That’s not really how civil court works though. You don’t have to break the law to be judged to be liable for harming someone else financially in civil court.

That’s not really how civil court works though. You don’t have to break the law to be judged to be liable for harming someone else financially in civil court. Civil cases work on the “preponderance of the evidence.” The judge or jury must believe that your case is stronger than the other side’s case. I think there is so much data pointing to Kia and Hyundai’s practice being unusual, and I’d guess that discovery will find out that decision makes at Hyundai knew that increased thefts would occur. If so, it stands to reason that they knew their decision to forego immobilizers would directly shoulder cities with extra costs.