Daily News | A national TikTok trend is sparking thefts of Kias and Hyundais in Philadelphia — and residents are feeling the impact
, with Philadelphia car owners feeling the impact of what happens when social media exploits a manufacturing flaw.
Philly’s 10 most commonly stolen car models all saw increases in thefts from 2019 to 2022. But while mostThey peaked in December 2022, after Kia Boyz Challenge videos dominating TikTok ‘For You’ pages over the summer and subsequent news coverage. A email statement from TikTok said the platform “does not condone” the Kia Boyz challenge and has been working to remove content that glorifies car theft or teaches users how to steal cars.Philadelphia police instructed Amy Nieves-Renz to — like a Kia Boy — start her car with a USB after they found it with the steering wheel column damaged, days after it had been stolen. Her keys no longer worked.
When Nieves-Renz’s 2018 Kia Soul went missing in West Philly in November, she had only a vague idea of the TikTok trend.Nieves-Renz, who called what happened after she couldn’t find her a car a “wild story.”Later that night, Nieves-Renz found her car parked at 50th Street and Warrington Avenue, not far from where her car went missing on 51st Street. The back passenger-side window was smashed and the underside of the steering wheel dangled, but “the ignition was still attached,” Nieves-Renz said.
A police officer came out to unlist the vehicle as stolen. When her keys wouldn’t fit inside the dangling ignition, the officer instructed her to try her phone charger. It worked.It’s hard to know what came first — joyriding stolen Kias and Hyundais or posting about it to look cool on social media.
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