The crime situation in St. Louis is out of control. City officials cut the number of police officers over a year ago and the city is still short officers. 911 calls frequently take hours to answer.
But rather than deal with the rising crime rates, City Hall is preparing to sue Hyundai and Kia over the rampant car thefts.
On a personal note: Last week my older brother and sister-in-law stopped by my home. They needed a place to park their car and a ride to an event in the city. The parking garage tenant said they could not park their Hyundai rental in the parking garage because too many are stolen.
So I dropped them off at their party in St. Louis City.
FOX Business reported:
Car thefts have skyrocketed in St. Louis in recent months, with city leadership threatening lawsuits against Kia and Hyundai for an alleged defect that makes certain makes of the cars easier to steal.
“Our drivers probably get about five of these things a day. Just Kias and Hyundais getting stolen,” tow truck driver Mark Hartmann told KMOV last week of thefts in the city.
Auto thefts in St. Louis have doubled this year, according to KMOV. In July alone, the city averaged about 21 Kia and Hyundai theft incidents each day. That number increased to 23 thefts each day in August, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch previously reported.
In August, St. Louis leaders threatened to sue Hyundai and Kia, demanding the car companies address a defect that allegedly makes stealing vehicles made before 2021 easier to steal. KMOV reported last week that plans to sue the carmakers over the city’s spike in auto thefts are still in the works.
“With this letter, the city demands that Kia and Hyundai mitigate the defective conditions providing thieves – including teenagers as young as 13 – the instrumentalities by which they are destroying property, endangering city drivers and themselves, and, in some cases, committing violent felonies,” according to the letter written Aug. 19 by City Counselor Sheena Hamilton.