Hundreds of Kia and Hyundai car owners showed up at the Crown Mart off Delmar Boulevard Wednesday for a free car club following an increase in thefts of those specific models.
St. LOUIS — So far this year, only in the city of St. Louis, more than 1,200 Kias and Hyundais have been stolen.
KIA owner Fenner Perkins showed up at the Crown Mart in Delmar two hours early to get a free car club.
“I’ve been here since 1, now you can see all these cars. I was the first one here,” Perkins said.
Hundreds of KIA and Hyundai owners took to the raffle following an increase in thefts from people hijacking these models with USB cables as keys.
“That’s the key right here. That’s how they’re stealing your car,” Perkins said.
“No one should be able to steal a car with a USB. A car charger? A phone charger? No,” said Kenny Rhodes.
“Six people I know, yeah, robbed,” Cathy Jones said.
“Over the last few months we’ve had a rash of stolen vehicles and thefts due to owners who had this type of car,” said St. Louis Reiana Moore.
At 3pm on Wednesday afternoon, Moore handed out 100 free car clubs that were donated by Kia and Hyundai.
“We were all out of free car clubs, so we had extra car clubs on hand to sell for $15,” Moore said.
The additional 150 car clubs to purchase were made through a partnership with Five Star Senior Center.
People were still paying, because they said they couldn’t find them anywhere.
“I’ve been to Walmart. I’ve been to AutoZone. I’ve been to all the different places. Nobody had them,” Rhodes said.
“They’re sold out everywhere, they’re sold out. No clubs,” Jones said.
Hyundai announced that car owners will be able to buy a security kit that will prevent the USB access method from October 1, but people are demanding more.
“They need to have a recall and do something about it. They need to pay for it. It’s terrible,” Perkins said.
People could drive up to the giveaway in their Kia or Hyundai to get a steering wheel lock or provide proof of ownership or registration.
This is not the first time that the police of St. Louis does a car club giveaway.
Moore said car clubs help deter thieves from stealing cars because of the time it takes to break a steering wheel lock.
He said after seeing the lawsuit today, they are strongly considering having another one.
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