[potato3732842]

No they are not. At best they are a minor contributor. If people want security latches and whatnot they can buy them and pay accordingly. An easy to steal care beats no car every day of the week.

I live in a not great part of what's arguably the bluest state in the nation (which is to say this isn't some dumb red state "tough on crime" thing) and I can't imagine someone being able to go around checking windows or car doors for very long without a free ride in a cop car. Windows here are unlatched from May to September. I bet a lot of those houses have Kias in the driveway that they've had no theft problems with as we only have about a dozen car thefts per year here.

Ford Superduties over a huge year range can be stolen much the same way (you also have to punch out a lock before taking a screwdriver to the column) until very recently as PATS was not standard on the higher GVW stuff but those are expensive trucks so shitting on them doesn't scratch the same "validate my $50k purchase of something else" itch that crapping on Kia does.

[RHSeeger]

And yet we have laws that disallow things that the buyer could just avoid by not purchasing. Because, as a society, we find it unacceptable for vendors to do certain things. And we hold them at fault if the do bad things, even if the buyer had the option to not buy it in the first place.

That being said, how many people buying Kias _knew_ the problem existed? You can't make an educated choice if the information isn't really available to be educated about.

[incrediblydumb]

lol check out rochester ny car theft stats!