Indianapolis woman says her car was stolen after anti-theft system failed
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Ring video captured Breanna Mack’s 2013 Hyundai Elantra being being stolen from the parking lot of The Villages of Bent Tree Apartments where she lives.
Mack said it happened around 4 a.m. Saturday. “I looked out the window and realized there was no car in the spot that I remembered parking in.”
Her car is very distinctive; it has a yellow flame painted across it, but that’s not why Breanna thinks it was stolen.
“I think because they saw it was a Hyundai — oh, part of the ‘Kia boys’ thing — and I think that’s probably what made it a target.”
Last summer, a TikTok trend swept through Indianapolis. The videos demonstrated how to hotwire certain model year Kias and Hyundais.
A group calling themselves the “Kia boys” took advantage of the vulnerabilities in the vehicles.
Hyundai and Kia both offered free security software upgrades to owners of affected models including Mack.
“I went to get the anti-theft security install, and they then installed it, and I want to say, within two weeks after that security thing got installed, I actually ended up getting locked out of my own car.”
The same anti-theft system was no match for the pair of car thieves who stole her vehicle.
“They just start my car and drive off, but I had the actual key and couldn’t start my own car.”
Mack said one of her neighbors at the apartment complex had his car broken into, and the apartment complex is notifying residents about the thefts.
But, Mack thinks more needs to be done. “It should not be the consumer’s responsibility to make sure their car isn’t so easily stolen.”
Breanna filed a police report with Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, but so far there is no trace of her car.
