads, sidewalks, streets, etc."
Thefts of Hyundais and Kias have skyrocketed in Buffalo, increasing over 2,000% in January 2023 compared to the same time period the previous year. In the last three months, Hyundais and Kias have made up between 57% and 67% of all vehicle thefts in the City.
"[The claim is that] the manufacturers increased the cost of responding to accidents on the part of municipalities, and so the position of the city is that this was all done knowingly that they had a duty to abide by the rules and have a theft, protection and protection device in their cars. They didn't as a result of it, there was foreseeable damages, and the city is looking for money for damages and money for legal fees."
There has been many calls to action for these manufacturers to act on their faulty security, which has prompted Kia and Hyundai to respond.
"There's some progress in the sense that Kia and Hyundai have said that they've already come up with a software fix. In addition to that, a steering wheel locking device is being provided free of charge, to the cars around the country, they're giving them to police departments and making them available to people. And the software is available for cars that that we'll work on simply by taking them back to the dealer. So it has had an impact in the sense," said Cambria.
However, Cambria believes that cities winning lawsuits like this may not be likely.
"Before any of this damage that the cities are complaining of occurs, there has to be somebody there stealing a car, and recklessly driving. Whether or not that indicates a direct cause because of what the manufacturer did, as opposed to an intervening cause of a criminal, remains to be seen."
This lawsuit comes almost a half a year later after four teens were killed in a crash on the Kensington Expressway, who were operating a stolen Kia Sportage.
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"What's interesting is that the municipalities are basically trying to enforce a congressional law," Cambria said. "You would think that the federal government would be doing that, and basically telling manufacturers that they couldn't distribute cars that didn't comply with those laws, which is another issue. Will the companies defend by saying, 'Well, it's not for you cities to enforce this law? It's for the federal government?'"
You can view the lawsuit here.