Motorists across the US are urged to be ever-more careful about where they park their cars in the face of an alarming nationwide uptick in motor theft.
Vehicle thefts have risen sharply since 2019 and reached a new peak of 1,020,729 cases last year, says the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), a watchdog.
Kia and Hyundai vehicles are the most frequently targeted models, thanks in part to a security vulnerability that thieves have cracked and shared widely on social media.
NICB president and CEO David Glawe said crooks are ‘increasingly sophisticated’ and routinely use ‘advanced technology to bypass security systems.’
‘From keyless entry hacks to relay attacks on key fobs, perpetrators are exploiting vulnerabilities in modern vehicle security measures with alarming success,’ Glawe says.
Washington DC, Maryland, and Connecticut saw the biggest increases in vehicle theft last year
The Mail’s interactive map presents in graphic detail America’s car crime hotspots.
It shows the 10 states with greatest increases in vehicle thefts from 2022 to 2023, and also the metropolitan areas where car thieves have been most active.
Washington, DC, saw a massive 64 percent spike in vehicle thefts last year,
For every 100,000 people in the capital, 1,150 vehicles were taken, more than three times the US average.
David Glawe says thieves are getting better at hacking car entry systems
Maryland and Connecticut were also badly affected.
Los Angeles was the worst hit metropolitan area, with a staggering 72,460 vehicle thefts in just 12 months.
The San Francisco-Oakland area and Chicago also each witnessed tens of thousands of thefts.
California saw more vehicle thefts than any other state overall, with 208,668 vehicles reported stolen.
More recent data from the FBI’s new crime database echo the NICB’s findings.
From 2019 to 2023, the nationwide rate of motor vehicle theft incidents rose from 199.4 incidents per 100,000 people to 283.5 incidents, the FBI says.
Thieves took cars in 78 percent of the time, but trucks were also popular, amounting to 12 percent of incidents.
The FBI’s data only covers four fifths of the US population.
Rates of vehicle theft are bucking the downward trend of other types of crime, which are returning to more normal levels after spiking in the pandemic.
The rise has been in part driven by young offenders who post ‘how-to’ videos on TikTok of themselves using screwdrivers and cables to start engines and take joyrides.
A sheriff’s deputy arrests a suspect for attempted car theft of a truck in Denver, Colorado
A juvenile offender explains how to hotwire a car with just a screwdriver and a USB cable in a widely-shared video
Some styled themselves as the ‘Kia Boyz,’ after one of the makers targeted due to security vulnerabilities that were easy to exploit.
Hyundais and Kias are among the most widely stolen vehicles across the US, the NICB says.
They account for six of the top 10 most stolen vehicles nationwide.
Topping the list is Hyundai’s Elantra model, of which 48,445 vehicles were stolen last year.
It was followed by the Hyundai Sonata (42,813 incidents), the Kia Optima (30,204 incidents), and the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 (23,721 incidents).
Hybrid vehicles are often targeted by thieves, thanks to the precious metals in their catalytic converters that sell for hundreds of dollars on the black market.
Washington DC saw the sharpest rise last year, part of a city-wide crime wave, with 64 percent more vehicles stolen than in 2022.
Maryland saw a 63 percent increase.
Connecticut (33 percent), Nevada (18 percent) and Massachusetts (16 percent) rounded out the top five.
The figures come after another week of multiple cases of car theft across the country.
Minneapolis Police arrested a 10-year-old boy accused of recklessly driving a stolen car through a school playground packed with children.
A surveillance video shows a car zig-zagging around the playground and school staff scrambling to get the children out of harm’s way. No one was struck or hurt in the incident late last month.
Police Chief Brian O’Hara called the incident ‘unfathomable’ and said officers were left repeatedly ‘arresting and re-arresting the same juveniles for auto-theft and other violent crimes.’
Moment four teens crash stolen Kia and take off running down busy Minnesota highway, as the TikTok fueled ‘Kia Boyz’ craze swept the nation
Car thieves hack keyless entry systems nowadays, as well as using old-fashioned screwdrivers
Meanwhile, police in Clark County, Washington, said they had busted open a multi-state car theft ring, arresting five men.
Clark County Sheriff’s Office said late last month they had recovered 11 stolen cars, $42,000 in cash and nine guns.
The thieves had monitored and then burglarized local car dealerships, taking Corvettes and other muscle cars.
The NICB recently teamed up with port operators to stop stolen luxury vehicles from being loaded onto shipping containers and sold overseas.
‘While many stolen vehicles are recovered, there is an increasing global demand particularly in regions where regulations are lax,’ said Glawe.
‘Stolen goods can be easily laundered or resold on the black market.’
To prevent vehicles from being stolen, owners are advised to park in well-lit busy areas, especially garages, parking lots and behind locked gates.
They should also lock their vehicles, hide valuables out of sight, and use security devices, such as steering wheel locks, alarms, kill switches, trackers, and other methods.
