Akron police investigating string of vehicle thefts in Firestone Park neighborhood
Akron police are investigating a series of car thefts that happened in the heart of the Firestone Park neighborhood Thursday night, according to an Akron Police Department news release.
Three vehicles were stolen and four others were damaged and nearly stolen between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., when multiple calls to 911 for vehicle thefts were made from homes on E. Firestone Boulevard, E. Brookside Avenue, Clinton Avenue, Wayne Avenue, Beardsley Avenue and E. Ralston Avenue, police said.
All but two of the affected vehicles were Kia products.
Is yours protected?: Most Kia and Hyundais are still vulnerable to car theft
A 2015 Kia Optima was recovered on the 1500 block of Glenmount Avenue. Two others — a black 2013 Hyundai Elantra with an Ohio plate of JDW-8956 and a black 2019 Kia Soul with an Ohio plate of HNX-1033 — have not been found, officials said.
The vehicles that were damaged had busted windows and broken steering columns.
Detectives are searching for the suspect or suspects involved in this overnight incident.
Anyone with information can call the Akron Police Department Detective Bureau at 330-375-2490 or 330-375-2Tip. Anyone can provide anonymous information by texting TIPSCO to 274637 or downloading the Akron PD app and messaging Tips411.
Car thefts in Akron, Cleveland
These most recent thefts are in a long line of stolen Kia and Hyundai vehicles. It comes months after the automakers promised to install new software to fix the vulnerabilities that thieves have long exploited.
The two companies promised new anti-theft software to make it harder to steal these vehicles, but USA Today reported in September that nearly 80% of the roughly 8.3 million impacted Kias and Hyundais lacked the upgrades seven months later.
Motor vehicle thefts are down in Akron, according to the APD crime snapshot, which does not denote the make or model of the affected vehicles. As of October 2022, the department reported 1089 car thefts. That was down in October 2023 to 820.
Cleveland car thefts nearly doubled as of August, jumping nearly 94% from 2022 to 2023, reported News 5 Cleveland, an Akron Beacon Journal news partner.
Between October and December 2022, the city of Cleveland said 1,203 Hyundai and Kia vehicles were stolen, accounting for 65% of the total vehicle thefts, according to a news release issued in March.
In response to this information, the city filed a lawsuit in federal court against the two manufacturers for "their failure to install industry standard anti-theft technology in millions of their vehicles," the release states.
New York City filed a similar lawsuit in June, stating the vehicles were too easy to steal, USA Today reported.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Multiple cars stolen, damaged in Akron's Firestone Park Thursday night
