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> If you've read about carjacking waves in places like Milwaukee and Chicago: that was largely driven by a decision Kia made, which resulted in the nationwide d
by adolph 2y ago
> If you've read about carjacking waves in places like Milwaukee and Chicago: that was largely driven by a decision Kia made, which resulted in the nationwide deployment of a giant fleet of "burner" cars that could be stolen with nothing but a bent USB cable.
"A nationwide epidemic of Kia thefts" seems to be a natural consequence of decreased security. However, that carjacking in Milwaukee and Chicago specifically would follow from a nationwide omission of interlocks is not obvious as the vehicles are easily stolen without the need for personal confrontation. What is the connection of Kia interlocks to carjacking in Milwaukee and Chicago?
- Terr_ 2y ago> However, that carjacking in Milwaukee and Chicago specifically would follow from a nationwide omission of interlocks is not obvious as the vehicles are easily stolen without the need for personal confrontation. I think parent-poster means that the easily-stolen cars are being used as tools of carjacking, rather than the targets of it. In particular, carjacking that occurs by somehow provoking a victim to stop on the highway shoulder, a location where attackers can't exactly arrive by foot or bus or bike. That way they don't involve a vehicle that might be observed and traced back to them. An alternate explanation is that they meant to write something like "theft" and accidentally put down "carjacking" instead.
- levocardia 2y agoThis is correct, the usual procedure is: steal kia or hyundai with your friends using the no-interlock exploit --> find other cars to carjack (at gunpoint), or individuals to rob --> ditch stolen cars when no longer needed. Exploit no-pursuit policies as needed.
- tptacek 2y agoI've posted this point a couple times on HN and I guess I will keep posting until people stop expressing surprise that trivially stealable cars are a precursor to carjackings. I'm not dunking, there's no good reason for people to intuit that! But it's a really important thing to understand.
- adolph 2y agoThanks and thanks to the upthread explanations. Part of what makes it unintuitive is the specificity: * Why Milwaukee and Chicago instead of everywhere? * Why carjacking and not a general increase in crimes that could be facilitated by an unassociated car (bank robbery, toll violations, etc)?
- kgermino 2y agoFWIW the associated crime wave was much broader than carjacking (and I’m actually not aware of a particular increase in carjackings specifically due to the Kia issues but I don’t know) but the Kia issues seem to have started in Milwaukee. For whatever reason, it became A Thing here more than a year before it went national. Car thefts in Milwaukee more than doubled (entirely due to a stupidly large increase in Kia/Hyundai thefts) and we got a reputation for Kia thefts before it became a national issue
- jeffbee 2y agoI question whether Milwaukee and Chicago are outstanding examples. I looked at a few reputable sources and those cities nor their states seem to be extremes in terms of car theft rates. Most of these law enforcement agencies are not specifically breaking our carjacking. Random presentation of car theft stats comparing Chicago to a handful of others. We hear a lot about Chicago because many have a vested interest in deflecting discussions about crime. When was the last time you heard about the insane motor vehicle theft rate of Dallas? https://public.tableau.com/shared/W2KZH4JC7?:display_count=y&:origin=viz_share_link&:embed=y https://public.tableau.com/shared/W2KZH4JC7?:display_count=y...
- Tool_of_Society 2y agoHell Mississippi as a state might soon pass Chicago in murder rate per capita. Chicago last year had a murder rate of 22.85 per 100,000 while Mississippi had a murder rate of 20.7 per 100,000. Louisiana had 19.8 and Alabama had 18.6..
- 2y ago