The NYPD wants to slam the brakes on the rising number of car thefts in the city, which are surging at breakneck speeds, officials said Tuesday.
The number of vehicle thefts across the five boroughs has jumped by 18% this year, mostly thanks to an explosion of Kia and Hyundai thefts brought on by a viral TikTok challenge that’s spurring teenage social media mavens to steal them, Mayor Adams said.
“You like your car? So does a thief,” Adams said at a news conference during a press conference in Astoria, Queens, where a large number of cars are stolen.
The mayor noted that simple precautions such as making sure your car doors are locked and that you don’t step out of the vehicle with the engine running can go a long way in stopping opportunistic thieves from speeding off with your wheels.
As of Sunday, 10,632 cars had been swiped off city streets in 2023, some 1,679 more than the 8,953 vehicles reported stolen in the city this time in 2022, according to NYPD statistics. That’s an increase of 19%.
“This is simply unacceptable,” Police Commissioner Edward Caban said of the double-digit jump in car thefts.
“Most of us know someone who has had their car stolen or had their own car stolen,” Caban said. “It is an invasion, a violation of space. Our cars are seen as an extension of ourselves.”
The NYPD’s multilayered approach to drive down car thefts includes equipping each precinct with a license plate reader-equipped police cruiser to spot cars reported stolen. Each precinct will also have a team that will focus on bringing down car thefts.
Adams’ office is also collaborating with city car dealerships, which have agreed to give new car buyers tips on how to protect their vehicles from thieves and make sure that they are aware of all the necessary security upgrades.
The state Department of Motor Vehicles is also getting involved in the crackdown and has agreed to warn owners if their vehicle’s make and model is targeted by crooks.
Most of the stolen cars — particularly Kias and Hyundais — are being used for joy rides, Adams said. Many of the stolen vehicles are also being used to facilitate other crimes, such as robberies and shootings, Caban said.
“Stolen cars have become the broken windows [theory] on wheels,” Caban said.
Over the past year, more than 51% of those arrested for stealing a car are under the age of 18. About 88% of the car thieves are under 25, said Adams, who said a simple joyride could have devastating consequences on a teen’s future.
“We don’t only want to protect future car owners, we want to protect our youth’s future,” Adams said.
Nearly half of the cars that have been stolen in the past year were taken from the Bronx or northern Queens, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said.
Most of the vehicles are recovered in the same precinct where they were taken, Chell said.
“That speaks to joyriding,” he said. “We have young kids via TikTok taking the car, which are being recovered mostly in the same area they were taken from.”
Chell said that last year, only 300 Kias and Hyundais were stolen in this city. This year 2,000 of these vehicles have been stolen, more than a six-fold increase.
The “Kia Boyz Challenge” — online videos that expose flaws in the ignition systems of some Kias and Hyundais and encourage viewers to snatch the vehicles — has fueled a massive uptick in the city’s car theft rate, police say.
The challenge began in Milwaukee when youths there learned it was shockingly easy to steal certain cars thanks to a design flaw in the ignition system. Once you pop the steering wheel column with a screwdriver, you can use any small squarish object, like a USB cable, to turn the ignition and start the car.
A documentary on the challenge, as well as videos of the thefts posted on social media, quickly went viral, leading to Hyundais and Kias being stolen off streets across the country at an alarming rate.
