Displaying items by tag: Kia Challenge

The latest deadly challenge on the social network TikTok is named after a Korean car manufacturer, and not by accident. Kia and Hyundai owners across the US have been reporting the same challenge-related problem for months: their cars are being stolen by thieves using just a USB cable.

It's about a new, crazy TikTok challenge, and what kind of danger it is, is best evidenced by the traffic accident in which four teenagers died in a stolen Kia Sportage. This is not the first time the accident has been linked to the Kia/Hyundai challenge. Two months ago, two 14-year-olds were killed and a third seriously injured in a stolen Hyundai Sonata in Ohio.

An accident related to this challenge also happened in Buffalo, when a 14-year-old girl from a stolen car ended up in the hospital, and a 16-year-old driver was taken into custody.

The first reports of the new TikTok challenge emerged in July, when the first videos were released on the social network showing car thieves targeting unlocked Kia and Hyundai vehicles and using a USB cable to start the engine.

At the end of August, Los Angeles police announced on Twitter that the number of thefts of Kia and Hyundai vehicles increased by 7 percent compared to last year and that the cause was most likely a challenge from the social network TikTok.

As Auto Klub reports, criminals target vehicles equipped with an old, mechanical key, while newer models with "smart" keys are spared this challenge.