Korean automaker Hyundai is paying up to $200 million in compensation to owners of its vehicles in the US after a series of thefts and car accidents caused by a viral challenge on TikTok.
• Also read: New York: Spread of AirTag to fight vehicle theft
• Also read: Steal a vehicle using a USB cable, this disturbing TikTok challenge
To end the class action lawsuits, the company has reached an agreement to compensate around 9 million owners of Hyundai and Kia vehicles released between 2011 and 2022, including the Elantra, Santa Fe and Tucson models, as per one according to the press release published on Thursday.
The TikTok challenge, dubbed the “Kia Challenge,” was created on the popular platform in 2022 after thieves known by the alias “Kia Boyz” made a video showing how to use a USB cable to determine the start vehicles forced.
@news4jax Essentially people break into these cars, take apart the ignition and start the car with a phone charger (USB cable). Click the 🔗 in our bio to find out what car owners can do to protect themselves. @vicmicolucci ♬ original sound – News4Jax | WJXT
The number of thefts has skyrocketed, and the phenomenon “resulted in at least 14 accidents and 8 deaths,” according to the American Highway Safety Agency (NHTSA).
In February, the agency announced that Hyundai-Kia was using free anti-theft software in millions of cars without immobilizers.
Under the agreement unveiled on Thursday, the manufacturer will reimburse consumers whose vehicle has been stolen or damaged and whose costs were not covered by their insurance, including deductibles and associated premium increases.
TikTok, owned by Chinese group ByteDance, is in a tough spot in the US as many lawmakers on both the right and left want to ban the app from the country.
They accuse it of operating as a Trojan horse in Beijing to spy on and manipulate users, which the company has always denied.
The social network is also regularly criticized for viral challenges in which users promote dangerous or illegal actions.
The US state of Montana just passed a law banning TikTok from January 1, 2024. It mentions national security, but also the fact that according to lawmakers, the platform does not fight against this type of content, from the “game of the world”. scarf” (when minors try to suffocate themselves) to the challenges related to the coronavirus or vehicles.