The Town of Tonawanda has had enough of Kia and Hyundai car thefts.
Monday night, the Town Board unanimously voted to join other cities across the country in a lawsuit against Kia America and Hyundai Motor America alleging that the automakers failed “to install engine immobilizers in a majority of their vehicles manufactured for sale in the United States between 2011 and 2021.”
Like Buffalo and other towns in Western New York, Tonawanda has seen a dramatic increase in car thefts, driven mostly by thefts of Kias and Hyundais.
A Seattle-based law firm, Keller Rohrback L.L.P., is representing the town, along with Buffalo, Rochester, New York City, Yonkers, Seattle, Cleveland, Cincinnati, San Diego, Milwaukee and Indianapolis.
“The Town has been experiencing an inordinate number of thefts of Hyundais and Kias,” Town Supervisor Joseph Emminger said in a statement. “Most significantly, over Memorial Day weekend, one of our police officers was severely injured and dragged 30 feet by someone who stole a Kia. He is still not back to work. We feel there are damages that should be awarded, and we think it’s in the best interests of the residents and taxpayers of the Town of Tonawanda to file this lawsuit.”
On the evening of May 29, Dareious T. Akbar, 19, of Buffalo is alleged to have driven a Kia Sportage, reported stolen from East Aurora earlier that day, through a red light at Sheridan Drive and Sheridan-Parkside Drive, the Erie County District Attorney’s Office said.
After he was stopped by Town of Tonawanda police, Akbar allegedly drove off, dragging Officer David Piatek, who was taken to Erie County Medical Center. Akbar was arrested the following day. In July, Akbar was arraigned on an indictment charging him with first-degree attempted murder and five other felonies and a misdemeanor. Akbar is amid three other criminal cases.
The lawsuit argues that the two automakers’ decision “to forego standard safety…
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