Kia and Hyundai make up one-third of Atlanta car thefts
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Major cities — from Atlanta to Cleveland to Seattle to Chicago — saw a rise in car thefts from 2019 to 2022, according to new data from USAFacts.
- A number of these thefts were of Kia and Hyundai vehicles — and many are pointing to a recent TikTok trend as a reason, Axios' Annalise Frank writes.
By the numbers: There were 468,821 total thefts reported in 2022 across all the cities reviewed by the USAFacts data.
- That's much higher than in 2021 (411,935 reported thefts), as well as in 2020 (361, 550) and 2019 (318,467).
Yes, but: Not everyone is experiencing these thefts the same way.
What's happening: Thieves in Atlanta stole 116 Kias and Hyundais in Dec. 2022, the report says, making up one-third of the 367 cars stolen that month.
In the weeds: The data comes from 500 police departments with the most vehicle thefts in the last five years. About one-fifth of those departments had data for 2022. USAFacts combined the data with numbers from the FBI, as well as statewide data for 10 states.
What's next: Kia and Hyundai both released new "theft deterrent software" for more than 8 million vehicles in response to the trend.