Car theft soared 20% last year — here are vehicles most at risk

Published

2 years ago

October 20, 2023

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Car theft surged 20% last year, according to fresh FBI data — and a vehicle safety rating agency said models from Dodge, Land Rover and BMW were among the most likely to be stolen.

The FBI’s annual crime report published Monday showed there were 721,852 car thefts across the country in 2022 — up from 601,453 incidents in 2021 and 420,952 reported in 2020 at the start of the pandemic.

Last year’s top 10 most-stolen cars were pegged by the Highway Loss Data Institute, which studied 2020 to 2022 car models and found that three Dodge muscle cars and two Kias made the list.

According to the list, earlier reported on by the Daily Mail, the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat topped the ranking as the most broken-into car in 2022, HLDI reported.

There were 6,128 theft claims in 2022 involving the four-door Hellcat — which retails from $81,040 for a 2022 model — while the No. 2 car, the cheaper Dodge Charger HEMI, was involved in 2,197 claims.

Infiniti’s Q50 midsize sedan came in third place with 878 claims, according to HLDI, while yet another Dodge model — the old-timey Challenger — came in fourth as it was involved in 766 theft incidents in 2022.

Rounding out the top five most-stolen cars: The high-end Land Rover’s Range Rover 4dr 4WD, which starts at a cool $95,150, had 611 claims last year.

Two additional Kia models — the Sportage 4dr and Sportage 4dr 4WD — and two pricier models, Land Rover’s Range Rover Sport 4dr 4WD and BMW’s X6 4dr 4WD, as well as one Honda CR-V SUV completed the top 10.

The Post has sought comment from the FBI.

Cops have partly blamed the uptick in car thefts on a viral TikTok challenge that encourages kids to boost Kia and Hyundai vehicles for joyrides — a phenomenon known as performance crime.

Popular videos on the social media platform teach people how to start the cars with USB cables and exploit a security vulnerability in some models sold in the US without engine immobilizers — a standard feature on most cars since the 1990s preventing the engine from starting unless the key is present.

Hyundai has reportedly tried to work with TikTok and other platforms to remove the videos, but new ones have surfaced nonetheless, and fresh waves of thefts have been occurring.

NYPD statistics released last month showed there were 24% more instances of grand larceny auto reports in August compared to the same month in 2022.

In addition, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration blames the trend for at least 14 crashes and eight fatalities, but lawyers suing the carmakers say the number is likely much higher.

Police departmentsin at least a dozen other cities have said these motor vehicle-related performance crimes factor into an increase theyve seen in juveniles arrested for or charged with car thefts.

Still, criminology experts caution that the role teens are playing in the theft increases which began during the pandemic and arent limited to Kias and Hyundais may be artificially inflated because teenagers inexperienced at crime are more likely to be caught.

Either way, the stats show the dangers of social media content looking for ways to go viral.

Earlier this month in Milwaukee, a stolen Kia collided with a school bus, leaving a 15-year-old who was hanging out the window in critical condition. Police later arrested four 14-year-olds, one of whom allegedly was driving.

Another group of thieves swiped an unmarked NYPD car — a black Kia — in January and took it on a nearly 12-hour joyride before crashing in the Bronx.

Calls for accountability have been directed at the automakers. MLG Attorneys at Law, a California law firm specializing in automotive defect lawsuits, has received more than 4,000 inquiries from victims.

World

British couple killed in Lisbon funicular crash named

Published

1 hour ago

September 6, 2025

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British couple killed in Lisbon funicular crash named

Two of the three Britons killed in the Lisbon funicular crash have been named.

Kayleigh Smith, 36, and William Nelson, 44, were a couple and died alongside 14 others in Wednesday’s incident.

Ms Smith graduated from the Arden School of Theatre in Manchester, where Mr Nelson ran the master’s degree in directing.

The identity of the third British victim has not yet been confirmed.

MADS theatre in Macclesfield, Cheshire, said Ms Smith was a “valued member of our society” who will be “greatly missed”.

It said she was an award-winning director and actress, who had also done multiple crew and front-of-house roles.

Five Portuguese citizens died when the packed carriage plummeted out of control – four of them workers at a charity on the hill – but most victims were foreigners.

Police said the other fatalities were two Canadians, two South Koreans, one American, one French citizen, one Swiss and one Ukrainian.

All but one were declared dead at the scene – and 21 others in the packed carriage were injured.

The yellow carriages of the Gloria funicular are a big draw for tourists, as well as a proud symbol of the Portuguese capital.

The journey is just 265m (870ft) up a steep hill and takes three minutes, with two carriages travelling in opposite directions on a linked cable.

Witnesses reported seeing one of the carriages hurtle down the hill before derailing and crashing 30m from the bottom.

The aftermath shows it crumpled and twisted against the side of a building.

People who were in the bottom carriage said they were a few metres into the climb when it started going backwards.

When they saw the other car speeding towards them, many jumped through the windows to escape.

Prime Minister Luis Montenegro called the crash “one of the biggest tragedies of our recent past” and authorities are under intense pressure to quickly identifying the cause.

One witness who was in the lower carriage told Sky’s Europe correspondent Alistair Bunkall that the brakes appeared to fail.

The carriage’s brakeman, Andre Marques, has also been confirmed among the dead.

Officials said the streetcar, which has been running since 1914, had a half-hour visual inspection every day and underwent full maintenance last year.

The line links the downtown area near Restauradores Square with Lisbon’s Bairro Alto neighbourhood.

A preliminary technical report due on Friday has now been delayed until Saturday. Another report with a broader scope is expected within 45 days.

Three other funicular lines in Lisbon have been suspended.

US

475 people detained during immigration raid on Hyundai factory in Georgia

Published

1 hour ago

September 6, 2025

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475 people detained during immigration raid on Hyundai factory in Georgia

Officers detained 475 people during an immigration raid on a Hyundai factory for electric vehicles in Georgia.

The majority of those detained at the 3,000-acre site west of Savannah are from South Korea, according to Steven Schrank, special agent in charge at Homeland Security Investigations.

Mr Schrank said the raid was the “largest single-site enforcement operation” in the history of the agency and followed an investigation of several months, which involved leads from community members and former workers.

The spokesman for the South Korean foreign ministry, Lee Jaewoong, said there was a “large” number of South Koreans among those detained in the raid, but did not provide an exact number.

He said the detained workers were part of a “network of subcontractors” and that the employees worked for several different companies on the Georgia site.

Mr Lee said South Korea’s foreign ministry is dispatching diplomats from its embassy in Washington and consulate in Atlanta to the site, and plans to form an on-site response team centred on the local mission.

“The business activities of our investors and the rights of our nationals must not be unjustly infringed in the process of US law enforcement,” Mr Lee added.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that agents executed a search warrant “as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into allegations of unlawful employment practices and other serious federal crimes”.

The manufacturing site, which employs about 1,200 people, has been hailed as the largest economic development project in the state’s history by Governor Brian Kemp and other officials.

Hyundai Motor Group, the biggest automaker in South Korea, started manufacturing electric vehicles at the $7.6bn (£7.4bn) site a year ago and partnered with LG Energy Solution to build an adjacent battery plant, which is set to open in 2026.

ICE spokesman Lindsay Williams confirmed the raid and said agents were focused on the construction site for the battery plant.

LG said in a statement that it was “closely monitoring the situation and gathered all relevant details”. The firm said it couldn’t immediately confirm how many of its employees or Hyundai workers had been detained.

“Our top priority is always ensuring the safety and well-being of our employees and partners. We will fully cooperate with the relevant authorities,” LG said.

Hyundai and LG’s battery joint venture, HL-GA Battery Company, said in a statement that it’s “cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities” and paused construction of the battery site to assist the investigation.

Operations at Hyundai’s electric vehicle manufacturing plant weren’t interrupted, plant spokesperson Biance Johnson said.

The raid is the latest in a series of sweeping ICE operations as part of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda, which saw immigration officers raid farms, construction sites, restaurants and auto repair shops.

The US labour force lost more than 1.2 million immigrants from January through July, which includes legal and illegal immigrants, according to the Pew Research Centre, citing preliminary census data.

US

Joe Biden has skin cancer surgery – months after ‘aggressive’ prostate cancer diagnosis

Published

1 hour ago

September 6, 2025

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Joe Biden has skin cancer surgery - months after 'aggressive' prostate cancer diagnosis

Former US president Joe Biden has had surgery for skin cancer, his spokesperson has said.

It’s unclear when he had the procedure, but video from late August showed him leaving church in Delaware with a large, fresh scar on his head.

The spokesperson told Sky’s US partner, NBC News, that he was recovering well.

Mr Biden had Mohs surgery, which involves removing a layer of tissue, examining it under a microscope to see if any cancer cells remain, and repeating if necessary.

The 82-year had a basal cell carcinoma, one of the two most common skin cancer types, removed from his chest in 2023.

His doctor said at the time that all the cancerous cells had been removed.

The same year, Mr Biden’s wife, Jill, had two basal cell carcinomas removed from near her eye and on her chest.

The former president also revealed this May that he had stage-four prostate cancer – with the disease having spread to his bones and having a Gleason score of nine.

Such a score means the disease is “likely to grow quickly”, according to Cancer Research UK.

His office said the prostate cancer was discovered when Mr Biden visited a doctor for urinary symptoms and that he was considering “multiple treatment options”.

“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management,” said a statement.