Vehicle thefts are at an all-time high in Cincinnati. Kia, Hyundai models lead the list

Ellen Koesterman bought her first vehicle in February. Unfortunately, she was only able to drive the 2020 Kia Sportage for about three months out of the seven months she owned it.

That's because it was broken into and stolen – not once, but twice – from in front of her Oakley home.

Koesterman, 27, is one of thousands of Kia and Hyundai owners across the country who have fallen victim to a rash of thefts spurred on by TikTok tutorials.

More vehicles were stolen in July in Cincinnati than in any other month on record. In that month, there were 459 vehicle thefts, nearly 15 a day. Data for August was not available at the time of this report.

Before the spike in Kia and Hyundai thefts, the city averaged about four vehicle thefts per day.

Data provided by the Cincinnati Police Department shows that Kia and Hyundai vehicles account for nearly all of the additional thefts in the city.

Between January and the end of July, 1,511 Kias and Hyundais were stolen in the city of Cincinnati, according to police data. The total number of vehicles of any brand stolen during the entire year of 2021 in the city was 1,479.

Glass in the street and an empty parking spot

Koesterman had had her SUV for about two months. She was happy with the buying experience from her Kia dealership. She liked sitting up higher than she would in a car and she liked the medium size of the Sportage.

She woke the morning of April 3 before sunrise to head to Cycle Bar in Hyde Park, and when she stepped outside she was immediately disoriented.

She wasn't sure if she was dreaming or had misread her watch. Then she spotted the glass glistening in her empty parking spot and realized her vehicle was gone.

She called Cincinnati police and was told the officers were confident they could find her car quickly, and they did. For all the cars stolen between Jan. 1 and July 31, Cincinnati police had recovered over 71% of them by the middle of August.

Koesterman got a call the same day that her car was found in East Walnut Hills. But it was undrivable.

Her car was in the shop for more than two months because the steering column had been damaged to steal it. She got it back on June 9.

Then on July 20, just six weeks later, she walked outside to a familiar sight − broken glass on the ground.

This time, the car was still there. It's unclear if it was stolen and returned, or if this time the theft was unsuccessful.

But the same damage was done to the steering column. Her Sportage needed to go back to the shop.

The dealership she used and another dealership in the Cincinnati area did not reply to a request for comment, but Joaquin Garcia with Wyoming Automotive explained the problem.

Garcia said the parts are back-ordered due to the rise in thefts. He's the service advisor at the Wyoming shop and said he would tell a customer coming in today to expect a wait of a "few months" for parts.

Car thefts on the rise: Car thieves are still driving off with Kia and Hyundai cars, despite security fix

'If I would have known this, I would not have risked it'

In Cincinnati, like most of the rest of the county, Kia and Hyundai thefts started ramping up last summer. Unfortunately, Koesterman had not heard about the trend when she made her purchase.

Koesterman said Kia should have known about the vulnerabilities with their vehicles by February, but no one at the dealership mentioned it.

"I'm an extremely cautious person and I often think about my decisions for a while," Koesterman said. "If I would have known this, I would not have risked it."

Her Sportage was finally repaired in early September, about six weeks from the second time it was stolen. She traded it into the dealership and got a newer model Kia Seltos.

"It is a bit smaller than my Sportage, but it was what I could afford that was new with a push start button," she said. Models with this feature don't have the same vulnerability her Sportage had that made it attractive to thieves.

The value of the Sportage had dropped $10,000 since she purchased it, money she's considering a loss. Add that to the insurance deductibles for bodywork, the cost of rentals, the car washes and detailing, and the steering wheel lock that might not have even worked and the costs add up.

Hyundai, Kia models being stolen in Greater Cincinnati, nationwide

In April, just a few weeks after Koesterman's SUV was first stolen, more than a dozen attorneys general signed a letter pleading with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to recall "Hyundai and Kia vehicles manufactured between2011 and 2022 whose easily-bypassed ignition switches and lack of engine immobilizers make them particularly vulnerable to theft."

At that time, Hyundai and Kia had promised to offer software updates to make stealing the vehicles more difficult, but the attorney generals were not satisfied, calling the response insufficient. To date, no recall has been issued.

In May, the two automakers agreed to a $200 million settlement to a class action lawsuit and agreed to pay customers who incurred theft-related losses and damages not covered by insurance. The companies also said they would pay for increased insurance premiums.

Koesterman hopes that the settlement will help her, but she has not been given any details about how that would work.

Her insurance covered the cost of the repairs. She said she thinks the money she lost trading in the Sportage is just gone, but she's hopeful the lawsuit settlement will provide some reimbursement for her rentals and other expenses.

She was paying for her rentals out of her own pocket because her insurance only covered it for a few weeks. Then, when one of the rentals stopped running, she was forced to use Uber to get around for work, adding to the costs.

When the settlement was announced, a statement was released from Jason Erb, chief legal officer at Hyundai Motor North America.

“We appreciate the opportunity to provide additional support for our owners who have been impacted by increasing and persistent criminal activity targeting our vehicles,” Erb said. “Customer security remains a top priority, and we’re committed to continuing software upgrade installations and steering wheel lock distribution to help prevent thefts and offering insurance options."

The automakers still face potential liability. In June, New York City sued Kia and Hyundai, saying the thefts were impeding public safety efforts and costing the city. They pointed to crashes involving young minors that resulted in injuries and death.

New York City attorneys blamed Kia and Hyundai's cost-cutting measures for the problem, saying the companies failed to install vehicle immobilizers, a technology that makes sure vehicles can not be started without their keys, a standard feature on most cars since the 1990s.

News: Kia, Hyundai settle class-action lawsuit over thefts for $200M. Here's what it covers.

Car thefts: New York City sues Kia, Hyundai claiming some of its vehicles are too easy to steal

'They found blood': Car thefts raise safety concerns

For Koesterman, this experience was more than just the inconvenience of not having a car. The issues piled up, and more than that, it made her question her own safety.

One issue was the condition of her car when she got it back the first time. She said it was filthy, inside and out. She said there was still broken glass on the upholstery.

Her first stop was a drive-through car wash where the employees took pity on her and let her loop through multiple times until her Sportage was clean.

She said there was also cosmetic damage to the car that required a separate trip to the body shop.

After the second incident, Koesterman said the police found that the steering wheel lock she had bought after the first theft was taken off somehow, a window had been broken and something even more disturbing.

"They found blood on the outside of the car," she said.

Luckily, she didn't have to deal with getting the car cleaned a second time, but it all goes beyond the money and the extra time for Koesterman.

"I don't feel safe anymore outside my apartment," she said.

She still leaves her apartment every morning at 5 a.m. to exercise, but now, she always calls someone so she doesn't feel like she's alone.

"It's a shame that in a great neighborhood, I feel so unsafe," she said. "It just makes my heart break for everyone who is going through this."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Kia and Hyundai vehicle thefts set record in Cincinnati