This news item has the added advantage for me of adding to my file, now voluminous, of ridiculous legal theories that nonetheless cannot be sanctioned violations of Rule 3.1: Meritorious Claims & Contentions, aka. “Frivolous claims” when they are used as the justification for lawsuits. (The profession’s aversion to punishing lawyers for Hail Mary lawsuits apparently applies to all lawyers accept those representing Donald Trump.) Mostly, however, it demonstrates how completely incompetent another progressive big city mayor is when it comes to dealing with crime.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) announced yesterday that his crime-ridden hell-hole of city, rife with property crimes and murder, will be suing automakers Kia and Hyundai for “their failure to include industry-standard engine immobilizers in multiple models of their vehicles.” This, the theory goes, is why there are so many car thefts in the Windy City.
Yes, it’s the cars’ fault that they get stolen! It certainly isn’t the fault of the car thieves, whom the new mayor wants to see treated with compassion, care and as little punishment as possible. Even though the crime explosion in Chicago was the main reason he defeated the previous mayor, Lori Lightfoot (that, and the fact that she was dishonest and incompetent), Johnson’s plan to stop crime is pure John Lennon wishery: defund as much of the police as possible, seek “restorative justice” and “treatment over punishment,” and have judges who will avoid handing down jail sentences.
Johnson’s defeated opponent, Paul Vallas (Lightfoot never made it out of the primary) described the city’s current environment thusly:“There is no incentive to engage in proactive policing. And the criminals know it, and they’re becoming bolder. There is an utter breakdown of law and order.”
No, it’s clearly the car-makers’ fault. “The impact of car theft on Chicago residents can be deeply destabilizing, particularly for low- to middle-income workers who have fewer options for getting to work and taking care of families. The failure of Kia and Hyundai to install basic auto-theft prevention technology in these models is sheer negligence, and as a result, a citywide and nationwide crime spree around automobile theft has been unfolding around our eyes,” Johnson said in a statement.
Chicago Police Department crime statistics reveal that car thefts have increased from 9,000 in 2019 to more than 21,000 in 2022, a 139 % spike in three years, and 2023’s numbers are expected to be higher still. Gee, what happened after 2019 that could explain such an inexplicable thing? It couldn’t be that the 2020 accidental death of an over-dosing, lifetime petty criminal under the knee of an equal opportunity brutal cop because the crook had resisted arrest in Minneapolis led to Johnson and other Democratic municipal leaders from coast to coast to attack policing, encourage policies that made pro-active policing an unacceptable risk for the cops, and metastasized the Ferguson Effect, could it?
Nah, it’s obviously the carmakers’ fault.
That, and the fact that only around 4% of car theft cases are solved in Chicago. I wonder what those car thieves don’t do that the other 96% have figured out. A 96% success rate is a lot better than my record in any of my myriad pursuits, projects, plans and aspirations. Car stealing, eh? Hmmmmmmm…
The Johnson administration’s announcement is below. I particularly like the part where it condemns the automakers for having the audacity to want to charge for installing a non-standard feature that is not required by federal regulations. Does the car owner who deliberately chooses to buy a car without such a feature share any responsibility for accepting a known risk? Surely not: the whole intention of crypto-Marxists like Johnson is to eliminate as much individual responsibility as possible, from the thieves and the owners too.
Ethics Alarms 
Isn’t this the vehicular equivalent of blaming rape victims for “dressing too provocatively”?
Asking for a friend.
Or not wearing a chastity belt as “standard equipment”…
That was my first thought
No, this is the automotive equivalent of blaming gun manufacturers and gun owners for criminals killing people. Having successfully pushed that idea in the legal community and gotten widespread support, it is on to other products. All slippery slope arguments seem to come true when it comes to the left.
New York City did it first: https://www.reuters.com/legal/new-york-city-sues-hyundai-kia-over-vehicle-thefts-2023-06-06/
Some plaintiffs’ lawyer must be pitching these cases to every shithole city in the country. Baltimore, Detroit, Oakland, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Portland, Seattle. Crank up the word processor and get those retention letters and form complaints flying out the door. Aren’t most of these states going to have comparative negligence? Let’s see. Who’s more responsible for the theft? The manufacturer or the thief? And aren’t there fact issues? I thought Hondas were the preferred, go to sedan to steal. Did Hyundai and Kia stop installing the devices in 2019?
And on the other hand, we have an ethics genius on the Chicago council. She asked gangbangers to only shoot each other between the hours of 9 p.m. and 9 a.m. https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2023/08/20/democrat-asks-gang-members-to-limit-shootings-to-nighttime-n2627267
As Dave Barry used to say, “And I am not making this up.” “Yo, homies, be more considerate! You want to make your mothers ashamed of you?”
So I actually looked up what an engine immobilizer is. I had assumed it was a fancy way for the police to remotely prevent a car from starting when it is reported stolen, but it’s apparently much simpler than that. It prevents the engine from starting without the key. That is, it prevents people from hotwiring the car. That does seem like a rather basic thing to include.
Apparently steering column locks have done something similar since the 1970s, raising the question of why a steering column lock isn’t sufficient to prevent the theft of a vehicle. It seems like it would be cheaper, since it doesn’t necessarily have to be electronic. I know my car’s steering wheel doesn’t turn when the key isn’t engaged. (The steering wheel locks the city asked the manufacturers to provide for free as a stopgap is more like a car boot, but applied to the steering wheel like a bike lock.)
I’m going to give Mayor Johnson some credit for actually seeking solutions to crime, given that police are being viewed with, ahem, apprehension. Designing vehicles that are more difficult to steal does deter crime without active law enforcement. I don’t know enough about automotive trends to know whether engine immobilizers are actually a basic feature or something extra that might raise the price too much.
I do know that while it is valid for Mayor Johnson to ask automotive companies to help protect people from automobile theft, he is still ultimately the one responsible for addressing crime in his city. When he’s done asking companies to make his job easier, whether or not they really are cutting corners and whether or not they fix it, he needs to work with law enforcement to figure out how to reduce crime and catch criminals.
(Per the 80-20 rule and a basic understanding of people, I’m guessing that most of the thefts are committed by repeat offenders and organized criminals rather than many more people stealing exactly one car each. The question is how good such people are at evading justice and how much the justice system wants to shut them down.)
All cars sold in Chicago could also come standard with armor.
To clarify these vehicles have steering wheel locks. The immobilizers in most other vehicles uniquely identify a key through electronic means as well as physical. The physical key profile just allows turning the key. Turning the key is only a signal to the computer which has to “recognize” the key for the engine to start.
Without the immobilizer, turning the ignition signals the computer which starts the car. The Kia and Hyundai cars that are easy to steal have easy to break and remove lock cylinders. Then all the thief has to do is turn the ignition switch inside the column. Where the lock cylinder interfaces with the ignition switch inside the column is a rectangle roughly the size of a USB plug, hence the stories about stealing cars with a USB cable.
Thanks! That clears up why the steering locks are insufficient.
“I’m going to give Mayor Johnson some credit for actually seeking solutions to crime”
In that case I’m seeking solutions to pay my mortgage.
He’s kicking the can in to someone else’s yard, that’s not seeking a solution.
Seeking a solution is him putting in a budget request for more cops, fewer plea deals, tougher penalties, etc.
I have trouble thinking that him asking car companies for “help” is a “valid” choice.
Immobilizers are a feature, any feature costs money, increases complexity, and in the case of an immobilizer key, creates very expensive issues if you lose a key.
Etc., ad nauseam, and so on.
Why is it valid to ask consumers to pay more for a product because the city is failing miserably in providing one of the essential functions of government?
Ethics dunce is charitable. I think Jack needs an ethics moron category, and I nominate Johnson as one of it’s first members.
Just as a note, with the “what changed since 2019?” question… In addition to the eluded to event, as I understand it a very easy way to hack the Kia/Hyundai keyless ignition went viral on TikToc around that time. Other methods of stealing cars require at least some technical criminal knowledge, or tricks like this would have to have spread via word of mouth before, but thanks to the internet every wannabe criminal found out within a month.
So it’s not entirely fair to blame defunding the police, since they’d still be fighting an uphill battle against TikTok.
Correct or blaming the owners. The owners could not have known that their cars lacked standard anti-theft features that other cars have. The TikTok challenge brought this to light and, of course, has encouraged the theft.
But we can’t sue TikTok for encouraging car thefts, right?
Why can’t the American managers of Tik Tok be charged with conspiracy for their role in the car thefts. Seems like RICO might be applicable. Get Fani on the case.
(I changed that “c” to a “k”. For a second I thought you were referring to the makers of TicTacs and was thoroughly confused…)
Why stop with Hyundai and Kia? Mayor Johnson should also sue any company that manufactures any product that is often stolen. Obviously, those companies don’t do enough to make their products more unstealable.
Of course, it might just be easier if the Mayor sued his brain for lack of support.
Auto theft is a crime no matter if the car is stolen with the key in the ignition. We used to treat it as a serious felony that carried a lengthy prison sentence. The car thieves in Chicago obviously think they have little to fear.
Thieves will always figure out the easiest cars to steal, and this changes as the technology changes. They will figure out how to defeat it eventually. One little-known fact is that carjacking became more common as cars got harder to steal: the easiest time to steal it is when it is already in use.
A 4% clearance rate on auto theft is inexcusable; if that were my agency, heads would (figuratively) roll.
Johnson, a Chicago teachers’ union’s stooge, was only elected to give them the sweetest deal—their contract is up next year; they will “make love” to Chicago and its taxpayers (like me). He’s a moron, and I’m being literal here. He and his handlers have no ideas other than trying to squeeze more money from businesses and remaining actual taxpayers.
The reason he won, and this based on personal experience—many told me this point blank—because many white liberals, especially women, will never vote for an old straight white man if there’s a BIPOC alternative. Pretty stupid and pathetic.
Wait, what? And what exactly is the reason those who told you point blank have this cretinous bias?
Because people in Chicago assume that everyone, especially non-whites, is “progressive” Dem voting sheep like them.
Predictions- Kia and Hyundai dealerships will close. The insurance rates of those who own said cars will rise exponentially. The thieves will be granted amnesty. The object of the thievery will sift to another brand.
BTW- Why did I get charged 4 hours of labor to fix my ignition problems, if it can be done so easily by thugs? I recall, in the 70’s cars that were parked, intact, on the streets of NYC but were standing on cinder blocks stripped of both essentials and non-essentials by the time the sun rose.
I think the next step is to seize all Hyundais. New car dealers, used car dealers, auctions, rental cars, even those that haven’t yet been stolen & are driven by their owners.
These cars are defective, despite meeting all federal standards for theft deterrence in effect when the car was new. These Korean cars cause crime, after all. It’s not like a thief has the ability to not steal a Hyundai or two.
These cars are unsafe at any speed, and I applaud Mayor Let’s Go Brandon for his innovative approach to fighting crime.
Now, to criticize Huyandai, my 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee had an engine immobilizer standard. This is not ‘new’ technology. Huyandai is just incredibly, unbelievably cheap. I believe Chevrolet began this with their resistor embedded key controlling an immobilizer in the late 1980’s. That technology was developed because GM was losing almost 10 Corvettes from the Milford proving grounds each week due to theft.
So by the same token, you may want to sue non firearm-bearing individuals who, by not carrying firearms, are setting themselves up for being robbed?
What a crock of shit. We have to stop giving the average American credit. We are dumber than we want to admit.