It's odd that a federal judge denied a class action lawsuit. I didn't know that they could do that.
this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2023
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Who would be able to do that if not a judge?
Honestly thank god, because if being easy to steal was something you could sue for, every bicycle company about to go out of business.
I think it's more like failing to meet basic standards and practices for a consumer product. Like how would you feel if the next cell phone you bought couldn't be locked? Failure to comply with basic standards of what your selling is wrong.
Except we all know that and expect that to be the case when owning a bicycle.
Exactly, it's about expectation.
A good analogy would be: pretend most bike manufacturers successfully make their bikes incredibly difficult to steal using hard, integrated locks, motion sensors, wheel locks, etc. And the user would somehow be none the wiser, it "just works". Your average consumer doesn't know what goes into car security, they just plop the key in and off it goes.
Now imagine if, e.g., Giant was the only bike manufacturer to not have these security features, that people have now come to expect from their bikes. After spending $25,000 on their bicycle, it gets stolen super easily and they now learn that they purchased a theft magnet. This will occur over and over until they get rid of the bicycle. Regular bike locks (The Club™) are super easy to open or destroy, and are barely deterrents.
It's not a fair comparison to compare the unusual theft of a vehicle model that costs upwards of $20,000 to a bicycle where there is no expectation of security and costs around $500 on average.
I like it. This is a good analogy
Also this.
gb2reddit
This issue has added onto the ever-present feeling of chaos in the US and I'm shocked these companies haven't seen more consequences for this deceit. I really hope they do and we get the recalls these owners deserve, we get new regulation on minimum anti-theft requirements.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The suit also alleges that Kia and Hyundai deceptively assured consumers these vehicles possessed “advanced” safety features, despite knowledge of the “critical defect and its consequences.”
“The impact of car theft on Chicago residents can be deeply destabilizing, particularly for low- to middle-income workers who have fewer options for getting to work and taking care of their families,” Johnson said in a statement.
“The failure of Kia and Hyundai to install basic auto-theft prevention technology in these models is sheer negligence, and as a result, a citywide and nationwide crime spree around automobile theft has been unfolding right before our eyes.”
The suit comes days after a federal judge declined to approve a class action settlement that would’ve offered cash to owners of vehicles prone to theft.
NPR reported in May that some insurance companies — including Allstate — have even stopped offering coverage to owners of vulnerable Kia and Hyundai vehicles due to the high rate of thefts.
Chicagoans who own Kias and Hyundais can share their experiences related to the ongoing vehicle thefts via email to the city’s Consumer Protection department: consumerprotection@cityofchicago.org.
The original article contains 616 words, the summary contains 183 words. Saved 70%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
I hope they get reamed and I recommend people avoid Hyundai/Kia (although note that while technically separate entities, they do share a LOT of engineering and usually work together) since it seems that while they make nice cars on paper and I enjoy mine in a vacuum, there always seems to be some fatal flaw lurking whether by poor engineering or dumb penny pinching/corner cutting. I'm a car dork and while I was comparing everything before settling on buying my affected Sorento, I never once thought to ask "does this car include an immobilizer and have an easy to defeat ignition lock?" and neither did my parents. Even Nissan included immobilizers on their cheapest models a decade ago.